Bees really only have two seasons. The gathering season and winter. They are gathering pollen and nectar from when the first flower opens to the day the last petals have fallen. A bee won't go out if the weather is bad, or the temperature isn't above fifty degrees. This can lead to cabin fever and very full bladders.

* * *

A fuzzy head, new to the world, emerged from a waxy chamber.

"Oh, look at him he's so cute," a distant voice squealed.

"He's perfect," said another.

As he pulled himself from his chamber, other creatures brushed the wax from his hair and shoved gelatinous goo in front of his face.

"Are you hungry?" they asked.

"Eat, eat," they demanded.

He sniffed at the goo with his antenna. It smelled delicious. He licked it. It tasted delectable. Without hesitation he devoured it.

"Eat, eat," they encouraged.

He looked up at them and smiled as they kept caressing him and feeding him.

I think I'm going to like this place, he thought.

A young nursemaid, Thistle, looked down on him. Male bees were such a rarity you couldn't help but dote on them. Besides, they were so cute you just wanted to cuddle up against them and never let go. There was just something about them that made her heart skip a beat which is why she could understand why the hive was in such bustle today. A new drone always brought commotion along with it.

As the queen made her rounds, she stopped at the bees that surrounded the new drone.

"How is our newest resident?" asked the queen.

"He's fine," came back the consensus.

"Very good, glad to hear it," the queen replied.

The queen continued on her way, leaving the new drone to the care of the others.

"What should we call him?" asked one of them.

"How about Fig?" spoke a voice in the back.

"Persimmon, lets call him Persimmon," said another.

The rumble of voices grew so loud that no one bee could hear another till a small bee named Blackberry, whispered, "Dodder." A word that even amongst all the noise every single bee seemed to hear, and a silence soon followed.

Thistle stroked the new drone on the head, "Dodder it is," she said with a smile.

Time passed and Dodder grew up fast, as all bees do, but not quite as fast as the other bees. In fact it seemed like everything around him moved at an accelerated pace. Every few days new girls would come and pamper him. Heck, there was always someone to pamper him, and it was always the same thing. He had come to the point where he had begun taking flights just to get away from it all, but then he would get hungry and he would have to come back to the hive so the girls could feed him.

If there was ever a bee who was more outgoing and hard working, it wasn't Dodder. Oh and trust me it hadn't gone unnoticed by those around him. In fact that's why the girls who pampered him changed out so frequently. It just didn't take long for them to get fed up with his attitude. Sure it was fun for a while, and he was cute, very cute, but one could only take so much ungratefulness before they just gave up on helping at all. The sad thing was that even as one girl grew tired of bowing down before his every command there was another ready to take her place, so it continued. The girls would go collect food and he would go on pleasure cruises of the sky or go hang out with the other guys from other hives.

Hanging out with the guys is how he found out that each one of them had been spoiled in their own hives. Not only that, but he also picked up little tricks and tips on how to get the most out of his hive.

"I swear, works every time," said a brute of a bee.

"Are you sure Bar Berry," asked another.

"Oh yea, a little back handed comment and you will have them in the palm of your hand," Bar Berry replied.

A meeker bee in the back raised his hand.

"Yes Sedge and stop raising your hand. We've been over this," said Bar Berry.

"Can you give us an example?" asked Sedge

"A good example would be... If that's the best you can do, it will be fine, I guess," said Bar Berry.

"What about...," asked another.

Bar Berry interrupted. "Look just play around and have some fun with it. You'll figure it out," said Bar Berry.

"I actually like to compliment them and tell them they are the only one that Salal cares for. I find it makes them want to do extra things for me. Plus, I love to hear them giggle," said a bee with an accent.

Dodder rolled his eyes. "Yes Salal, we all know what you like to do,"

"The ladies love, Sal," said, you guessed it, Salal.

"We know, we know," said Dodder while a few of the other drones just nodded in agreement.

