What follows is the second installment of my short story, "The Lightning Bug". Catch up with the first installment here.

It was not quite the exact gloomy middle of another pay period for Gerald; a time of restless days that dragged on like evening church services, and...

Everyone who knew Gerald Stoltzfoos, a limited (pathetically so, really) network of neighbors, classmates, and co-workers, all agreed that he was a man destined for great things.

"Just talking with him-- you know, you could tell," they'd say.

Or, "Didn't you ever take a look in those...

I left home for college in 2001, some eight years ago, and have been living away from the nest ever since. This summer I bit the bullet -- as so many Americans are doing during the recession -- and moved back in with the parents, full time. It turns out...