A FINE SUMMER’S DAY
Hey, look at that one, such pretty colors on it’s wings. Oh no, don’t sit there, not on me you silly thing. All right, I won’t move. You can stay for a little while. I can smell you and you have a very strange odor. . . . musty and, and, KERCHEW there you’ve gone and made me sneeze. It seems that I am allergic to your kind of bug. . . . too bad you are really very pretty.
Oh I guess I should start my rounds. It’s so nice out here on the deck. A slight breeze is keeping the heat at bay. There’s just enough to warm these old bones.
NOw, I’d better look around out back. Some kids came over the fence yesterday when I was inside. Let’s see if they took anything important. There are some old pots here that she meant to use again. They’re still there. And that toilet. . .going to be a planter someday I guess. That old iron bedstead. . . why is she saving that. It’s turning red because of all the rain we had this year. . .rusty. And weeds all over the place hiding who can imagine what. . . . no sign of the kids though.
What’s that, a different kind of sound, buzzing and whirring around my head. I duck. It’s coming so close it’s scaring me. It’s big and black and round and buzzing like crazy . . . . a bee, just a bee. . . . a bumble bee.
It’s not one of those killer bees coming up from the south. They aren’t bumble bees. They look more like our honey bees, I’ve heard that they’ll come after you, chase you around stinging and stinging and if enough of them get together, they can KILL. Do they lose their stingers when they sting like our honey bees do? I guess if there are enough of them it doesn’t matter. They’re like kamakaze pilots.
They seem to like the new plants she put in, buzzing around the flowers, collecting nectar. I think those flowers smell foul. There is no accounting for taste, smell, that is (a pun).
I’d best get going. It’s not very pleasant here anymore with the insects moving in. Now to the front of the house. is everything in order. The windows should be shut this time of day and the alarms turned on because she’s out shopping. she doesn’t count on me to do much now that my hearing isn’t so reliable anymore and I’m getting so stiff. I still think I should do my part, keep an eye on things you know. I can set off the alarm if anything is amiss.
Hey, she’s back. The car just drove up. Who are those men with her? I’ve never seen them before and here they come, back here in the yard with me. Why are they tearing up her garden? Admittedly, those plants smell bad, but they’re hacking them to pieces and stuffing them into plastic bags.
They’ve taken the bags away now and her too. Only one of them is left. He’s here now, standing beside me. His touch is gentle on my shoulder, but firm. He says I can’t stay here alone and to “come along, now”. I must, it seems. He has the other end of the leash.
Claire Read