Beeing There

 

 

            “Przznt!” said Beatrice.
            “Przznt!” said Bernice.
            “Yo!” said Beryl.
            “Ahm Przznt,” said Bobbi too.
            “Alright girls,” said Bianca. “We know why we’re here and what we must do!”
            “What Bernadette wants, Bernadette gets,” said Beryl. “We’ll find him!”
            “By scent and the blue light around him!” said Bianca.

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            Twigg was getting to be a big fellow. In human terms you could say pre-teen. He was tall, like his father, of course. Just eyeballing him, you might guess he was over six feet tall. He still looked soft and childish in some ways, and his character was gentle.
            His mother and father didn’t always know exactly where he was these days. But they knew that he was wise and resourceful and would be fine in almost any imaginable situation.
            On this particular day, he was roaming the great forest, revisiting some of those structures he had built from living saplings. Of course this brought him to the edge of the deep forest, out almost into the open where saplings grow.
            His enclosures and little basket type houses and purely imaginary structures were leafing out and looking really good. They had quite the fairytale vibe to them, and he was quite pleased. His parents knew about them and were pleased. Cherry came along to see what he had done sometimes. Even both pumas approved.
            But Twigg wished for a bosom friend who would really get into what he was doing out there with him. He wanted someone to be onboard with him and his building. He sighed as he looked at one really excellent wee house he had made. The extra material woven in between the living uprights, and all the cedar bark that he had harvested the fall before had all grown into a solid, really legit structure. With the leaves all over the outside, it was charming to look at.
            He remembered Linnet and wondered how she was doing. It had been at least three years since he had seen her. Their play dates had ended when her family wandered further north.
            He hummed a song learned from his father. It was called, “Even More Happy.”     
            While he hummed, leaning back against his little basket house, he thought he heard some other humming sounds. He wondered if Cherry had sneaked up on him and was humming to fool him. But his sister was nowhere to be seen.
            He closed his eyes again, listening. Someone was definitely humming or maybe buzzing, maybe several someones.
            “Twigg,” said a tiny husky voice. But he didn’t see anyone except a bee.
            Now, Twigg liked bees and had often played with them when he was younger, letting them walk on his arms and even snuggle up into his hair. They had never stung him. In fact, he didn’t really know they had a sting in their tails.
            He saw four more bees hovering there with the first one.
            “Are you talking to me?” he said. “I didn’t know you could talk!”
            “We can, if we want to and we like a guy,” said Bianca. “We remember you, well actually we’ve heard of you. We don’t live very long, but we know you by word of bee.”
            “I like you bees!” said Twigg. “Why have you come looking for me?”
            “Our majestic prolific Queen, Bernadette summons you, if you will be summoned,” said Bianca. “She has a matter to put before you.”
            “How did you find me?” wondered Twigg. “You are so small, and the forest is so big!”
            “It wasn’t too hard,” said Beryl. “You have a scent, light and pleasant, and a blue light surrounds you. We bees can see such things.”
            “OK. Why does the Queen want to see me?” asked Twigg.
            “We are not allowed to say outside of her presence. Will you come with us and meet with her, Twigg? A prince meeting a queen seems appropriate to us.”
            “Show me the way, bees. I will follow and meet with your Queen Bernadette!” agreed Twigg.
            So, Twigg followed Beatrice, Bernice, Beryl, Bobbi, and Bianca much further than he had ventured before. They walked for a good five miles to the southwest, coming at last to an abandoned farm. Twigg felt shy about this place, but he followed on.
            “Where is your home and your queen,” said Twigg. “I don’t see any bee hives here.”
            “Dear, not all bees live in hives. Sometimes we must make do with what we can find for shelter,” said Beatrice.
            Bianca said, “See that old pickup truck there? That is our home presently. Bernadette is there.”
            As Twigg approached the old green Ford sitting on its rims, he heard a deep persistent buzzing. Many voices hummed together songs of praise for their queen and promises of obedience unto death. There were also tiny voices, perhaps those were the unborn larva, he thought.
            “If you open the door and peer into the cab, she will come to meet you, “ said Bianca.
            Twigg had never opened a car or truck door before, but he figured it out and opened it. What he saw astounded him. The whole inside of the cab was full of freeform honey combs, and bees in their thousands working all around. They were caring for young, tending the combs, and doing all the business bees do when they are at home.