"QUEEN ALERT, QUEEN ALERT," shouted one of them as a speck in the distance passed.

"Hey baby, how about you come over here and find out what a real man is," Bar Berry shouted.

Salal shoved past the group and out into the front, "If it is a real man you are looking for, then you are looking for Salal. He is not afraid to cry or to love."

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Sedge just stood there off to the side, waving frantically.

"False alarm, guys. It's just a fly," said Dodder.

Groans of disappointment erupted from the group

"That's okay you can keep going. I don't mind," said the fly who finally thought he'd found some friends.

At that very moment, if they would've had something to throw at the fly they surely would have, but they didn't so they couldn't. Instead they settled on boos and hisses until the fly left, a little sadder than when he thought he had some friends.

"Well as much fun as this has been, I think I'm going to head home," said Dodder.

"Yup, same here," Bar Berry agreed.

Dodder headed off towards home. "See you tomorrow."

Salal headed off towards his own hive, "Sounds good."

With that, they all went their separate ways as Juai set in the distance.

Most of the Juai's light had extinguished itself by the time a weary Dodder climbed his way back into the hive and snuggled his way into an already exhausted bunch of bees, just as the queen began to tell her story.

"I'm hungry, can somebody get me something to eat?" interrupted Dodder.

The next morning came fast for our lazy little bee, and his mouth was full of honey before he could even finish his yawn and stretch. In fact it was during this that someone shoved the honey in his mouth. A little surprising to say the least, but not a bad way to wake up.

After he had woken up, he decided to mosey around the hive. He picked up a few of the younger ladies wherever he went, but mostly he just got in the way. In the nursery he stepped on at least a couple brood before being rushed out by the nurse maids. Then he managed to step on a dead body that one of the undertakers was removing, causing its leg to fall off. He thought the undertaker was yelling at him but couldn't tell with how fast she was talking. He decided it was best if he just completely ignored her and went on about his way. He bumbled around for a little longer until running into the queen. More like bumping into her which was hard not to do with a hive this crowded.

"Hello Queen," he said.

He even bowed and farted. Granted the fart wasn't on purpose and not anywhere near appropriate, still he couldn't help but smile a little and laugh a lot. The queen did not seem amused.

"It's my scent for clearing out a room," he laughed.

"Of course," said the queen.

Her assistants were not so proper, and if I had to pick out one word from their mumblings that stood out more than the others I would have to say, "repugnant."

He hung his head a little embarrassed.

"It was good seeing you, Queen," he said.

"Always a pleasure, Dodder," said the queen as she walked away.

Her attendants looked back at him and glared, so he stuck his tongue out because he could. He moped around and then stopped a bee who seemed to be in quite the hurry and asked her to get him some food. She looked at him like what she was doing was far more important than getting him something to eat, but whatever, it's not like he needed to worry about the day-to-day hubbub. Granted he probably should've asked one of the girls that had been following him for something to eat but he had taken to ignoring them, for the most part. He continued on for a bit until he could thoroughly tell how annoyed everyone was getting, he decided to see what the boys were up to.

He left the hive behind and flew out to the where the boys hung out above the old oak tree.

"Hey guys, hows it going," asked Dodder as he flew up to the group.

"Dodder," the group cheered.

Dodder looked around but someone seemed to be missing from the group. "Where's Bar Berry?"

"Blue bird ate him," said Salal.

"Really, when," asked Dodder.

"Just a little bit ago. I'm really surprised you didn't see the bird on your way here," said Sedge.

Dodder looked around frantically. "Should we move?"

"Nah, the bird flew away," said Salal.

"Okay, if you say so," Dodder replied.

They all just kind of hovered there for a second.

"Did he say anything," asked Dodder.

"He said poop," said Salal.

Sedge nodded in agreement, "Yup, he said poop and then he was gone."

"QUEEN," shouted a high pitch voice.

"Hey baby, what's up," asked Dodder.

