A Firefly for Thanksgiving by Kathie Harrington

A Firefly for Thanksgiving

by Kathie Harrington

“I want you to meet someone.” Karyn’s brother, Darren, nudged her arm as she sat down in a chair at the food court. “This is Jason. He’s one of my fraternity brothers who loves books like you do, Firefly.”

“Firefly?” questioned Jason.

“Our dad nicknamed Karyn, Firefly, when she was about three-feet tall for the way she danced around and spread her arms. He’d say she was just like a firefly, with a pair of wings for balance in flight.

“Darren, what kind of an introduction is that? Brothers! Hi, Jason. I’m Karyn, this guy’s big sis. How do you put up with him at the fraternity house? He used to drive me crazy when he lived at home.” They all laughed and identified with that sibling statement.

“He’s a handful alright, but it’s nice to see he has a well balanced sister.” A man with a sense of humor, thought Karyn. How refreshing and to think he is a friend of my brother.

“I’m headed to the sports shop. You two stay here or don’t, but have fun. I’ll catch up with you in an hour or so.” Darren was off.

“I do like books,” admitted Jason.

“I love books. Want to browse in the bookstore?” questioned Karyn. They were off.

Karyn first went to the romance section. “Do you always just read the first pages?” Jason observed Karyn’s style of how she browsed her reading material.

“I do, so I can pick what I want to put on my iPad.”

“I don’t have one of those. Do you like yours?”

“I travel, so it’s convenient. It can hold thousands of books this size. I do miss touching the actual pages of a book but I read more this way.” Jason’s smile was genuine and his interest, unmistakable, as he continued to watch Karyn peruse.

“You travel in your job?”

“Far away.” Karyn’s reply was brief and solemn.

“What do you do?”

Karyn took Jason by the hand. “I’ll show you.” She led Jason to the section titled War.

“What am I supposed to find?” asked Jason. “These are about war, not about travel or jobs.”

“War is my job. I’m a Marine. I’m home on leave and deploy in three weeks for Afghanistan.”

Jason stood speechless. He didn’t know whether to salute, hug, or walk away. He didn’t do any of them. “I didn’t realize we have female Marines. Would you like to go to dinner tonight?”

“Women Marines since 1918, and, yes, I’d love dinner tonight.”

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Kathie Harrington, M.A., CCC-SLP (speech/language pathologist) graduated with her Master’s Degree from Truman State, Kirksville, MO, in 1981. She is the owner and president of a private practice, Good Speech, Inc., Las Vegas NV. Kathie is the author of two books on autism, two speech strategy/technique books, numerous short stories included in a variety of serials and anthologies: Chicken Soup Series, Chocolate for A Woman’s Soul, award winning poems, and a self-published children’s book, The Boo Cow also on-line audio at Stories That Lift. Kathie has an on-line continuing education unit on autism with Parent Pals that includes an article ”How to Teach a Person with Autism to Drive a Car.” Kathie’s romantic short story about adults with autism, Shilo, is on line at The White Rose Publishing. Kathie is currently completing her first novel, To Dance with Fireflies. Kathie blogs at Kathie’s World and On the Road with Humpty Dumpty.