I Bee Going Crazy

As I drove out of town yesterday, chatting blithely with my good buddy on my hands-free device, I happened to notice two suspicious-looking, high-school-height-appearing persons on a corner. They were covered head to foot in sweat gear, with their hoodies' drawstrings cinched so tightly only an inch or two of face, mostly nose, poked out. It appeared they were wearing gloves, and one was wielding a rake. They were sort of jabbing and ducking, and then darting around the corner.

It was just weird enough for me to hang up on my friend and make a right turn to go around the block for a second look.

I came back around and pulled over, trying to figure out what the heck they were doing, or whom or what they were menacing with that rake. But then I am pretty sure they spotted me, because they ran down the block and through a gate into a backyard. The gate had a house number that I noted as I drove by, vowing to figure out just which one of our students lived at that residence.

This morning when I arrived at school I asked our registrar to look up the address. She cocked her head when I recited the number and asked if the house had dark brown shake shingles.

"Well," she said, "I don't have to look that up. That's the Does' house!"

Of course it was Jonny Doe's house.

Jonny Doe and I go way back, as I taught both of his older siblings (AND he's visited my office a time or two...). He's a student I chat with casually on the quad at least once a day, and he has even devised a special handshake for the two of us. He can be a knucklehead, but he's eminently loveable.

"So, Jonny," I greeted him today during Break, "were you by any chance standing on a street corner yesterday, say, around 4:30 PM, wearing your hood and carrying a rake?"

His eyes widened and he started laughing.

"Did you see us? Cool! Ms. M, we knocked out the BIGGEST bee hive! I used the rake, and G had the spray...I even tasted some of the honey--yum!"

"Those were your Bee Suits, Jonny?"

"Yeah; we even covered our hands with socks."

"I thought you saw me, because you ran off into your yard..."

"Yeah, no...that was when the bees were chasing us."

"Right. And I can totally relate to your bee problem...But it looked kind of bad, you know...two kids, incognito, running around with a rake..."

Jonny looked around and then lowered his voice. "Well...shhhhh. We did set off some firecrackers to get the bees out of there, and one of the rockets kinda went into the street...but I don't think it caused any damage."

And then that was me, hands over my ears and singing, "Lalalalalalalala...." as I walked away shaking my head.

Meanwhile, our bee exterminator returned today to blow out the hive on the left end of the wall, which he missed when he came out on Monday to take care of the hive on the right end of the wall.

Enough already.