Louie the Bee: The Insects Prevail.

by Dave Corrick

  Chapter 7

  A Meeting about the tunnel is called.

  It was a Tuesday morning, about 9.00 a.m. Louie was still at home. Normally he would have been at the Factory by now but unfortunately Louie’s dishwasher wasn’t working. Yes Rose was sick so Louie had to do the house work and dishes that Rose would have normally done on a Tuesday.

  Pearl phoned to say that a meeting had been organised for Thursday midday. There was to be a conference over lunch at the Country Club to discuss the tunnel project and formulate a plan of action.

  Pearl suggested that Louie call into her apartment at 10.30 a.m. Here she would brief him on the agenda and inform him as to who would be in attendance. Pearl had added that they would catch the 11.20 a.m. train with Sir Cada and Lady Bird.

  ‘Louie before you go’, said Pearl. ‘You will need to wear a bow tie and perhaps those natty spider silk shorts with braces you have to go with the tie. They are fairly strict about dress at the Country Club’.

  ‘Ok’, said Louie, trying to disguise a sigh. ‘Will do’.

  Louie was a bee that liked to keep things simple and hated having to wear clothes like this. However Louie would do anything to please his good friend and mentor Pearl Baker-Moth.

  Louie cursed to himself that Rose was sick as he would also now have to wash and press his shorts himself. Then there was the problem of actually finding his braces and bow tie. He hadn’t worn them since attending the Moth Ball last year.

  ‘Never mind’, Louie sighed to himself. ‘This is an important meeting and I really have to look to be an important business type of bee’.

  On Thursday morning Louie didn’t go to the Factory. He felt a little embarrassed about going dressed in his spider silk shorts with braces and bow tie. Lulu and the Ten Ants were perfectly capable of running the operation for today.

  Louie had a leisurely breakfast then sat out on his deck in the sunshine and thought about the tunnel project.

  Louie couldn’t help thinking to himself what a shame it was that things needed to get complicated because of the community having grown larger. If only things could stay the same, then all these complications of bringing in investors, contracts, contractors, meetings and other pressures could be avoided. He looked at the stream below him, for ever flowing, nobody telling it what to do, no complications. ‘That’s how I would like life to be’, thought Louie.

  ‘This won’t do’, Louie said to himself. ‘After all I am a business bee and I must support my good friend Pearl Baker-Moth to the best of my ability’, and he pushed all thoughts of complacency out of his mind.

  ‘Right’, said Louie pulling himself together. ‘It is time to get changed and head off to Pearl Baker-Moth’s apartment’. It was getting on towards 10.15 a.m.

  Louie emerged in his smart neatly pressed spider silk shorts with braces, sporting quite a large bow tie. The bow tie was black with yellow dots to match his stripes.

  Louie looked immaculate, in fact with his natty shorts and braces he looked a little like a member of a barber shop quartet! (Don’t tell Louie though!).

  Louie also carried a black brief case with some notes he had written. In spite of a lot of thought about what to write in his notes Louie hadn’t really got past a reminder to get some more TG Tips at the supermarket. However Louie, complete with brief case was a very smart looking bee indeed.

  Louie took off for Pearl’s apartment and chanted to himself several times along the way:

  ‘Today I have to be a strong and fearless bee.

  I have to be someone who really isn’t me’.

  Louie arrived at Pearl’s apartment on time at 10.30 a.m. Sir Cada and Lady Bird were there.

  Pearl welcomed Louie and told him how wonderful he looked.

  ‘Take a seat Louie’, said Pearl. ‘You know Sir Cada and Lady Bird; I’ll just get my notes’.

  Louie said ‘Hi’, to Sir Cada and Lady Bird.

  Sir Cada and Lady Bird responded with, ‘How do you do Mr Louie’ and they all shook hands.

  Sir Cada with the finest of educated accents went on to say. ‘I say what wonderful weather we are having don’t you think?’

  ‘Lovely’, said Louie in response, wondering where Sir Cada must have been when it rained all day yesterday.

  Sir Cada went on to explain how ‘fwightfully’ well his son and daughter had done at Fly School and were going on to do medicine at upper Fly School next year.

  Louie secretly thought it might be better if they took some medicine instead of doing medicine. Poor Louie felt uncomfortable in these situations.

  Fortunately at that moment Pearl came back with her notes before Sir Cada could enquire as to what sort of ‘degwee’ Louie had.

  ‘Come and sit around the table’, said Pearl. Pearl looked beautiful, Louie was relieved that Pearl was in control and they could all get on with it.

  Pearl first of all confirmed with Sir Cada that a meeting room had been booked and that lunch had been arranged.

  Yes of course Sir Cada had arranged all this. Everyone had to hear several times with whom he had arranged it all, how long Sir Cada had known him and what a ‘dependable chappy’ whoever it was, was!

  Pearl waited then went on to say that the attendees at today’s meeting apart from themselves would be:

  White Ant Excavators Ltd, Overland Transporters Ltd, Handover Finance Ltd, Honey Corp Finance Ltd and for contract documentation the legal firm Moore, Payper and Staff Ltd.

