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THE FLOWERS AND THE BEES A Short Story

By Danny Ninal

Photography: Jon Sarmiento

THE FLOWERS AND

THE BEES By Danny Ninal

Prologue TRIPES, the Queen Bee will kill me if she finds out about us” Joe’Bee whispered to her ear while both of them lay down on the soft petals of a yellow flower just a few feet from the hive. “

“So like, why is it wrong to like, love a drone like you? Like, duh!” Stripes asked Joe’Bee, clasping his stubby fingers. “You know I will die once I make love with you, or with the queen, for that matter. This thing that will give you happiness, will remain in you, along with my abdominal parts which will be ripped off from my body. After that fleeting moment of joy I will have done my purpose in life.” Joe’Bee explained, wondering if it was better to have made the vows of celibacy. They both were interrupted by the group of worker bees leaving the hive to go for their daily collection trip. They will visit 50-100 flowers for this trip before they return to the hive with the nectars they bring for the colony.

“So like, would you prefer to like, see me go like, on collection trips?” she asked.

10 January 2014 Howick, Auckland New Zealand

The happiness of the bee is to extract the honey, in as much as the purpose of the flower is to provide it.

Like the bee to the flower, handle her with utmost care, extracting the sweetness without damaging the source. I Love you,, Honey.

10 January 2014 Howick, Auckland New Zealand

She asked herself so many times and found no answers. She was born on the first week of summer, and as a diploid, her whole 45-day life had already been laid out before her. One day, when she was still 5 days old, Lil’Bee, a senior worker bee, was assigned to train Stripes and prepare her for her job as a worker bee. Lil’Bee was little, but what she lacked in physical form she compensated with her vocal impropriety. And compensate she did. She shouted everything that she said. She had been especially assigned by the Queen, who heard that there was a special bee with an IQ higher than any bee in the beehive. And Lil’Bee took all her assignments seriously, especially those assigned by the Queen herself. Nobody disobeyed QB. Afternoon, on that day, Lil’Bee called Stripes for an evaluation meeting. With her folder, she walked around the training cell like a doctor on her hospital rounds. But unlike a doctor, this little terror was shout-

ing every item of the evaluation report to her. “What is your buzzing problem? When you were buzzing 2 days old you were supposed to be cleaning cells, starting with the one you were born in. What the buzz, This buzzing report shows that you were reading books. What? What is your buzzing problem, girl?” Lil’Bee was genuinely confused. She had never seen a bee reading before. But there was never a bee before like Stripes.

“In the last two buzzing days, your specific assignment was to feed older stupid larvae. This report showed you were found reading them stories about a “Colony Collapse Disorder. What the buzz is CCD?” Lil’Bee could hardly pronounce the words, much less understand what they meant. “So like, that is a problem that like we all are facing like now. And like, if it not properly resolved, like, we will cease to exist,” Stripes was about to give her the whole thesis, when Lil’Bee interrupted her (or more like the whole colony) with a shout that roared around the whole colony, “Whaaaaaat?”

“What the buzz is a ‘Colony Collapse Disorder?” Lil’Bee

Stripes went to bed that night wondering whether bees live only for 6 weeks during summer because of bees like Lil’Bee. More questions come, lesser answers arrive. Should we be as determined as Lil’Bee in performing her job? Is it enough to finish what we are supposed to do? If it is, would that define one’s happiness, to fulfil our purpose in life? Are we not allowed to be the best that we can be? Why am I given this intelligence that allows me to see the bigger picture? Is intelligence a curse, or a blessing? So many questions, so little time, so few answers. Then, Stripes had wondered why she was not that excited about going to her first collection trip. Her thoughts were all about the colony, but not as a worker, but as somebody whose concern was for the existence of the colony, which she found was about to collapse. Her studies on the Colony Collapse Disorder, had been promptly disregarded and ignored by the inner circle of the Queen’s Elite Council. The QEC had emailed her back politely saying that the official decision was to defer until further evidence shall be obtained to prove that CCD indeed was eminent, or that it even existed. For days, she kept to herself that dream doing something great for the colony. It was exactly 7 days after that encounter with Lil’Bee when the hope of fulfilling her dreams was again revived. While she was performing undertaker duties and carrying food, Stripes met Joe’Bee, the most handsome drone she had ever met. He had eyes bigger than anything she had seen before. Her wings beat more than the usual 200 per second every time she met him. She was immediately in love, definitely in love, abso-

lutely in love. “Oh My Queen, so like, am I supposed to be like in love?” “No, but you dance really well. I love watching you dance.” Joe’Bee stuttered, and for the first time he was not sure of himself. “OMQ, so like, I am dancing? Like really dancing?” and she too was unsure of herself. But she easily recovered, and said, “So like, I was trying like to give you the directions and distance of like the next source food…” but before she can finish explaining, Joe’Bee kissed her. He fluttered his wings around her and kissed her so gently like he was extracting nectar from a flower without destroying the flower itself. “OMQ, OMQ, OMQ….” “I have heard about you, and I thought I’d die before I had a chance to meet the most interesting bee that has ever been fertilized.” Joe’Bee finally got the courage to say something. He had never kissed a bee before. “So like, I don’t want you to like feel that I am like using you. But, I know you are like, close to the Queen. Would you like be able to ask her to like meet me for like a minute?”

