"You're not being reasonable here. Do you want someone to appreciate your charm, or do you want food?"

She pulled in irritation at her soiled wing. It peeled free from the nettle's furry surface. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Vinnie."

"I'm Dolores."

"Hi."

"I've heard stories about situations like this," she said slowly. "Once I heard about a sister who actually fell for a Photinus guy."

"No kidding."

"He was so sweet that she just chewed his two midlegs off. Because she wanted him to fly off and reproduce and put more men like himself into the breeding population."

"That's a great evolutionary gambit, but I don't want my legs eaten off," Vinnie said. He lost his composure and began to flash uncontrollably.

"You should watch it, carrying on that way," she said. Reflexively, she flashed in response. Her flashes were hugely powerful, torrents of carnivorous vitality. "A little guy like you, you could blow some valve in your abdomen."

"Does that matter, Dolores? Summer's going to end! I'll die of natural causes! Let me go. I'll creep on back to you at the end of my lifespan. You can eat me then! What difference does that make to either one of us?"

"I might die before you came back," she said. "I might starve to death."

"So what? So what if we both burn out tonight in one last great performance? You don't scare me."

She backed away. "You have guts and talent," she admitted. "You can glow."

"I thought I was hot stuff till I met you," he said. Light poured from him. Now they were duetting. She had a wild, feral, overwhelming gift for expression. It was like standing next to the sun.

The nettle leaf trembled gently. Another lightning bug had arrived.

He was long and spindly and thin. He was too tall, and his proportions were off.