Page 90 of Lovebug
“I like the name,” he says.
“You do?”
“It’s clever, yeah. Bee’selbowsinstead of bee’s knees.”
“Yes!”I exclaim.
“I’ve actually considered that saying before. With six appendages on an insect, who’s to say which are the bee’s knees and which are the elbows?”
“Exactly!” I’m pretty sure my cheeks are getting pinker by the second.
“So this is your business?” He gestures to the stand and my small inventory of honeycombs.
“Uhhhh…” My voice inches up a few too many pitches. “Business is probably too strong a word. More like… a pipe dream not worth piping. I’m just using my last bit of inventory as giveaways today to help spread word and support for the Save the Bees Foundation.”
“Why?”
“Because a world without bees would mean a world on the brink of famine. A world without bees would be a world where seventy percent of our food crops would go unpollinated. A world without bees—”
“Sorry to interrupt what I’m sure was going to be a fantastic speech. What I actually meant though was why is it ‘a pipe dream not worth piping’? But I couldn’t agree more that the bees need to be saved. Shall I sign your petition?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Please sign the petition.”
I reach behind me to the booth, grab the fluffy yellow bumblebee pen, and hand it to him. Our fingers connect a moment longer than necessary, and that zing thing happens to me again.
“Nice touch,” he says.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to touch you for so long.”
“I meant the bumblebee pen. It’s a nice touch.”
“Oh! Yes. Thanks! It is, yes. I have a thing for fluffy pens. And bees. So a fluffy penwithbees felt like a perfect match.”
I’m talking too much. It’s then I realize that this big beautiful man is standing there with a fluffy bumblebee pen in his hand and nothing to sign.
“Here you go, here’s the petition.”
He takes it from me, no extra touching this time.
“Thank you.”
I watch him skim the petition and start to sign.
“To, uh, to answer your question from before… it’s not that I actually think it’s a pipe dream unworthy of piping. I think having my own honey-making business would be out-of-this-world amazing. I just… well, what you’re looking at here is my full inventory from an amazing, life-changing workshop I took last summer. Tried to get my own up and running this season from my parents' backyard—yes, I know, I still live with my parents—but I got shut down by ‘neighborhood regulations’ before I even began. Anyway—”
“Set your hive up next to mine.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your hive,” he says simply. “Set it up next to mine.”
“You have a hive?”
“Of course,” he scoffs. “Who doesn’t?”
“Um. Most people?”
“Most people don’t understand the awesomeness of partnering with nature like you and I do, Mabel. You still have your hive?”
