A Bee

a bee invaded our car in nineteen fifty four while we were driving to the jersey shore flew in my open back window of our two tone ford custom pea green top black bottom hurtling down the highway four kids two adults doing sixty our kid arms outside the windows flailing and pushing the wind no cares must have looked from above like some giant green beetle lotsa wiggly white legs once the bee was inside it was havoc screaming and screeching kids curled up in fear in the rear mom and dad barking out orders we knew it had a stinger it wanted to get us stab us never really saw its sticky spear scary when needles are near it buzzed all about for a minute or two up to the windshield back near my ear mom tried to thwack it with her home journal but missed it disappeared we all wanted to kill it that is what you do with bees waited and waited no bee then in a fury it came out from under the front seat hiding in a sea of springs plotting for its moment its chance to escape we must have gone twenty miles with it in our car so out it came buzzed a bit then flew out my window gone we all took a sigh of relief the villain excommunicated after the yapping stopped silence for a few miles then i got a slow sadness how will it find its home it was very very far away i thought if i was the bee maybe i would feel lost i remember when mom found me in wanamakers in toys mom leaned over the front seat and said his home is everywhere huh that was enough for me even though i had no clue what it all meant what to do my first lesson in empathy taught by a teeny thing so wee a bee free verse 74 lines 326 words Pen illustration G. Gaul