“I can try. I’ll send you an email tonight. But if she does agree to meet you, please don’t be late. The queen doesn’t want to be interrupted on her mating schedules. She kind of enjoys every minute of it.” Joe’Bee reluctantly agreed, but also excited to see her again (and again, and again, ad infinitum).

“OMQ, OMQ, OMQ. Oh My Queen, so like, am I supposed to be like in love?” Stripes

Stripes was literally floating the rest of the day, recalling every second of the first kiss from her first love. She didn’t realize she was humming, when all of a sudden she was interrupted by the loud, melodically challenged shout of Lil’Bee. “What the buzz are you doing?” she shouted, “Why are you not performing your buzzing undertaker duties, carrying food, building combs and producing wax, which I have specifically buzzing told you to do? Finish it buzzing off, and send your daily buzzing report. Tomorrow you will start your buzzing guard duty and protect the hive entrance.” That evening, just after she emailed her daily report, she receive an email that would forever change her life. Joe’Bee told her to meet the queen tonight at 9pm, but for only 30 minutes, because there are 50 drones scheduled for mating that evening. She was trembling and for a moment her highly developed brain could not even find the file of her study on CCD, the Colony Collapse Disorder. “OMQ. OMQ. OMQ. I’m meeting the queen!”

I’m meeting the Queen

The meeting itself went smoothly, especially after Stripes recovered from the initial shock of actually being in front of QB. It had never happened in their colony, or in any colony for that matter, that a worker bee was called for a meeting with the Queen Bee. Her presentation was simple but much like a Steve Jobs launching speech, very catching and precise. She laid out her basic findings and gave a printed copy of the report to all present (including the sleepy Queen’s Elite Council).

“So like, Your Majesty QB, like we all have the signs and symptoms of like a collapsing colony.” “Can you please refrain or minimize using the word ‘like’ because it’s like, it’s like, Oh please…. Just continue” said the Queen Bee shaking her head. “So sorry, Your Majesty QB. As I was saying, my research findings show that, firstly, like (sorry) we do not have enough bees to maintain colony brood. So like, (sorry) we have a workforce that consists of younger adult bees. So like (sorry) where are our adult bees going? Why are some adult bees not coming back from collection trips? Are they going to other colonies? Are they pirated? Are other colonies better than ours?” The Queen Bee slowly turned to look at the members of the QEC, who one by one looked down, or just happened to have something to do when QB looked at them. “Can any of you members of my Elite Council answer any of the questions raised?” now QB’s voice is a pitch higher. The room was eerily silent, and all the heads of the QEC members were down. All the 6 members of the QEC were unceremoniously escorted out of the room, and later they learned that Lil’Bee personally threw each one of them out of the hive and out of the colony never to come back. Awkward moments. “So like, (sorry) in the last chapter of my report I have an Action Plan that I believe will stop the colony from collapsing, and will even increase our adult bee population.”

I will die once I make love with you... After that fleeting moment of joy, I will have done my purpose in life. Joeâ€™Bee

The Queen Bee flipped through the pages for about 45 seconds. Those were the longest 45 seconds of the life of Stripes. And finally, the Queen Bee stood up, and instructed Stripes to assemble the most intelligent bees of the colony. “So like, (sorry), Your Majesty, if you would, please allow me to make another suggestion.” “Oh please, proceed” “So like, (sorry), the team that I would need would not require intelligence, but would need passion and love. We have had so much intelligence that we have forgotten how it is really to love and to care for each other. “Oh please, So bee it,” pronounced the Queen Bee The following day, just before the sunrise, the special team was already assembled and briefed about their specific jobs to implement the Action Plan. Stripes, at 18 days old, became the youngest ever Collapse Disaster (CD) consultant of the colony, her title being A Bee CD consultant. It didn’t take long before the colony started to have more and more adult bees. More and more requests were coming from adult bees from other colonies. It has been spread throughout New Beeland that a certain colony adopted a very unique program that assured the colony to be free from CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder. More and more bees were relieved from a rigorous regimen, and were free to visit other cells. Stripes and Joe’Bee met regularly at their meeting place… the yellow flower just a few feet from the hive.

“So like, why is it wrong to like, love a drone like you? Like, duh!” Stripes asked Joe’’Bee clasping his stubby fingers. “You know I will die once I make love with you, or with the queen, for that matter. This thing that will give you happiness, will remain in you, along with my abdominal parts which will be ripped off from my body. After that fleeting moment of joy I will have done my purpose in life.” Joe’Bee explained, wondering if it was better to have made the vows of celibacy. They both were interrupted by the group of worker bees leaving the hive to go for their daily collection trip. They will visit 50-100 flowers for this trip before they return to the hive with the nectars they bring for the colony. “So like, would you prefer to like, see me go like, on collection trips?” she asked. “Whatever you wish, my love. But for the record let me tell you, that tonight will be the best night of my life. And this is what I am made for, to mate. And I fulfil the purpose with joy because I do it with the one special bee that made the difference in this whole colony.” “So like, I have found my purpose like in life. And like I realize, that it is not like as much fulfilling your purpose in life, as much as finding it. And thereby your happiness lies.”

Then she looked coyly at those beautiful eyes and murmured softly, “Like, are you like ready to go like to heaven?” “Isn’t this story for the birds and the bees?” “Nah, like it is for like the flowers and the bees.” “Whaaaaaaat?” THE END

14 Special Thanks to Jonathan Sarmiento for the magnificent photos, to Danielle Angelika for editing, and to Jia Christi for the inspiration.