Originally published on December 28, 2005
I heard the title song from Faith Hill’s album Firefly. I fell in love with the lyrics and was very tempted to buy the CD just for this one song. Courtesy of Leo’s Lyrics Database, here are the lyrics to the song:
Before you met me, I was a fairy princess
I caught frogs and called them princes
And made myself a queen
And before you knew me
I’d traveled ’round the world
And I slept in castles and fell in love
Because I was taught to dream
I found mayonnaise bottles and pokes holes on top
To capture Tinkerbell
And they were just fireflies to the untrained eye
But I could always tell
‘Cause I believe in fairy tales
And dreamer’s dreams
Like bedsheet sails
And I believe in Peter Pan and miracles
Anything I can to get by
And fireflies
Now before I grew up I saw you on a cloud
And I could bless myself in your name
And pat you on your wings
And before I grew up I heard you whisper so loud
Well life is hard and so is love
Child, believe in all these things
Heather Rose was my favorite little girl. I would see her playing on the sidewalk in front of her house with her sidewalk chalk drawing pictures of flowers and small women with paper-like wings. I knew she cried when it rained and all her beautiful artwork would run together and blend into the sewers. I lived across the street at the time and I would watch her out of my front window. I watched her pick up frogs from the backyard and take them to the front for tea parties. I watched her try and give the rabbits carrots. But I watched her particularly when she would go out at night and catch fireflies. When her parents would call her in for sleep, she would open up the lid of the jar and let them out. She would then replace the jar by the side of the house and go in. When she was older she had a butterfly collection and she would sit on top of the roof in the morning at dawn and catch the dew-laden butterflies. She would ride her bike in the summer and spring to the forest preserve and pick flowers; in the fall she would gather fallen leaves.
It was one spring that seemed clearer than our past springs. Not a drop of rain was in the forecast and the weather was warmer than usual. Heather was fourteen. Her mother came home late one day, driving much slower than she usually did, barely turning tight enough to miss their neighbor’s lawn. Later that night when the ambulance came roaring down the street, I knew something was wrong, something much worse than the weather. I decided this was as good a time as any, perhaps a better time, to introduce myself to the family so I put on my jeans and walked across the street.
“Hi, I’m Megan DuCross. I’m your neighbor across the street,” I said.
Heather’s dad seemed a little distracted and worried and he nodded abstractly at my while hugging Heather. Heather hid her face in her father’s sweater and faced away from me.
“Look,” I said, “I’m a doctor. If there’s anything I could do for you or your family—“
“Dr. DuCross,” one of the paramedics ran over to me gently grabbed my elbow. “We don’t know what happened to her, she seems to have collapsed.”
“Any signs of physical distress?”
The paramedic stared at me. “Megan, she collapsed.”
“I…” I was frazzled and didn’t quite know what to say or do. I wanted to stay with the family but I wasn’t sure what I could do. I had only just introduced myself seconds before and this wasn’t the best time to make friends.
The paramedic pulled me towards the ambulance. “Perhaps it’s best if you come with us.”
“Besides,” she whispered, “you can deal with emergency staff and getting her in a room. If you want to help the family, this is how you do it.”
I wasn’t sure the last bit of that was for me, but I didn’t resist her nudging. I climbed into he back, expertly if I do say so myself, and got on my knees beside her. Heather’s mother was a beautiful woman with clear pale skin and slight freckles dotting her high cheekbones. She looked perfectly fine to me; her golden brown hair was even neatly place around her head.
“Well?” a second paramedic had sat down across from me. He already had rubber gloves on and he had his hands out in question.
“I’m afraid I can’t do anything until we’re in the hospital. If it’s anything at all, I’ll need an x-ray.”
“Are you sure?” the female paramedic asked. She was in the navigator seat and she turned back to face us.
I closed my eyes and breathed out as slowly as I could. “I really hope this isn’t brain cancer,” I said and shut my eyes tighter. “Please God, don’t let this be cancer.”
Filed under: Paradise Lost, Realistic Fiction by Bri
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