17 - Why I'm Afraid of Bees Read online

  It was hard to breathe. I felt so tired, so weak.

  I floated out the window and sank to the grass below.

  I thought I recognized the shape of the old maple tree where I used to read books and spy on Mr. Andretti. But my sight was so bad, it was hard to be sure about anything. The whole world swirled in gray shadow.

  I could no longer hold up my head. The gray shadows grew darker and darker.

  Until the world faded completely from view.

  I sat up slowly. The ground spun beneath me.

  Where was I?

  My back yard?

  I blinked, struggling to bring it all into focus, waiting for my eyes to clear.

  “There’s the old maple tree!” I cried. “And there’s my house! And there’s Mr. Andretti’s house!”

  Was I alive?

  Was I really alive, sitting in my back yard, seeing all the familiar places?

  Did I have my strength back?

  I decided to test it. I tried to spread my wings and fly up into the air.

  But for some reason, my wings didn’t seem to be working. My body felt heavy and strange.

  I frowned and looked down, inspecting myself to see what was wrong. “Whoooa!” I cried out in surprise. Instead of six legs, I saw two arms and two legs and my skinny old body.

  Breathlessly, I reached up to touch my face. My extra eyes were gone—and so were my antennas, and my layer of feathery fuzz. Instead, I felt hair! And smooth, human skin!

  I jumped up and shouted for joy. “I’m a person again! I’m me! I’m me!”

  I threw my arms around my chest and gave myself a hug. Then I danced around the back yard, testing my arms and legs.

  They worked! They all worked!

  I couldn’t get over how wonderful it was to be human again!

  “But how did it happen?” I asked myself. “What happened to Dirk Davis?”

  For a chilling instant, I wondered if Dirk had been forced into a bee’s body the way I had.

  Probably not, I decided.

  But what had happened?

  How did I get my body back?

  Was it the bee sting? Did the shock of the sting send us all back to the bodies we belonged in?

  “I’ve got to call Ms. Karmen and find out!” I realized.

  But for now, all I wanted to do was see my family.

  I hurried up the back steps and into the house. As I ran through the kitchen, I crashed right into Krissy. As usual, she was carrying Claus under one arm.

  “Watch where you’re going!” Krissy snapped at me.

  She probably expected me to snap back at her and try to push her out of my way. But instead I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a big hug. Then I planted a kiss on her cheek.

  “Yuck! Gross!” she cried and wiped the cheek with her hand.

  I laughed happily.

  “Don’t give me your cooties, creep!” Krissy cried.

  “You’re a creep!” I replied.

  “No, you’re a creep!” she repeated.

  “You’re a jerk!” I shouted.

  It felt so good to be calling her names again!

  I gleefully called her a few more things. Then I hurried upstairs to see my parents.

  I met them as they were coming out of my room.

  “Mom! Dad!” I cried. I hurried to them, planning to throw my arms around them.

  But they thought I was just trying to get into my room. “Don’t go in there, Gary,” warned my dad. “You left your window open again, and a swarm of bees got in there.”

  “You’d better go next door,” Mom said. “Get Mr. Andretti. He’ll know how to get them out.”

  I couldn’t hold back any longer. I threw my arms around my mother’s neck and gave her a big kiss. “Mom, I missed you so much!”

  My mother hugged me back, but I saw her exchange a curious look with my dad. “Gary?” she asked. “Are you okay? How could you miss me when you’ve been right here in this house?”

  “Well…” I thought fast. “I meant that I missed spending time with you. We really need to do more things together.”

  My mother spread one hand over my forehead. “No. No temperature,” she told my father.

  “Gary,” Dad said impatiently. “Would you mind running over and getting Mr. Andretti? If we don’t get those bees out of your room, you’ll never be able to go to sleep tonight!”

  “Bees?” I said casually. “Hey, no problem. I’ll take care of them.”

  I reached out and started to open my door. Before I could, Dad grabbed my arm. “Gary!” he cried in alarm. “What’s the matter with you? There are bees in your room! B-E-E-S. Don’t you remember—you’re scared of bees!”

  I stared back at him and thought about what he’d said. To my surprise, I realized I was no longer the slightest bit scared of bees! In fact, I was actually looking forward to seeing them again.

  “No problem, Dad,” I told him. “I guess I must have outgrown that, or something.”

  I opened the door and went into my room. Sure enough, there was the old swarm, buzzing away over the plate of honey and crackers on the bed.

  “Hi, guys!” I said cheerfully. “Time to leave now!”

  I walked over to the bed and waved my hands at them, trying to shoo them back out the window. A few of them buzzed angrily at me.

  I laughed to myself. Then I picked up the plate of crackers and honey and dumped it out the window. “Go get it!” I told them.

  I shooed them gently out the window.

  “Good-bye!” I called to them as they left. “Thanks! Take good care of the honeycombs! I’ll try to come visit as soon as I can!”

  When the last bee was gone, I turned around and saw my parents. They were standing absolutely motionless in the doorway, staring at me, frozen with shock.

  “Dad?” I said. “Mom?”

  My dad blinked and seemed to come back to life. He crossed the room and put a hand on my shoulder. “Gary? Are you feeling all right?”

  “Just fine,” I replied, grinning happily. “Just fine.”

  26

  That whole crazy adventure happened about a month ago.

  Now it’s nearly fall. I’m sitting in my favorite place under the maple tree in the back yard, reading a book and chomping down taco chips.

  I just love coming out here. All the fall flowering plants are in bloom, and the yard is really pretty.

  I’ve been spending the last few days of my summer vacation relaxing back here. Of course, I also go to the playground a lot.

  The other day I ran into that girl with the red hair I saw coming out of the Person-to-Person office. We started talking, and I didn’t trip over my own feet or anything. She seems very nice. I hope she doesn’t plan to switch lives with anybody else!

  That conversation and a lot of things have made me realize that my short life as a bee really changed me.

  First of all, it taught me to appreciate my family for the first time ever. My parents are pretty nice. And my sister is okay. For a sister.

  And now, I’m not scared of any of the things I used to be scared of. Yesterday, I walked right by Marv, Barry, and Karl, and I didn’t bat an eye.

  In fact, when I remembered how I buzzed them, I almost burst out laughing.

  I’m not at all scared of them anymore. And I’m different in other ways, too.

  I’m a lot better at sports and bike riding and things. And I’m a great skateboarder now. In fact, I still give lessons. Judy and Kaitlyn hang around me all the time. And Gail and Louie, too.

  The other day, I actually ran into Dirk Davis at the playground. At first, I didn’t want to talk to him. But then he turned out to be pretty nice.

  He apologized to me. “I’m sorry I tried to steal your body,” he said. “But things didn’t turn out so well for me, either. That bee flunked all my math tests in summer school!”

  We both had a good laugh about that. And now Dirk and I are friends.

  So all in all, my life is back to normal.
r />   I feel terrific, totally normal.

  In fact, I feel much better than normal.

  It’s so great to sit here in the back yard, reading and relaxing, smelling the fresh fall air, enjoying the flowers.

  Mmmmmm.

  Those hollyhocks are really awesome.

  Excuse me a moment while I get up and take a closer look.

  That blossom down near the ground is so perfect.

  I think I’ll get down on my knees to take a quick taste.

  Do you know how to suck the pollen out?

  I’ve figured out the best way. It’s not as hard as it looks.

  You just pucker your lips and stick your tongue way out like this, see?

  Then you dip your face down into the blossom and suck up all the pollen you want.

  Try it.

  Go ahead.

  Mmmmmmmm.

  Go ahead. It’s easy. Really!

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