Tiger Moths Read Free Page A

from the recognition of her name, Dale mouthed, “Oh my,” then giggled excitedly.
    “Dad, you just spelled my name, right there in the air. It was like the smoke after an airplane. It was there, and then it just disappeared, like magic. Can, can …I do it, Dad, please. I’ll do it just like you did and I’ll spell out D-A-D for you. Please, please…” She gave him her most pleading puppy dog eyes.
    David sighed and gave in. “Sure, but you have to be very, very careful and never do this when I’m not around. These sticks are still very hot and can burn you or someone else.”
    “Okay, Dad, I know. I will be very careful.”
    Dipping a new stick back into the fire, Dale followed her father’s instructions until she too was a mid-air author. She was so excited that she begged to take the glow stick, as she called it, on their walk through the camping community.
    “Now, Dale, you know it won’t glow for very long once you take it out. And, there will be no running with the stick. But you can bring it along if you do everything I say – and your mother does not need to know about this.”
    A conspiratorial smile lit up her face as Dale thrust the stick to the flames to get a good burn on it. She pulled it out and immediately started walking, all the while making letters and signs in the air.
    She soon met her first audience as two boys from the next campsite ran over to watch the amazing glow sticks in action. Dale, ever the entertainer, saw them coming and said to the smaller one, “Quick, tell me your initials.”
    Bug-eyed, the boy shouted out wildly, “J.A.C.!”
    Deftly moving the glow stick, Dale worked quickly and completed the C just as the glow disappeared. Disappointed that it had ended, Dale still was well pleased that she had been able to show off her trick to the boys.
    Dale looked over and really saw the boy for the first time. He could not have been any more excited by the glow stick. He was skinny and dirty from play – but smiling from ear to ear, and cute as a button.
    “JAC,” Dale said, pronouncing it as one would say “Jack,” “One day I predict you are going to be a star. Your name will be up in lights just like tonight, and millions of people will come and see you. What do you think of that?”
    JAC was beside himself. “I play football and I’m really good. But I’m gonna get even better when I get bigger.” He looked into Dale’s eyes and they twinkled unlike anything she had ever seen before. They were like bright sapphires that danced when he laughed.
    “His name ain’t Jack,” the older boy grumbled. “His name is….”
    “Oh that doesn’t matter; to me he will always be JAC. JAC, will you remember me when you are a big ole football star? Cause I’m gonna be a pilot one day and maybe we will meet again, and I can fly you to your game and cheer for you. I’ll always cheer for you, my cute little friend.”
    The little boy seemed to soak in her every word, or maybe she was just enjoying all of his attention. He looked at her as if he had never heard anyone speak to him in such a kind way. Her heart seemed to flutter a bit within her. She did not understand the feeling but she knew it was good, and she liked it and she wished he could spend some more time with her. He began to open his mouth to say something, she did not know what, but he never got the chance.
    “He ain’t Jack, and he sure ain’t ever gonna be some kinda football star. He’s just some dumb little kid from the country. I outta know because he is my cousin. He just hitched a ride with my family because he was crying about wanting to come to the beach. He’s such a baby. His mom is raising him, and she’s working folk, so she couldn’t bring him. So the little worm just wiggled his way into our vacation, and now I have to make room so he can sleep in my tent. Let’s go, stupid worm. This girl doesn’t know what she is talking about. She’s just blowing hot air.”
    The older boy grabbed