  ‘At the meeting today’, said Pearl. ‘White Ant Excavators will give a presentation on how they will carry out the work in conjunction with Overland Transporters Ltd. White Ant Excavators will put forward a construction proposal and cost for acceptance by the investors including yourselves Sir Cada and Lady Bird’.

  ‘Quite quite, jolly good’, said Sir Cada.

  After a nudge from Sir Cada, Lady Bird nodded in approval.

  Pearl continued. ‘Moore, Payper and Staff will have documents ready for signing once all parties are happy to proceed. Louie once we know the financial requirements for the project we will want you to confirm that the Reserve Bank has sufficient reserves to release funds for payment’.

  ‘Right sounds good to me’, said Louie not wanting to say anymore in case he was asked things he didn’t understand and couldn’t answer.

  Sir Cada started to say. ‘You know when I was a young lad…’.

  Pearl quickly interjected before he got to far down the path of his days as a young lad and said. ‘Goodness me look at the time, we must get down to the train before we miss it’.

  ‘Oh’, said Sir Cada. ‘I guess we must, don’t want to be late now do we, it could be fwightfully embarrassing if we didn’t turn up, couldn’t it Pearl?!’

  Sir Cada laughed at his inane joke, in what was a series of sharp intakes of breath syncopated with snorts while looking around for approval.

  Louie had a sort of ‘what-am-I-doing-here’ look on his face. Pearl smiled a tolerantly watery smile and said. ‘Let’s go’.

  Once out in the sun and fresh air again Louie felt better and enjoyed the flight down to the station. In fact everyone did. It was truly lovely flying down the stream to the village.

  The foursome passed the Nest Café and supermarket then it was on past the Reserve Bank. They chatted amongst themselves and felt a little more at ease. It was as though flying together had broken down any barriers and they were all on equal terms.

  Sir Cada and Lady Bird lead the way and Louie and Pearl flew close behind. Under the village bridge they went, then down the High Street to the railway station. Here they alighted on the station veranda that extended out over the rail tracks and waited. It was pleasant sitting in the sun.

  Louie was very careful not to get his shorts dirty and carefully chose where he sat.

  The train arrived on time; the four took off together and flew into the engine driver’s cab. They were off to the Country Club at last. Louie had certainly brightened up a bit. He was quite peckish, as bees
tended to get about this time of the day. Lunch wasn’t far away now!

  The train sped along through fields and countryside. The station where the Country Club was located was reached after about half an hour.

  The team flew off the train and up into the club located in the ceiling of the station.

  Sir Cada had everything organised and talked to a ‘cricket chappy’ (A chappy who was a cricket) by the door about the meeting room that had been booked.

  Apparently the meeting room would be available in about ten minutes and lunch would be served straight away for all the participating members.

  In the meantime while waiting in the lobby there were lots of club members coming and going. Sir Cada and Lady Bird were in their element with many a. ‘Nice to see you’. ‘Well fancy that’. ‘Here for an important meeting you know’. ‘Have you met Louie?’

  The ‘Have you met Louie’ bit meant that Louie was constantly being pestered with ‘How lovely to meet you and what do you do?’

  A lot of the members knew Pearl (Pearl was also a member) so she was engaged talking to others while poor Louie was left floundering a little, trying to talk sensible conversation apart from the weather. Poor Louie.

  However Louie didn’t have to wait long. The other meeting representatives had arrived and they all filed into the meeting room. Louie was most impressed, the food was beautiful. Fresh salads, lots of honey, red wine, white wine, chocolate cake, muffins and other food and cake Louie had never tried let alone seen before.

  Louie sat next to Pearl so at least he had someone to talk to that he knew.

  ‘Isn’t this wonderful’ said Pearl. ‘It’s a wonderful place to come to’.

  ‘Gosh yes said Louie’, who had never seen so much food.

  Louie picked up his serviette (made from white lily pieces) and tucked a corner between his bow tie and his neck. Pearl having fortunately sat next to Louie, discretely removed the serviette from Louie’s neck and placed it on his lap (or gap as we have learned earlier). Pearl whispered to Louie. ‘This is the way we do it you loveable bee’ and squeezed his arm.

  What a wonderful friend Pearl was. She treated all her subjects as being equal.

  The insects thoroughly enjoyed their lunch.

  After all had eaten, Pearl called the meeting to order and the items on the agenda were discussed and agreed upon one by one.

  The process took them well into the afternoon and by 4.00 p.m. everything was signed and ready to go.

  It had been agreed that the option to put a tunnel from the back of the Reserve Bank, west to the edge of the Reserve was the best. This had found favour mainly because there was plenty of land to spread the excavations around without attracting too much attention.

  White Ant Excavators Ltd was to carry out the excavation work underground. While the excavating was in progress White Ant Excavators Ltd explained that carpenter ants would shore up the tunnel, bulldog ants would work at the digging face and large army ants would carry the diggings out. It was also explained that the tunnel would be lined with a clay mortar and then pointed to look like bricks.

  Louie was very impressed by all this as was Pearl.

