Leo’s aged eyes looked out the window and into the front yard of his neighbors. His wrinkled and thin lips smiled as his “Honorary Granddaughter” played with her pet duck. Her mother sat on the porch talking on the telephone, her eyes trained on her daughter, running around in a circle chasing her duck and giggling a way that only little children can.  Leo calculated for a moment, and slowly arose from his chair, feeling several of his joints pop. He groaned at the pain moving brought him, Leo felt around his chair for his cane. Pushing aside the pain he smiled and walked out his door.

“GAMPS!” Flavia proclaimed happily and ran to her Honorary Grandfather. He bent down and gave her a hug, though it caused him immense pain coming back up to his slouched position.

“You’re a very strong little girl.” He commented when she looked concerned for his back.  He looked up to Flavia’s mother, “Hello Annette. How’s the store treating you?” Leo took out his pipe and lit a match, inhaling.

Annette pressed the talk button on her phone, hanging up. “Ah, I’ve been on the phone with Jennifer since 9, o’clock this morning. Even on my day off I can’t get away.” Annette giggled.

“Well you know, if you need to, I can always take Flavia for the afternoon. She always has fun at my house.” Leo leaned down, again ignoring the pain his spine brought him. “Right kid?” He asked the 6-year-old resting a hand on the top of her head, his breath melded with the vanilla-like smell from his pipe. Flavia looked up into the aging mans eyes, and her senses were filled with everything that was that man. His breath held a sent that was particularly his own, his flesh was warm with a heat she couldn’t find anywhere else. And she looked into his eyes, the small spark of youth was there, the glimmer was off from what it normally was, but she could see it. Flavia wondered if the sun, looked at its planets the way that her Gamps looked at her.

“Right!” She said, after enjoying the millisecond of her Gamps’ presence.

“Oh, but Flavia’s been to your house twice this week already, I wouldn’t want to make her a burden.” Annette said her young features quickly dulling in front of Leo’s eyes.

“Oh Annette you know it’s no problem. I baby-sat you for your father, God rest his soul, and I’m most certainly happy to baby-sit Flavia. She’s a dear to have around the house.” Leo smiled wide bearing what was left of his teeth.

“By the looks of it I may have to go into the store today to fix a few disasters. If it isn’t too much trouble, I could pick Flavia up at nine.”

“It’s no trouble at all!” Leo laughed and picked Flavia up; he quickly realized that she was much heavier than he remembered from yesterday.
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Flavia rested her small body on Leo’s old sofa –he still called it a Davenport- and she shut her eyes. She enjoyed the smell; it was infused with her Gamp’s smell. Leo looked at his Honorary Granddaughter; a small tear came to his eye and escaped down one of his many wrinkles. He grabbed an old quilt and wrapped it around Flavia. He sat her up and put her on her feet, she whined tiredly.

“Flavia, this is very important, Gamps is going to show you something that I want you to keep for all your life. Alright, dear?”

Leo guided his Honorary Granddaughter to his back yard, and stood her in a nice
dark patch, under the only tree on their block. She quickly sat down, the quilt around her extending past her feet and covering her bare toes. He sat down next to her.

“Flavia, I don’t know that you are ready.”

“Ready for what, Gamps?” She asked sleepily. Her Gamps sighed and tilted his head up, trying to let the tears fall back into his eyes, they just moved to his temples.

“Flavia, do you like the stars?” The cold air of a night-time breeze hit her cheeks and Flavia was waking up.

“Gamps, I’ve never seen the stars.” She looked up. The city illuminated itself so much that you could only see a faded version of the night sky. It was so washed out that the moon was faint.

Leo looked around himself, the dark trees created a shadow dark enough.  “Then, Flavia, I’m going to let you see the stars.”

“How’re you gonna do that Gamps?”

Leo didn’t respond, He held out a hand and beckoned a firefly. The obedient bug landed on his finger and glowed.

“You see this Glowfly?” Leo asked the little girl, wrapped as snug as a bug in a rug, next to him.

“Yeah.” She responded looking intently at the bug on her Gamp’s finger.

“Glowflys are stars, they just haven’t made it to the sky yet” Leo said, turning his hand so the bug could walk along his knobby knuckles. “And do you know why they glow?”

Flavia was enwrapped by every word her Gamp’s said, she was wrapped by the words more than the quilt around her. “No. Why do they glow?”

“To say, I love you.”

Leo’s sight was blurred with tears, but he smiled.

“Gamps, what’s wrong?!” Flavia worried for her Honorary Grandfather. “Gamps, don’t cry.”

“Flavia, I’m crying out of happiness.” Leo laughed a little to prove the point.

“But…how can you cry out of happiness?”

“You’ll understand when you are older.” Leo said. Flavia –still too young to grasp the idea- started to cry.

“Now, child, don’t cry. I’ll show you something special. It’s a trick I can do.” Leo said moving his face closer to the girl next to him.

“What’s that?” She looked him in the eyes, both sets were stained with tears.

“I’m going to show you the stars.”Leo said quietly.  Flavia didn’t say anything after that. She watched as the firefly flew from Leo’s finger and hovered next to his body. Slowly, Leo’s finger dissipated into glowflys. Flavia’s innocent brown eyes became wide. Now there were at least ten glowflys to join the one that Leo had beckoned before. More glowflys came as it traveled up Leo’s arm, his entire body becoming a great horde of glowflys, circling his granddaughter. She was surrounded by fireflys glowing and saying ‘I love you’ over and over. She was so happy, and her eyes leaked tears of utter joy, she couldn’t understand why she was crying, she was just so happy.

She was tiered though, it was getting late and she heard a whisper tell her in a soft, soothing tone that smelt like her Gamps, “Lean back, go to sleep, dream sweet dreams.” She wanted to stay up and enjoy the glowflys and the smell  and the…Presence of her Gamps. But she leaned down, and rested her head in the long soft grass. And sleep enveloped her, and she dreamed of glowflys.

__


The little girl awoke the next morning in her bed. Her mother woke her, crying.

“What’s wrong mama?” She asked hugging her mother, it was not an odd sight for her mother to cry.

“Flavia, Gamps has passed away last night. About an hour after I picked you up.” Annette blew her nose into a handkerchief.

“Passed on where?” Flavia asked innocently.

“He’s with the Angels, dear.” Annette didn’t know what else to say, how do you tell a six-year-old about death?

Flavia giggled to her mother’s shocked expression. “No, Mama, Gamp’s is with the glowflys.”