• "Hello gorgeous." she cooed as a fat honey bee buzzed in front of her face. She kept only half her attention on the little bug as he zig-zagged around her head with interest. The sun beat down beautifully on the tall poa grass. It licked at her fingers as she swept a hand forward and grabbed at her skin sweeping back. She turned her face up towards the sky, eyes closed, The sun warmed through her eyelids. The birds in a nearby oak tree sang. The buzzing faded away. "The bee has gone", she thought.,"He was such a delightfully curious little one. It's a shame to miss him".

    A small red car drove by kicking up dirt on the small dusty road, marking midday on this pleasant afternoon. The girl looked towards the road and back to her picnic scene as a ladybug landed on her nose. She reach a hand up coaxed it onto her finger. Speaking to him, only male ladybugs have spots you know, with a soft excitement she whispered "it must be just about lunch time then!" she begun to walk back to the spot in the grass she'd worn out over the last few days. "that was John. He goes home to have lunch with his husband every day at the same time" The ladybug, whom the girl had summarily named King, flicked its wings in response. "Oh absolutely darling, I agree."

    The scent of blueberries wafted through breezy summer air. "and one for you!" she smiled, setting half a sweet berry in the path of some leaf-cutter ants. "and one for me." She ate and admired the meadow with its mutant daisy weeds and wild strawberry patch pocked white with fresh young fruit and flowers.

    A quiet hum caught her attention. Squinting against the light that flitted through the leaves of the oak tree she searched for the source of the noise. Against one of the highest branches sat the fresh foundations of a beehive. "So that's where he came came from". She closed her eyes again against the bright sun, lay her head against the trunk behind her and hummed a light tune.

    "hMMmmm hmmmuhmmm mhm....such old wise wood.....what things have you seen? uhhmmmmm" she sang softly, palms tracing the winding roots, bare feet with toes against the cool earth "can you hear me?" the breeze shook the branches. "well i suppose you can" she giggled opening her eyes again to watch the bees. There were only a few blueberries left. "a perfect offering to the meadow" she thought and tossed them into the grass.

    She slowly began to gather her lunch container and water bottle. A smaller bee landed on her bottle lid. "Good afternoon, I'd say you're a bit late to lunch." There was buzzing behind her and she turned, bottle in hand, to meet it. To her surprise two more buzzed around the bottle, one familiar fat boy and his friend. "Hello again. It's sweet tea, can you smell it? CAN bee's smell? Would you like some?" She nudged the small one off and he joined his friends buzzing excitedly as she poured some into the palm of her hand. They landed and drank, their fuzzy little feet getting wet and long tongues lapping up sweet tea. The bees, now quenched, flew off together.

    The girl turned back to finish gathering her things. Grabbing her shoes she talked at the tree "I need to put them on to walk home you know. I'll visit again soon I promise." she said, sliding on one of her boots. The familiar sound of too-small wings flying closer struck her ears. As she bent to pick up her next boot, a large blueberry fell onto the floor. She picked it up, puzzled, and stood to find three bees hovering. She smiled "these were for the meadow" and tossed it to the poa grasss' edge. The bees flew after it. She watched curiously as they worked together to pick it up.
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    A girl stands under an oak tree with one boot on playing fetch with bees and a blueberry. The sun shines on the meadow.