  To prevent drawing attention to the project by having great piles of earth around the entrance to the tunnel, White Ant Excavators would employ Overland Transporters Ltd to distribute the extracted earth. It worked like this: Overland transporters employed a large team of daddy-long-legs. The daddy-long-legs would pick up extracted material and run off with it and drop it bit by bit in the surrounding area.

  For the reader to grasp what this might look like, just think of three hundred long legged camels in a camel race!

  Well all in all it was a successful outcome. The meeting finished and all the insects joined at the bar for drinks and socialising.

  It was about 5.00 p.m.; Pearl came over to Louie and said. ‘Louie I think I will stay on for a while and catch-up with a few friends that I haven’t seen recently, feel free to stay too’.

  ‘Thanks Pearl’, said Louie. ‘But I think I will head off home’.

  Louie caught the next train back to the village and flew back up the stream.

  Louie felt down. He was a very sensitive and loving bee and he felt that he just didn’t fit into the scene at the Country Club. Louie felt very lonely and a tear welled up in his eye.

  ‘What’s wrong with me’, said Louie to himself. ‘I am just a failure; I will never be like them’.

  Louie tried to cheer himself up by thinking about all he had with the Factory and running the Reserve Bank. It helped a little.

  ‘In fact’, said Louie to himself. ‘What I will do is head down to the Factory and just reflect on what a wonderful little operation I have there. It’s my world, nobody else’s, that will make me feel better!’

  Louie feeling happier now carried on up the stream, past his home and onto the Factory.

  To Louie’s surprise Lulu was still there. Lulu was deeply engrossed in doing the tax return for the Factory. Louie had stuffed it up earlier because he thought a tax return was something where tax was returned and therefore meant more dollops and scents in the bank. Lulu was deeply engrossed in reversing the entries Louie had made and didn’t notice Louie arrive.

  Louie stood there for a moment. Lulu had a pink ribbon tied in a bow around her head. To Louie she was a very very pretty bee.

  Louie spoke. ‘Hi Lulu, gosh you are still here, you should be home by now’.

  Lulu replied. ‘Hi Mr Louie, no I wanted to get this work finished for you by tomorrow as a surprise’. Louie was overcome with Lulu’s the thoughtfulness.

  ‘Have you had a good day Mr Louie?’ Lulu ventured to ask.

  ‘Yes Lulu’, Louie replied a little unconvincingly. ‘The meeting went fine’.

  Louie was silent for a moment, he was welled up with emotion and his eyes filled with tears. He looked to Lulu for support and then blurted out. ‘Lulu I just feel so useless, I don’t fit in with the crowd at the Country Club’. Tears rolled down Louie’s stripes.

  Louie apologised to Lulu. ‘I am so sorry to break down like this but I just feel so alone and I don’t know what to do’.

  Lulu went over to Louie and gently held his arm to reassure him. ‘It’s alright Mr Louie, we all love you, and we don’t think you are useless’.

  ‘Please call me Louie’, said Louie. He looked into Lulu’s appealing eyes. She had tears too.

  ‘Lulu’, said Louie just about breaking down again. ‘I don’t know how to say this and I don’t want to embarrass you but…’

  ‘But what’ said Lulu squeezing Louie as if to get him to respond.

  Louie couldn’t hold back something he had wanted to say for a long time. It came out in a flood of emotion and tears. ‘I love you Lulu, I have done, from the very first day that I met you’.

  Louie didn’t know what to expect now, but he couldn’t hide his love for Lulu any more.

  Lulu looked up at Louie and looked straight into his eyes. ‘I love you too Louie, I have been secretly hoping something could happen for months now. I love you

  ‘Louie, you are not useless’, Lulu shook Louie. ‘You are the finest most considerate and loving bee I have ever met’.

  It was as though there were only two bees in the whole world; Louie held Lulu close to him and said again. ‘Lulu I love you so much’.

  The pair looked at each other for what seemed an eternity then embraced again and kissed.

  Louie spoke again at last. He was on a high. What a day of going from the lows to the highs! ‘Lulu let me take you to the Nest Cafe. We can have a meal and then maybe dance and be together until the small hours of the morning!’

  ‘Oh yes yes yes’, said Lulu and she danced around the Factory in sheer joy.

  ‘Right you beautiful bee’, said Louie. ‘Let’s go!’

  Hand in hand Louie and Lulu walked to the portal. Louie brought himself back to the present and reality. He looked back at the factory for a moment. Yes this was where
he belonged.

  Happy everything was secure he held Lulu close to him. The pair paused briefly. They were both in another world of being carefree and very happy.

  Louie and Lulu, hand in hand, launched themselves into the evening air and headed on down to the stream. They glanced at each other as they flew in the twilight to the Nest Café.

  …..The Nest Café was humming. There was a live band playing jazz, Louie’s table twenty seven wasn’t available but who cared! There was a magic feel to the place with the soft light of beeswax candles on the tables and around the walls.

  Louie and Lulu sat in a booth rather than at a table and remained quiet for awhile, holding hands, looking at each other, taking in the sounds of the chatter and the music, it really was magic.

  The pair danced until after midnight. I think Lulu might have stayed over at Louie’s house that night!