Phosphor(us) phenomenon

There was nothing special about that day, yet it was the most memorable day for Conrad. They phished for white Phosphorus, they both were sleeping in the shade of the trees at noon, then went to phishing again. To prevent to be bored, they made a little competition, who can phish more white Phosphorus. K.O. let Conrad win and he alluded on his age for losing.

"Do we really have time to try boating?" Conrad asked his old friend. He was worried, because he was eager to try, but he was aware, that their time was limited.

"Don't worry, we have time! We will catch the midnight train, so we should wait anyway. We can even go boating until then. Or what we want. If you want, we can ask the priest what to do in return for the accommodation. Although I would rather avoid this because producing white Phosphorus is not a job for children."

Conrad chose, so they tried boating. Since there were no other phisher, the priest went with them, and taught them to row. It wasn't so easy, and that time K.O. was the smarter, but as he told Conrad, he had a bigger hand. They had a lot of fun until dark.

"Do we really have to leave?"

There are days when one wants them to never end. The boy sighed, but he knew, that his fun day with his friend ended. It was time to leave for them. Whether he liked it or not.

"We are staying for a while." K.O. told to the priest, when they got off the boat. For Conrad's surprise.

"The view is the best from the big bridge!" He told them, and said good-bye.

"Come on!" K.O. patted Conrad's shoulder. "We have to reach the big bridge before the show starts!"

"Show? What kind of show?" Conrad was surprised. "What kind of view? What are you talking about? Shouldn't we leave?"

"It's a surprise!" K.O. winked at the boy.

"I am surprised!" Conrad panted, as he was running beside K.O.. "But tell me!"

"There is a kind of a phenomenon of the Kingdom of Phosphorus, and it is worth to see, since we are here. Now look!" K.O. and pointed to the view.

Conrad looked around. There was dark, but it was a strange darkness. In the darkness there were colored lights, and those lights were robbing around them. It was like polar light. Blue and green ribbons were worming, streaming and spiraling on the sky, yellow and white spots were blinking on the ground, and the light were dancing everywhere. It was like a light festival on the sky and the ground. The amazing view stunned them. It was more and more gorgeous, as the show went on. The enjoyment was interrupted by K.O.'s hand device's beeping.

"It is time to go." He said reluctantly, and Conrad felt, that his old friend didn't really want to leave either.

But they left. The blue-green lights were dancing around them on the road, small yellow-orange and white blinking lights were hiding in the ground, like small fireflies.

"What are these shining little ones?" Conrad asked, amused. He stopped, and watching a bunch of atoms, which were emitting blue light.

"They are Phosphors." The answer came.

"Phosphorus." Conrad corrected laughing. "I know, what kingdom we are."

"No. These little ones are containing Phosphorus, but their names are collectively Phosphors. It means, that the compounds are lighting with luminescence. You could collect some, if you want!" He told to Conrad, whose hand was excitedly playing on his hand device, hesitating, whether he could catch those glowing molecules or not.

He decided, and finally caught some glowing little ones in different colors.

"These ones will be gorgeous in the lamp!" He told to K.O.. "Imagine them in the caravan! We could hold a party with party-lights!"

"Yes, but their lights don't last long."

"Why?" Conrad asked in despair. He expected a colorful play of light to illuminate the caravan at night.

" Phosphors are emitting light after exposed to some king of energy, for example sunlight. You could find them at home in the fluorescent lamps and LED lamps."

"But the light bulbs are working with electricity!" The boy said reproachfully.

"Yes, those ones work with another radiation source." K.O. said seriously. "But those Phosphors, that you have collected, are working with sunlight."

"Okay, but why are they work for limited time?"

"Luminescence is a process, where the molecules store the light in their electrons. Their hands puffing up, they become bigger, than they were originally. When the light vanish, for example the sun goes down, the electrons shrinking to their original size, and the unnecessary energy leaves them in the form of light. That's why they are glowing in the dark."

"Would they light up even if I just fed them smoothly with chocolate?" Conrad thought aloud. "Chocolate bars are also energy."

"There are Phosphors, which work that way, but yours work only with sunlight."

"So I can't use them in the lamp." The boy was saddened.

"Store them on the sunlight during the day, and in the evening, you could enjoy their emitting lights. For a while."

They arrived to the train station, and the lights were visibly weakened. The air was dark, only the ground stayed illuminated.

"But not for long, right?" Conrad asked, and pointed to the meadow.

"No. Phosphors only emit limited amount of light. They just give back, what they were swallowing during the day."

"Too bad it's no more. It would be good if they were lit all night!"

"It can be solved, but more should be gathered for it." The old man thought. "Maybe it's you who will invent it someday!" He patted Conrad's shoulder, who was collecting more and more glowing molecules.

As the train ran into the station with illuminated headlights, it charged another dose of energy to the luminescent little ones. When Conrad and K.O. boarded to the train the molecules on the fields were already exhausted, only those ones were glowing, which were around the train's line. Conrad was watching as the color line, that signed their way, than fell asleep. His dreams were pleasant ones, because he was smiling in his sleep.

Conrad woke up to his nose being squeezed by something awfully smelly. The smell was like being pushed into a public toilet that hadn't been cleaned since ancient times. He held the sleeve of his shirt in front of his nose, but he could only reduce the disgusting stench.

"K.O.! K.O.!" He shook up his sleeping old friend.

"What's the problem?" He ask on sleepy voice.

"Something went wrong. There is this awful smell!" Conrad said, and looked around."It seems other people are collapsed from it! It is sure poisonous!" He sputtered quickly, nervously.

K.O. quickly awakened, because Conrad's words showed his panic. He looked around, but the other travelers were peacefully sleeping. After he realized the smell, which was described as awful.

"Youngsters have good noses!" He said, and ruffled the boy's hair. "It's just hydrogen sulfide. Welcome to the Kingdom of Sulfur!"

"Hydrogen sulfide?"

"It's the smell of the addled eggs."

"But it's not toxic, is it?" Conrad asked anxiously.

"No...Just a little bit." K.O. replied, and avoided the boy's gaze.

"Do we travel a lot yet? I can't stand the smell."

K.O. pulled out his hand device and opened the map.

"We can get off in a quarter of an hour. Will that be good for you?"

Conrad nodded.

"Get the sulfur as fast as we can! This stench is unbearable!" He said.

"Don't worry! The temples here are usually sell gas masks, so you could buy one as soon as we reach the temple. You just have to put up with it, until we arrive there."

Conrad nodded, but didn't say a word. He spared his breath, to avoid the smell.

Ten minutes later they got off the train, and for their surprise, the ticket office at the station sold gas masks. They both bought from the masks, and refill cartridges.

"We are looking like Star Wars figures!" Conrad laughed, after they put on the masks. He felt much more better, despite it was harder to breath under the mask, than without.

"I am glad, you like it!" K.O. said. "Not too comfortable, but it surely better, than smelling that stink!"

"I thought, you were not bothered by this stink!" Conrad teased his old friend, under the safety of the gas mask.

"I didn't like it either." K.O. nodded, and his cheeks were red from embarrassment. "But sometimes adults have to endure uncomfortable situations."

"I don't understand why doesn't the ticket controller on the train sell these masks! I think everyone would buy from him."

"You are right. I also don't understand."

"That is why children should be employed everywhere!"Conrad declared confidently. "We have a tons of good ideas! If I were a ticket controller on the train, I would definitely sell masks! I would get rich in no time!"

"Didn't you want to invent the colorful phosphor lamp?" K.O. asked smiling.

"I can even invent that once I get rich, can't I?" The boy answered without hesitating.

"Of course, you can!"