17 - Why I'm Afraid of Bees (9 page)

I hurried up the back steps and into the house. As I ran through the kitchen,
I crashed right into Krissy. As usual, she was carrying Claus under one arm.

“Watch where you’re going!” Krissy snapped at me.

She probably expected me to snap back at her and try to push her out of my
way. But instead I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a big hug. Then I planted
a kiss on her cheek.

“Yuck! Gross!” she cried and wiped the cheek with her hand.

I laughed happily.

“Don’t give me your cooties, creep!” Krissy cried.

“You’re a creep!” I replied.

“No,
you’re
a creep!” she repeated.

“You’re a jerk!” I shouted.

It felt so good to be calling her names again!

I gleefully called her a few more things. Then I hurried upstairs to see my
parents.

I met them as they were coming out of my room.

“Mom! Dad!” I cried. I hurried to them, planning to throw my arms around
them.

But they thought I was just trying to get into my room. “Don’t go in there,
Gary,” warned my dad. “You left your window open again, and a swarm of bees got
in there.”

“You’d better go next door,” Mom said. “Get Mr. Andretti. He’ll know how to
get them out.”

I couldn’t hold back any longer. I threw my arms around my mother’s neck and
gave her a big kiss. “Mom, I missed you so much!”

My mother hugged me back, but I saw her exchange a curious look with my dad. “Gary?” she asked. “Are you okay? How
could you miss me when you’ve been right here in this house?”

“Well…” I thought fast. “I meant that I missed spending time with you. We
really need to do more things together.”

My mother spread one hand over my forehead. “No. No temperature,” she told my
father.

“Gary,” Dad said impatiently. “Would you mind running over and getting Mr.
Andretti? If we don’t get those bees out of your room, you’ll never be able to
go to sleep tonight!”

“Bees?” I said casually. “Hey, no problem. I’ll take care of them.”

I reached out and started to open my door. Before I could, Dad grabbed my
arm. “Gary!” he cried in alarm. “What’s the matter with you? There are bees in
your room! B-E-E-S. Don’t you remember—you’re scared of bees!”

I stared back at him and thought about what he’d said. To my surprise, I
realized I was no longer the slightest bit scared of bees! In fact, I was
actually looking forward to seeing them again.

“No problem, Dad,” I told him. “I guess I must have outgrown that, or
something.”

I opened the door and went into my room. Sure enough, there was the old
swarm, buzzing away over the plate of honey and crackers on the bed.

“Hi, guys!” I said cheerfully. “Time to leave now!”

I walked over to the bed and waved my hands at them, trying to shoo them back
out the window. A few of them buzzed angrily at me.

I laughed to myself. Then I picked up the plate of crackers and honey and
dumped it out the window. “Go get it!” I told them.

I shooed them gently out the window.

“Good-bye!” I called to them as they left. “Thanks! Take good care of the
honeycombs! I’ll try to come visit as soon as I can!”

When the last bee was gone, I turned around and saw my parents. They were
standing absolutely motionless in the doorway, staring at me, frozen with shock.

“Dad?” I said. “Mom?”

My dad blinked and seemed to come back to life. He crossed the room and put a
hand on my shoulder. “Gary? Are you feeling all right?”

“Just fine,” I replied, grinning happily. “Just fine.”

That whole crazy adventure happened about a month ago.

Now it’s nearly fall. I’m sitting in my favorite place under the maple tree
in the back yard, reading a book and chomping down taco chips.

I just love coming out here. All the fall flowering plants are in bloom, and
the yard is really pretty.

I’ve been spending the last few days of my summer vacation relaxing back
here. Of course, I also go to the playground a lot.

The other day I ran into that girl with the red hair I saw coming out of the
Person-to-Person office. We started talking, and I didn’t trip over my own feet
or anything. She seems very nice. I hope she doesn’t plan to switch lives with
anybody else!

That conversation and a lot of things have made me realize that my short life
as a bee really changed me.

First of all, it taught me to appreciate my family for the first time ever.
My parents are pretty nice. And my sister is okay. For a sister.

And now, I’m not scared of any of the things I used to be scared of.
Yesterday, I walked right by Marv, Barry, and Karl, and I didn’t bat an eye.

In fact, when I remembered how I buzzed them, I almost burst out laughing.

I’m not at all scared of them anymore. And I’m different in other ways, too.

I’m a lot better at sports and bike riding and things. And I’m a great
skateboarder now. In fact, I still give lessons. Judy and Kaitlyn hang around me
all the time. And Gail and Louie, too.

The other day, I actually ran into Dirk Davis at the playground. At first, I
didn’t want to talk to him. But then he turned out to be pretty nice.

He apologized to me. “I’m sorry I tried to steal your body,” he said. “But
things didn’t turn out so well for me, either. That bee flunked all my math
tests in summer school!”

We both had a good laugh about that. And now Dirk and I are friends.

So all in all, my life is back to normal.

I feel terrific, totally normal.

In fact, I feel much better than normal.

It’s so great to sit here in the back yard, reading and relaxing, smelling
the fresh fall air, enjoying the flowers.

Mmmmmm.

Those hollyhocks are really awesome.

Excuse me a moment while I get up and take a closer look.

That blossom down near the ground is so perfect.

I think I’ll get down on my knees to take a quick taste.

Do you know how to suck the pollen out?

I’ve figured out the best way. It’s not as hard as it looks.

You just pucker your lips and stick your tongue way out like this, see?

Then you dip your face down into the blossom and suck up all the pollen you
want.

Try it.

Go ahead.

Mmmmmmmm.

Go ahead. It’s easy. Really!

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