“I’d be happy to help,” Marsden said. “Maybe we can discuss things in a day or two, so I know what you’re thinking. I might have some ideas about those mites.”
Her dad nodded, exhausted. He picked up the peas and closed his eyes again. Cassie knew what it cost him to ask for help, the man who’d always managed everything. Who’d been opinionated and overbearing but believed in his heart he was doing right for his family. He’d been reluctant to accept help even with her mom, allowing someone in only so he could go to work. Insisting he knew best what she needed. It had to be humiliating to bump up against his own frailty.
“Thank you,” Cassie said as she walked Marsden outside. “I’m sure you didn’t bargain for all this.”
“I’m glad it wasn’t worse.” Now that the crisis was over, he seemed uncomfortable, rubbing his thighs and looking off toward the field. “I’ll just go move those bees.”
“Can I see how you do it?”
He looked surprised but pleased. “Sure, it’s pretty simple.”
Back at the field, the bees chafed in their box, ready to be released. She wasn’t sure why she’d asked to come along when it would have been easier to let him handle it.
“I don’t have a veil,” she remembered.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Just keep back a way. They’ll start flying around when I open it up.” He squirted sugar water through the screen. “Occupies them a little, so they don’t all rush out at once.”
Controlled release. That seemed like a good plan, although Cassie couldn’t blame them for wanting to get out of that box. It had been three days.
“How’d you get interested in bees?” she asked.
“My grandfather kept bees. Had a farm up in Easton. He used to let us suit up and help once in a while. My brothers weren’t interested but I loved it; anytime we went to his place I wanted to see the bees. He grew lavender, made the best honey I’ve ever tasted.” He produced a hive tool and pried open the round wooden cover on top of the box. “Why don’t you take out a couple of frames from the middle of that empty hive. Just set them on the ground next to it.”
Cassie did as he said, stepping back as a handful of bees arrowed out of the open box. Marsden bumped the box twice on the ground and most of the remaining bees fell to the bottom.
“You just dropped them on their heads!”
He smiled. “They’re okay. Gives me a minute to get the queen out. Here, take a look.”
She leaned in warily as he removed a tiny wooden cage with a couple of bees clinging to the top. “What are those bees doing?”
“Her entourage. There’s always workers around the queen. They feed and groom her. They all have jobs.”
“Every bee has a job?”
“And what they do changes during their life cycle. They’re programmed that way.”
A miniature workforce where everyone knew their role. No midlife crisis or angst about finding a meaningful career. When they finished one job they moved on to the next. “They just get to it, don’t they?”
“They do.” With his hive tool he flicked out a cork stopper from one end of the cage. “They’ll eat this little piece of candy and free the queen in a few days. Gives everyone a chance to get used to the new surroundings and accept her.”
He stapled the queen’s box to a frame in the new hive, then in one quick motion shook the box of bees upside down over the empty hive.
Cassie laughed as the bees tumbled out like peppercorns. “What about the rest?” A good number had clung stubbornly to the box.
Marsden set the half empty box next to the hive. “They’ll find their way in. Some just take a little longer.” He glanced at her with a hint of amusement. “I thought you’d be over in the next county by now.”
Cassie realized with a start she was close enough to see bees crawling up the frames inside the hive. She took a step back.
“Want to close it up? The rest can get in through the front entrance.”
She swallowed. “Maybe not.”
He gave her a moment, then gently set the cover on top of the hive. “That’s all right, you got to see how it’s done. Like I said, pretty straightforward. When the box is empty you can toss it or save it, whatever you want.”
More bees were finding their way out of the box, some congregating at the hive’s entrance like neighbors visiting on the front porch. Others were airborne, getting the lay of the land.
A couple of stray bees tagged along as she walked Marsden to his truck, then banked off in another direction. She glanced back at the hives, the new one sharply white against the gunmetal sky.