            As he was trying to take all of this activity in, a much larger bee walked out onto the truck’s seat and addressed him.
            “Greetings, Twigg. I’ve heard about you,” she said.
            “Here I am, Queen Bernadette. They said you wanted to see me!”
            They presented quite a scene. The handsome young hairy fellow bent over, facing the queen of the bees from her spot on the truck seat!
            “Here’s the picture, Prince Twigg. We have to move. This farmyard is going to get cleaned out soon. This truck which has been our home will be towed away to some junk yard. We can’t live in a junk yard or endure the move.
            “Now, some of my girls tell me that you have been building some things near the meadow. One of these things is a snug little house, so I have heard!
            “I have a proposal, young sir! If you will allow us to live in your dear little house, and will assist us in moving there, you may take as much of our honey as you like to your mother, leaving some for us to get started with at the new place.”
            Twigg didn’t even need to think about it. “Of course you may live in the tiny house, and I will help you move if you will tell me what to do. I have never tasted honey.”
            “Well then. We have a bargain I think,” said the queen. “But first, put your finger into the comb over my head and then taste what follows your finger out!”
            Hanging from the roof of the cab were several big curtains of honey comb. Twigg poked his forefinger into one, getting it sticky with honey. When he tasted it, he became a believer. He would be very pleased to trade the little basket house for some of this great wealth of honey, and to help the bees move.
            “Twigg, there is a wooden apple box on the inside porch of that old house. If you will fetch it, you may carry a great deal of honey comb away in it!” said Bernadette.
            Twigg crept over to the old farmhouse and pulled open the screen door to the porch. Inside there, as she had said, there was a nice wooden apple box, large and old fashioned.
            He took the box back to the truck and over the course of an hour put as much honey comb as he could into it. When he was done, he said, “what next?”
            “Would you please lift me to your left shoulder? I will ride there. Then you may carry the box on your right shoulder and all of my bees will follow you to the little house in the edge of the meadow,” said Bernadette.
            She had also instructed him on bringing some of the infants in their capsules, so they came along for the ride too. He promised to go back the next day to rescue more of the eggs and pupae.
            Then, strengthened by quite a lot of honey, Twigg carried the apple box and Queen Bernadette back that five miles to the meadow location of their new house. Most of the bees followed along behind them, leaving just a basic staff to care for the young left in the pickup cab until they could be gathered up also.
            When Queen Bernadette saw the wee basket house she was delighted!
            “Prince Twigg, it is even more wonderful than I had dared to hope!” she enthused. “Now, if you will gather some branches and bring them inside, we can use them to build new combs on! You can just set me on the box while you do it.”
            He did gather some nice branches from around the area and brought them into the little house and kind of arranged them in way that might be useful to bees. On them he put some of the honey comb and the sheets of capsules full of young bees also.
            “We can take it from here, Twigg,” said Bernadette. “Honey is not enough of a thanks to you, but it’s what we have! No bee in this forest will ever forget you!”
            While they talked thousands of bees arrived in groups of hundreds and set to work making a home in the basket house.
            “I better go home now,” said Twigg. He picked up the apple box and headed back into the forest, on his way to the Home Clearing. He loved the honey, but he hoped his mother was roasting something or stewing something.
            When Twigg got home after his long day, Ramona noticed right away that he was rather sticky and had a great big box on his shoulder.
            “Hi, Honey,” said Ramona. “Where have you been all day? Something fun?”
            So, Twigg told Ramona the whole long sticky story. She loved it and was tickled to get all that nice honey. She began planning dishes in her mind while Twigg was still talking.
            “Why don’t you go jump in the river for a minute, Twigg. When you get back you can dry off by the fire and dinner will be ready by then.”
            At dinner, Twigg told Ralph, Cherry and the cats the whole story too. They all had honey for desert and all got rather sticky. That required a late night visit to the river, but it was worth it!

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PS, I'm just a cat. I know nothing about caring for bees!!