June 28, 2021 Buzz…

Buzz crawled slowly through the grass. The heat was overwhelming, all he could do was survive the day. It felt like an extra weight pushed down upon every fibre of his being. He had never felt the intense temperature before and the sun scorched his back with burning razors. 

Buzz had to escape. 

He crawled deeper into the grass.  His search for flowers, for pollen or nectar of any kind, was forgotten in his need to survive. He was caught away from the hive in the blistering heat All he knew was the desire to live, to survive. Buzz needed to return to the hive with the treasures he had found. 

The moisture in the grass was his salvation. 

Until he was scooped up inside a mass of harsh surfaces. He pressed back and tried to fly away.

His wings beat frantically. 

Escape, he must escape. There was such a foul smell; he wanted out. He couldn’t move. The sole was pressing down on him. In his last effort, he pushed his stinger to attack. 

He knew it was over. 

It was all he could do. In his last moments of life, he fused with the man’s consciousness. He absorbed the minutes, the seconds of time. The human that crushed the life out of Buzz had no idea. 

But Buzz knew.

Buzz felt the pain, the energy, the anguish.

Buzz was released from his fatal trap. Time ceased to exist.

The tiny bee saw flashes of the man’s day as his existence vanished in the last seconds.

There were images of a boat launch, of his buddy on the lake. Another boat cruising to the Barona beach… Buzz envisioned flashes of earlier in the day. 

A rat’s nest of steel cable lowered to the ground, tangled with ropes being pulled in a mass of confusion.

But the man triumphed. There were two ropes and a cable all tangled with each other as if embracing like lovers not wanting to let go. 

But there was no love there.

The feeling was of frustration and determination. Drops of sweat poured down his face as he thirsted for salvation. Finally, the man walked five floors to the ground to get his water. He walked back up the five floors to return to his unenviable task 

The safety guy stopped to help.

Success!

Buzz felt the relief the man had when he released the mess of lines.

The bee saw echoes of the last feelings of the man: He was happy to find a parking spot at the Gellately boat launch. He desperately wanted to jump into the lake. The heat was overwhelming everything. The man’s thoughts bounced into the air as buzz lay there dying. 

Such a badly designed boat launch… Where was Brad? The need to be in the water. The man’s immediate thoughts flooded Buzz with a feeling of dread. 

Then came the fatal step.

The man yelled in pain. He slid his foot from the sandal.

Buzz fell free, his stinger, his life, left behind. 

He looked to the bright blue sky and saw the sandal descend. He knew that he would never see the hive again.

At least the heat didn’t kill him…