KING BEE

Actually, there's no such thing as a king bee...

 

 

                                    KING BEE

     Charles was in a bad mood that morning, and Mallory made things worse by remarking “You sure got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. In fact, you got up on the wrong side of the room.” Charles said some unprintable things to her, and she said them right back at him.

 

     Finally he got on his high horse and rode it out the kitchen door and all the way to the apiary. There he sat on a bench and looked at the hives. Bees are stupid, he thought. The worker bees do nothing but work till they die. And the drones--well, they’re even worse. All they do is wait around waiting to service the queen. It’s like a bum lying on the sidewalk hoping for a half bottle of whisky to drop from the sky. Now the queen is the one that has it made. She produces. Without her there wouldn’t be a hive. I wonder why there isn’t a king bee?

 

 

     Charlie stood up. Half-jokingly, he spoke to the hive: “How would you like a king?” Something sharp stung his ear. He put his hand up and pulled out a tiny gold arrow. There was another sting on his forehead and one on his neck. They don’t want me here, he thought. “Stop it!” he roared. “I’m your king!”

 

     A large bee flew out of the hive and toward him. Fearing to get stung again, Charles stepped back.  But the bee turned into a beautiful woman with amber hair and jet black eyes. She wore a yellow robe, and in her hand was a crown, which she held out to him. “I’ve thought of abdicating for a long time,” she said. “It would be nice to go on a world trip--see bee hives in Hong Kong. . . caves in Egypt where they’ve found honey jars thousands of years old. . . France. . . Germany. . .

 

     Put this crown on, and you’ll turn into a bee. Though laying eggs might be a bit of a problem for you. And I don’t exactly how you’ll manage to mate with a drone.”

 

     Charles took another step backward. He hadn’t thought that far. “It might not be such a good idea after all,” he said.

 

     “In that case, why don’t you drink this?” The crown this lovely bee-woman was holding out to him turned into a cup.

 

     Charles looked at it suspiciously. “Will it change me?”

 

     “Only for the better.”  Charles wasn’t sure what that meant, but her beauty was hypnotic. He took the cup and drank.

 

     The honey was sweet with an edge of darkness to it. Everything began to swim, and he felt himself losing consciousness…

 

                                          ****

 

     Charlie woke up in his own bed. For a minute he just lay there, wondering which was the right side. Then he saw that half the room was filled with golden light. He rolled into it and got up.

 

               Mallory noticed that Charlie was whistling when he came into the kitchen. “You certainly got up on the right side of the bed this morning. Have some breakfast.”

 

     “I will,” Charlie said. “But first I’m going out to the apiary and check on the queen bee. She might have decided to abdicate.”

 

     Mallory laughed. “That’s ridiculous. The queen stays with her hive for life. You know that.”

 

     “You’re right.” Charles sat down, poured a cup of coffee and grabbed a piece of toast.

 

     Mallory looked at him more closely. “There’s something shining in your hair. What is it?”

 

     Charles reached to his head and felt something tiny and hard. No, he thought. It was just a dream. Wasn’t it? His fingers fumbled out a miniscule gold arrow. Charles looked at it for a while and then got up. “I think I’ll go out at have a quick look at the hives,” he said. “Just in case.”

Reviews

[Taylor]

I enjoyed this a lot, Marie. Great dialog, nice details,fun use of clichés and imaginative plot. Up to your usual standards.

[Marie]

Thanks. I wrote this for a bee magazine, but I've forgotten if it was published or not.

[Serge Wlodarski]

Marie, thanks for reading my stories and commenting. Since you like cats, in a few minutes I'll post Behind Blue Eyes. The cats really are in charge.

King Bee is quite good. "Be careful what you wish for" is a topic that seems to pop up in my writing a lot.

[Marie]

Thanks. I hope I get to read your story.

[The Pheonix Lotus]

"Finally he got on his high horse and rode it out the kitchen door"

That was my favorite line. The image it gave me was hilarious.

[Marie]

Thanks You aren't the only one who liked that line...

[Isabel25]

Charles said "Unprintable" things to her??? Hah! I liked that line very much. I enjoyed reading this very much. Can you tell me if the mini-golden arrow has some specific meaning?

[Marie]

THanks. In his dream Charles was shot with mini-gold arrows. WHen he rindsone in the real world,he wonders how much was dreamed after all...

[Stonz P.]

"Charlie stood up. Half-jokingly, he spoke to the hive"
This was the only place where you missed Charles.

This story is a great reflection for me.

I interpreted the beginning to be a man for some acknowledgement and feels to be needed, and he thinks that can be achieved if only he were more accepted, and the solution he has is to be more regarded than his wife (male ego).

The second part is his reality and what he is really like.. and he still wishes for the dream to come true..but life happens as it is... as a harsh reality.

I liked this a lot.

P.S.: I would like to know your views on my prose. I too primarily write prose but have indulged in poetry on the site; it would be helpful indeed to know about the quality of them. Thank you in advance.

[Marie]

Thanks. This was a little fluff piece without any real meaning.
I would like to read some of your prose, but all you've posted so far are poems.

[Stonz P.]

There are only a few. I will send you RRs for a couple.

[Elan Vital 23]

Every man wants to believe he can entice the queen bee. I like the way you presented her as more than a social prestige. Indeed I like to think I might have something to say to such an apparition. In fact I am pretty much intrigued by the feminine mystique in general even if I do appear a thrall with no earthly recourse.

[Marie]

Thank you. I'm sure you could deal with a queen bee.

[Elan Vital 23]

Marie, I was revisiting this post and noticed the quote with the title. There are male bees, the female drones raise them special when there is need, I've heard them called king bees by bee keepers I believe. I guess maybe that's not technically correct, just saying.

[Marie]

Well, I don't really know that much about bees. I just needed something to build a story around.

[Pax]

sweet! there is always something in your stories that has morals in it or simply say i always enjoyed a short story such wonderful as this... thanks for sharing Marie...

[Marie]

Thank you for reading and commenting.

[Woody]

"got on his high horse and rode it out the kitchen door" love it.
nice little fantasy. you mostly write poems, Marie, so it's nice to see you write a short one now and then.

[Marie]

Thanks Woody. Axtually I'd much rather write prose than poems, but poetry is more popular on this site. I post a story about once a week.