Jane and Alice are running as fast as they can around the corner of the house. Their eyes are lit up with terror.
"We saw a bee!" yells Jane. She is shaking with fear. "It tried to sting us!"
"Calm down," I say. "Bees don't want to hurt us. If we're nice and quiet, they'll always leave us alone."
They don't look convinced. They repeat their "Bee! Bee!" retreat several times that day.
**
After supper. I'm clearing the dishes from the picnic table.
A bumble bee flies up from the garden below the deck. It lands immediately on the lady slippers in the vase on the table.
The bee knows just what to do. She finds the opening at the bottom of the flower and crawls inside.
What an amazing creature. The complex social world of bees is fascinating. I think about how I've wanted for the last few years to start keeping bees. Maybe this is the year...
The bee emerges from the blossom. Her wings begin to buzz as she takes off.
She flies straight at my face. Her giant stinger points down. It looks.... stingy.
I leap down six steps in one bound and keep running.
"Bee! Bee!"
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