Outliers

I was outside the folks' house, out by the back road. There was what looked like a butterfly fluttering near the back wall, with large pale wings, looking slightly translucent. It looked so delicate. I swear, its abdomen glowed greenish-blue.

Later, it was late evening; the sun had set, but there was still a glow in the West, past the houses on the opposite side of the road. For all intents and purposes, it was more or less night.

The butterfly came back, still with its abdomen aglow - but now I realised that its wings were also glowing, lit up with this same blue-green radiance. As I watched, another glowing butterfly came along, joining the first in an intricate dance. A third one flew in, looking to fight off one of the butterflies - a rival, it looked like. I wandered onto the back road, wondering if there were any others around. To my astonishment, there was a small cloud of blue-green dancing lights all the way down at the far end of the road, and nothing between there and where I was standing. It looked as if all the noctilucent butterflies were clustered down at the far end. The three hanging around my house were just the outliers.