Rum N Raisin 6 - Dances With Wasps

Those kittens bounded through the flap and started to play Raisin said the flowers look so pretty today She went to sniff a daisy but an insect flew out And so she hollered, “Watch out, Rum, there’s waspies about!” The buzzy critter hovered, staring her in the eye And Raisin started flapping like she thought she might fly The tiny demon flitted from her head down to her toes And Raisin went cross eyed when it came down upon her nose Rum called out, “You stoopid critter, leave my sister be, You’re just an irritation like a great big ugly flea.” At that the stripy critter made a bee line for Rum’s feet Who danced as though his tail had caught afire in the street The most annoying buzzy thing was flitting here and there Rum slapped his head and slapped his butt; he slapped just everywhere He jumped and hopped like some demented kind of kangaroo Like someone fed ten thousand volts into the county zoo So, slapping at his body like a drunk doing a dance Rum’s antics were so frantic they held Raisin in a trance She had to laugh when Rum thought backflips were a decent bet But then Rum stood on tippy toes and did a pirouette Raisin laughed out loud because she suddenly could see The buzzy critter was no wasp; it was a buzzy bee She knew that bees had one rule that they stuck quite firmly to… “If you mean no harm to me, I mean no harm to you.” But now Rum’s doing handstands and his tail’s a windshield wiper It’s thrashing at the critter like an aggravated viper But Raisin’s cruel enjoyment of her brother’s frantic state Made her stand and giggle and the truth would have to wait Rum let out a loud ‘Meow’; the wasp was in his ear But then a little voice said, “You have nothing here to fear, I’m Bertie Bee, I hope you see that this was all just fun, I think your sister is a fairly naughty little one.” And so Rum stood quite still and Bertie Bee flew from his ear He landed just in front of Rum and said, “Let’s spread some fear.” But that all came to nothing as they simply stared agog When Raisin was crept up on by their next door neighbour’s dog Of course they knew the dog was gonna give her little grief He was old, his claws were worn, he hadn’t any teeth Raisin sensed the dog’s approach, but too late for a chase The aging dog just pinned her down and slobbered in her face Rum and Bertie giggled but their laughter didn’t last A swarm of eager wasps was homing in on them real fast So Raisin pushed the dog off and let out a piercing squeal “There’s a swarm of wasps en route and these ones are for real.” The wasps soon flitted all round Rum who almost took a dive Instead he danced an Irish jig while Bertie practiced jive One wasp hovered close to Rum and muttered, “Are you mad? We wasps mean no one any harm unless they treat us bad.” Then Bertie Bee said, “Look, if it’s some food you’re looking for, Then there’s a picnic going on at number twenty four.” The leader of the wasps said, “I don’t want their bread and ham.” But Bertie said, “There’s Tuna, bacon, cake… and strawberry jam.” The wasps sped off and Rum said, ‘Boy, my bladder nearly broke.” Raisin said, “I’m sorry, that was meant to be a joke, I knew that Bertie was a bee, I should have told you sooner.” And Rum said, “We should chase those wasps… for twenty four’s got Tuna.”