"Hey," said Sedge as he waved frantically.

"Excuse my crass friends they are..," Salal was cut off.

"I don't see anyone," Dodder said looking around.

They all looked around and in fact there was no queen. There was a high pitched laughter coming from the tree below them. They looked down and behold a squirrel.

"You guys are idiots," said the squirrel.

"We are not," said Dodder.

"QUEEN," said the squirrel.

The drones looked around frantically.

The squirrel laughed so hard it fell off the brach it was standing on and completely out of the tree landing in the tall grass below.

"Come on guys lets get out of here," said Dodder.

They left the squirrel to his tree and his bonked noggin.

"Have you guys noticed it's getting colder," asked Sedge.

Dodder looked back at him. "Actually I have. Down right chilly."

"That is why I have the ladies to keep me warm," said Salal.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I think I'm gonna head home and cuddle up with a couple of them right now." Dodder agreed.

"Same here," said Sedge. "It really is cold out here."

So they went their separate ways once again.

Dodder got back to the hive to find things changed. The other bees were gathered around talking instead of out gathering him dinner. This was not acceptable, but he guessed he could let it slide this once.

"What are we to do? The winter comes early and we are no where near ready," asked a bee.

"We shall be fine, I have seen the winter come and go many times, and we aren't that bad off. we may have to ration our selves but there is no reason that we shouldn't make it through," said the queen.

Dodder scrunched into the masses enjoying their warmth.

"Could you be a dear and get me something to eat," he asked a bee.

"Oh, heck no."

Insert an exclamation point because the bee that answered Dodder was not at all happy. This was probably because she was the one who was in debate with the queen.

"This lackadaisy slugabed wants food, our food. The food that we worked so hard to gather while he does nothing and still manages to eat three times as much as we do," she shouted.

Dodders head picked up, she was talking about food. He didn't know what she was talking about but if it was about food, he was all for it.

"If we are going to make it through the winter we need to get rid of the drones," she said.

Voices erupted in agreement.

Dodder looker around. Seriously, was someone going to feed him or what?

The queen made a motion, and the others quieted down.

"If that is what you want, then it shall be done," said the queen.

A moment of silence passed throughout the hive.

"Dodder," asked the queen.

Dodder looked around before realizing that the queen was the one talking to him.

The queen looked into his eyes with remorse.

"Dodder, it is in the best interest of the hive that I must ask you to leave."

Dodder just kept looking back at her with a perplexed expression.

"Dodder, you can no longer stay here.".

"But, who will feed me," asked Dodder.

"I'm sorry, but you will have to feed yourself. I wish you the best of luck," said the queen.

With that the other bees escorted him out of the tree. He looked back at them and not a single one of them showed a welcoming tone. He had no idea what to do, so he did the only thing he did know, he tried to go back inside. When that didn't work he did the only other thing he knew how to do, he flew off to where him and the boys hung out above the old oak tree.

He had no idea how long it took him to get to the tree, his mind was swimming with too many things. What he did notice was how cold and lonely the tree was. The sky grew dark as clouds moved in pushed by a wind that made it hard to hover above the tree.

"Hello," a faint voice sounded.

Dodder did not hear it.

"Hello," it sounded again, this time louder.

Dodder looked up as two black specks approached from the distance. It was Salal and Sedge.

"What are you guys doing out here," asked Dodder as the two others drew closer.

"We got kicked out," they said in almost unison.

"Me too," added Dodder as they met him.

"What do we do now? It's really cold out here and I'm hungry," asked Sedge.

"We could cuddle like they do in the hive," stated Salal.

So that's what the three bees did they cuddled on a cold branch of the oak tree as the sky grew dark and a squirrel laughed.

"You know perhaps we should move in with the squirrel," said Dodder.

The squirrel stopped laughing.

"Second that," Salal said shivering.

The squirrel took off toward his burrow in the tree. As the bees pursued him they shouted, "Queen."