run!
June 20, 2008
There was this house down the street from me known as the Pond House. It was called the Pond House because, well, it was owned by the Pond family. The home was located on a large lot, which has since been subdivided into five residential lots. Before the subdivision the lot had just tons and tons of trees and bushes.
Well, one day Gino Silva (previously referred to as a juvenile delinquent) stopped by the house and had us come check something out at the Pond House. The point of interest that day was something attached to a horizontal branch of one of the pine trees on the lot. It was … a lot of bees. By a lot, I mean “a lot.” “A great deal.” “More than one by a bunch.”
The group of bees was about 18 inches in diameter and about 24 inches tall, the whole bunch seeming to exist as one mass hanging from the branch. It all seemed to move as one single living organism, parts of which were flying away on occasion. As we looked at this … thing … and watched it pulse and breathe, I heard a word that immediately caused me to freeze: “RUN!” Turning to look at who was yelling it, I saw Gino standing there with his arm cocked back and 10 inch chunk of concrete in his hand. As he released the projectile and it sailed into the bees, I realized that I had neglected to follow some instructions which had been given me, namely “RUN!”
Well, I didn’t get stung, as I finally came to my senses and made good time getting out of there. In fact, nobody got stung, though Gino would have been the most deserving of it.
