\title{A counterexample for lightning flash modules over $E(e_1,e_2)$}
\author{David Benson and Robert Bruner}
\thanks{
This work  was partially supported by the Simons Foundation and 
by the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach.}


\begin{abstract} 
We give a counterexample to Theorem 5 in \S18.2 of Margolis'  
book, ``Spectra and the Steenrod Algebra,'' and make remarks about the proofs  
of some later theorems in the book that depend on it.
The counterexample is a module which does not split as a sum of lightning 
flash modules and free modules.
\end{abstract}