Buzz Off - By Hannah Reed Page 0,52

I open up the hives.”

“Great. Just great,” Holly said, hunkering down.

The wire mesh across the entrances came away easily.

I ran like crazy when I saw bees crawling out of the hives. Their collective hum was loud and angry, just as I’d predicted.

Honeybees navigate by the UV patterns of the sun, but that doesn’t mean they can’t fly at night. They will fly toward light. So when I opened the truck door and realized I had forgotten to disable the interior light, they flew right in after me.

Not to mention that I’d left my window down.

I slammed the door shut. The guard bees stayed with me. Holly screamed as though her life was ending. The bees unanimously decided that we were the bad guys. They went to town on my hands. One stung me right through the gloves that were guaranteed to be sting-proof. At least the veil protected my head and eyes. Who knew what kind of attack they were mounting on my sister; I was too busy to look.

Holly and I jumped out of the truck and ran in different directions, leaving the doors wide open.

Then we met up and sat in a ditch for a long time. Holly, in spite of all her screaming, hadn’t been stung at all. Not once. I had six or seven throbbing areas. Before returning to the truck, Holly took the opportunity to get what was bothering her off her chest.

“Don’t ever, ever ask me for a favor again,” she said. “You owe me big-time for this one.”

“I know,” I said. We crept back to find the truck empty of bees.

“I have to check on them one more time,” I said.

“Please, let’s get out of here,” Holly begged. I could hear panic rising in her voice.

“Relax,” I said. “I have it down pat this time. I just want to make sure they’re settled down and that I haven’t forgotten anything important, like removing all the wire mesh.”

“Trust me, you removed all of it.”

“I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight without double-checking.”

“Take me home first. Please.”

“It’ll only take a minute.”

I adjusted the truck’s interior lights so they wouldn’t come on this time, made sure all the windows were closed, shushed Holly’s whimpers, and stumbled through the dark, listening. Sure enough, the honeybees were still riled up.

And they already had a visitor.

Did I mention that skunks like to position their bodies near beehive entrances and lap up as many guard bees as they can? Why the stings don’t deter them is anybody’s guess. Manny had had an ongoing war with skunks, and he’d taught me what he knew, a lesson that was about to be wasted on the current situation. I might have heard the skunk’s warning stomp if the bees hadn’t been making so much noise. And I might have seen the skunk raise its tail if the moon had been shining, instead of the pitch-black darkness I stumbled through.

I’d never been skunked before. Trust me, it’s the nastiest thing imaginable. At least the musk didn’t hit me in my eyes, thanks to the bee veil I still wore. But the fumes came close enough that I felt the burn. And my stomach churned. I didn’t feel too good.

On top of that, Holly must have smelled me staggering back toward the truck, or her night vision was better than mine, because she locked me out. I peeled off as many of my clothes as possible—the veil, gloves, and overalls—and threw them into the back of the truck. Everything reeked of skunk musk. And I mean everything. Including my jeans and top, which should have been protected by the overalls.

“Let me in.” I banged on the window on her side. “I don’t smell now that I took off the overalls.”

What a lie, but I was desperate.

In answer, Holly scooted over into the driver’s seat, started the truck, and drove away.

I gaped at my disappearing taillights.

As much as I didn’t want to do it, I stumbled over to Grams’s house and rang the doorbell. After I rang several times, a light came on and Grams opened the door in her nightclothes.

“Oh, my,” she said, closing the door to a tiny crack. “You’ve been skunked.”

“What should I do?” Don’t cry, I warned myself. Remember, big girls don’t cry.

“I’ll be right back.” The kitchen light went on. Through the window, I could see her preparing a wash with hydrogen peroxide and soap and some other things. Mom walked into the kitchen. Their mouths moved. Mom glared at the