Trixie poked at the flaming logs in the fire pit in the backyard of Crabapple Farm. She sat back in the chair and sighed. A week ago, all the Bobwhites had spent the evening around the fire, sharing stories, s’mores and hugs. The next day, Honey, Diana, Brian, and Jim left for college. A couple of days later, Mart left for his own college experience. The only Bobwhite around was Dan, but he was busy with his own school schedule and his job. Trixie was startled out of her melancholy thoughts by the sound of Bobby calling her.

"Hey, Trix, you out here?" he called.

"Yes," Trixie answered into the darkness.

Bobby stepped out of the shadows and sat down in the chair next to his sister.

"What are you doing out here alone?" Bobby asked.

"Nothing, just wondering what everybody else is doing right now," Trixie said as she stared into the flickering flames

Bobby looked into the fire. He pulled out a thin stick that had a glowing ember on the end and waved it through the air.

" Trixie, look! This looks like a tracer," he exclaimed.

Trixie watched, mesmerized, as Bobby continued to wave the glowing ember through the darkness. She could see the trails of circles and squiggles as he moved it around.

"Hey, Trix. Grab this stick and wave it around. I’m going to take a picture of it."

Bobby handed Trixie the stick and fished his phone out of his pocket. Trixie made swirling motions with the glowing ember as Bobby snapped away.

"Now use two sticks," commanded Bobby.

Trixie pulled out another stick with a glowing ember and began waving that stick around with the first one. Bobby jumped around and snapped the pictures of the designs created by the trails of the glowing embers.

"Let’s take a look at what we have." Bobby said as he sat back down.

Trixie replaced the sticks in the fire and scooted closer to Bobby. He scrolled through his pictures until he found the most recent ones.

"Wow!" he exclaimed quietly. "Look at those pictures."

He and Trixie looked at the unique pictures. They saw the dark violet and indigo background highlighted by the glowing remains of the ember trails as they hung in the air.

"Wow is right, Bobby. These pictures are amazing," said Trixie as she studied the different photos.

"We should enter these in a photo contest. You wanna do that Trixie?" asked Bobby.

"Sure, why not?" replied Trixie as she stared in the flames, a smile on her face.

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