Bright Lights

The twinkling lights in the sky captured Carole’s attention. She had seen the lights before but thought they were fireflies. Now she realized the lights were too far away and too bright to be the common flying insect she had mistaken them for the other night.

Going outside, she grabbed a pair of binoculars and tried to see them more clearly. Even with the magnified lenses, she could not discern what the lights really were. “Mother!” Carole yelled so she would join her outside. Her mother came running outside when she heard Carole’s urgent call. “What’s wrong?” she asked her daughter. “You sounded like something was upsetting you.”

“I wanted you to see these lights before they disappeared. This is the second time I’ve seen them, but I can’t decide what they are.”

Carole’s mother gazed at the twinkling lights, but she too was perplexed by what they could be. “I don’t know what they are, but whatever it is, the lights are beautiful.”

The next morning, Carole’s mother brought her the newspaper while she was still in bed. “Wake-up, sleepyhead. I want you to see the newspaper. Apparently, a lot of people saw your lights last night. Some people are saying they are lights from UFOs. Other people are claiming they are fairy lights.”

Carole scanned the paper, surprised to see the lights captured in the grainy black-and-white photo that made up part of the front page of the paper. She didn’t know what she thought the lights were, but she did agree with one comment she read as she scanned the newspaper article.

The lights were magical. That was all she knew for sure.