BACK

KILLBEES 6' People are killing bees for no reason, detective

There was a buzzing. Then a gentle voice spoke into Michaela's
ear, "Excuse me. I hate to bother you."

Michaela, the world's greatest seven-year-old detective, opened
her eyes. She hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep while
watching television. She yawned and stretched and looked around.
But noone was there.

There was the buzzing again! Then the gentle female voice spoke
into Michaela's ear again. "I'm sorry to bother you. But the
queen of the ants said you could help us."

Michaela looked in the direction of the voice, but noone was
there.

Then, she remembered. The queen ant the voice was speaking about
had crawled into Michaela's ear. So, Michaela stood up and went
into the bathroom. She picked up the hand mirror and focused it
on the wall mirror in such a way as to see into her own ear.

"It's a bee!" exclaimed Michaela.

"Please don't be alarmed!" cried the queen. "I need your help."

Michaela asked, "You're not going to sting me, are you?"

"Oh, no! I'm a honey bee. Honey bees don't sting unless we're
attacked."

"Then, what can I help you with?" asked Michaela.

"The queen of the ants told me that you helped her colony when
they were attacked by a human." said the queen.

"Yes. That little human was a naughty little boy named Tommy.
Are you saying that he attacked you too?"

"No. It's the mothers and fathers of little girls."

"That's odd," replied Michaela, "Mothers and fathers are old
enough to know better than to attack a bee hive."

The queen said, "Oh, they're not attacking the hive. They're
killing bees that are gathering nectar from the flowers."

"That's really odd. Show me." replied Michaela.

She went outside with the queen bee in her ear and the queen
guided her down the sidewalk toward the scene of the crimes.
They ended up at the same city park where Tommy attacked the
ants. The flowers where the bees were killed were near the edge
of the park, not even close to the playground.

"This doesn't make any sense." said Michaela, "Why would the
moms and dads leave their children and go all the way over there
just to kill some bees?"

"Can you solve this mystery?" asked the queen.

Michaela, being the world's greatest detective, replied, "Of
course! But I don't see anyone swinging at any bees right now.
Let's just sit and watch for a while."

It didn't take very long for something to happen. A little girl
on the sidewalk near the playground began screaming and crying
and running to her mother, brushing something off of her arm.

Michaela went over to the little girl and her mother.

"What happened?" she asked.

"A bee stung me!" cried the little girl.

"That's strange," replied Michaela, "There aren't any flowers by
the playground. Why would bees go where there are no flowers?"

"Well, they did. Look!" cried the little girl. "This is where he
stung me!"

On her arm was a round red mark that looked like a bee sting.
Michaela examined the mark, then declared, "When a bee stings,
it leaves it's stinger in the skin. I don't see a stinger and I
don't see a hole where the stinger went in."

"Neither do I", said the mother, "but it looks like a bee sting
to me! And I'm not giving those bees another chance to sting my
daughter!"

With that the mother picked up a stick and headed for the
flowers at the edge of the park.

"Why are you going over there?" asked Michaela.

The angry mother replied, "Because where there's flowers there's
bees. And I'm going to kill them!"

"Wait!" shouted Michaela as she went after the woman, "Please
let me investigate first. I don't think your daughter was stung
by a bee. Bees don't sting unless they're attacked. It's
probably not a bee. You wouldn't want to kill the wrong insect,
would you?"

The woman stopped and turned, "I suppose not. But how can we
find out what stung my daughter?"

"Let me investigate. I'll find out!" replied Michaela, "Give me
a few minutes."

"Well, alright." said the woman as she returned to the
playground.

Michaela went to the area where the little girl was stung. There
were no straw wrappers as last time. No dead bees. Just two
small water stains on the sidewalk.

Just then, another girl on the other end of the sidewalk went
screaming and running to her mother. Michaela went to
investigate. Again, the only evidence left behind was two water
spots on the sidewalk.

Michaela went to the tree where Tommy was found shooting at
little girls. In the bushes next to the tree was a six-pack
cooler.

Michaela looked up the tree and shouted, "Tommy, you naughty
boy, get down here!"

Tommy began crying as he climbed down the tree, "Please don't
tell my mom!"

Michaela took Tommy by the ear and led him out of the park to
his house near the edge of the park.

"Mrs Parker," Michaela told his mother, "Tommy has been naughty
again."

"You naughty little boy!" said his mother. "You're grounded for
a week!"

Then Michaela returned to the playground and pleaded with the
mothers and fathers, "Please don't kill anymore bees. It wasn't
bees who stung the little girls, it was Tommy and his pea
shooter. And it won't happen again. Tommy has been grounded."

"But how did you know?" they asked, "There wasn't any evidence!"

"Yes, there was." replied Michaela, "The water spots and the six
pack cooler."

"What does that mean?" they asked.

"Tommy filled drink straws with one or two inches of water and
then he froze them in his freezer. After they were frozen, he
carried the straws here to the park in the cooler. Then he
carried the straw up the tree and blew the ice out of the straws
at the little girls. When the ice hit the girls on the skin, it
made a red mark just like a sting.

"Tommy thought he could get away with it because the ice melted
in the hot sun. But he forgot that it takes a while for the
water from the ice to evaporate."

"Good detective work!" said the queen bee as she flew back to
her bee hive, "Thank you for helping us!"

©2007 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties.
Do not sell this story or rewrite it.
You may reproduce and distribute this story freely,
but all copies must contain this copyright statement.
http://www.fea.net/bobsnook/kid  email: bobsnook@fea.net

BACK