Abby was nervous. The school librarian had helped her with books about bees. She really wanted ones about being a scientist, but the librarian said she should start with the bees. She would look for a good book about being a scientist for her, but suggested the bees first. Her grandma had told her to talk to Mr. Forrester, but he was scary. Everyone said he wasn’t but he always looked grumpy. Especially when he was working in the garden. She told her brother, Ben that ‘he argues with the plants!’ When he was telling his stories, his face looked different, but she didn’t want to hear his stories. She wanted him to tell her what to do for the bees. Miss Dez just lived right beside them where her grandma used to live before she married grandpa James. But Miss Dez had a boyfriend and he was always there so she had to watch when his truck was gone. She could also write a note to her and put it in her mailbox. Until then she’d just walk out to the orchard. It wasn’t weird for her to go out to the orchard by herself with a book and just read. She could take the book about bees with her. She’d stay on the far side of the orchard so Mr. Forrester couldn’t see her. If she saw Mr. Matt’s truck drive away, she could go to her and see if she had time to talk. She knew the grass was still wet, so put a ground sheet, her bee book, note book, a pencil and a sandwich in her backpack and went to the orchard.
~~~~~
They had had a late morning. Matt had just left for the day. She wouldn’t see him til supper time They were meeting in Hartley for a date night. Every night had seemed like a date night lately, whether they went out or stayed in. But tonight was special. The first day of spring night. Maybe they would set a date for tying the knot. Since they had gotten engaged they hadn’t talked about it. Which made Dez a bit uneasy, but they continued on their way just living together at her home or at his. There’d also been no further plans to build the tiny house in the area she and Samuel had cleared. That was definitely a thing of the past. Those plans had come before she and Matt were finally together.
Dez heard the metallic flap of the mail box. Seldom any mail came to her but bills and junk mail. She really had to put a sign up saying ‘No Junk mail’ but that had never been a priority for her so she just tossed them all in recycling. Picking up her coffee, she went to the front door. “Shouldn’t be any bills today. I’m pretty sure they’re all in and have been paid. Oh well, I’ll clean out the junk.” Setting her mug down on the little table just outside her door, she took a deep breath of the spring air. Warm sunshine and not even a breath of wind. Lifting the mail flap she couldn’t see anything. Just before she let go of the lid, she saw what looked like a scrap of paper in the corner. “That’s odd. Someone playing a prank?” Reaching in she picked it up. She turned and looked around to see if there was anyone. The only person she could see was little Abby from next door, but she was heading to the orchard. Maybe she had seen someone on her porch. The scrap of paper was in fact a small notebook page folded in half. She turned it over. It was addressed to her in block letters. Opening it, she read. “If you have time to talk with me today, would you come to the orchard and tell me about your bees. I’m supposed to talk to Mr. Forrester too, but I want to talk to you first. Abby, your neighbour.” As she read, a smile spread across her face. “Now what would she want to know about bees? I hardly know anything. Everything I know I learned from Samuel and from Matt. But if she wants to talk to me, I’ll go find her.” Taking her coffee mug into the kitchen, Dez changed her shoes, put her sweater on and followed Abby’s direction to the orchard.
~~~~~
“Hi Samuel, are you busy right now? I guess that’s a question I don’t need an answer to - you’re always busy with something. I have a young lady here who wants to ask you some questions that we both need answers to.” Samuel had just come out of the shed carrying a jar filled with what looked like water. “Well, I’m about to feed the bees but I’m always ready to talk to a young lady with questions. Is that Martha’s granddaughter I see with you?” Dez looked down at Abby and whispered “It’s ok. You can tell him.”
Abby stepped a bit closer to Dez. “Yes sir, I’m Abby. I need to know about the bees. Are you really feeding them? Don’t they get nectar from the flowers?”
Samuel put his jar back in the shed. Returning, he squatted to Abby’s level and gently said “You call me Samuel and I’ll call you Abby.” He glanced up at Dez. She nodded. “Yes, this year the bees need to be fed. They just didn’t get enough from the flowers last year. Do you want to help me?”
“Yes sir…..I mean Samuel. I really want to be a scientist when I grow up and want to learn how to help the bees so they don’t die. Can Miss Dez help too?” She looked up at her with her big blue eyes. She kind of liked Samuel now, but was still a bit afraid of him. If he could feed bees, he couldn’t be all bad. But she still wanted Miss Dez with her. “Before we help Samuel, I need to know if your mom knows where you are?”
“I told her I was going to the orchard and then if you had time to talk I’d be with you. So I guess she sort of knows where I am.” Dez pulled her cell phone out. “Here. You call your mom and tell her we’re with Samuel at the bee hives.”
~~~~~
Abby had finally found her voice. When she heard Samuel talking about feeding the bees, all sorts of questions popped like firecrackers in her head? This was better than the book she had with her. Miss Dez wanted to help her and Samuel wasn’t scary at all.
~~~~~
“For the things we have to learn before
we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
~ Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics
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