The Dance

by Suzie Carr

  Jacky grew serious and stood taller. “We need to address that issue.”

  The heavy reality of her failure with Bee pressed against her. “Yeah. I wish I could manage her as easily as the bees.”

  “I can help you.”

  Brooke crossed her arms over her chest. “You mean you can help her?”

  “No,” Jacky said with a chuckle. “I meant you.” She lingered on a wry grin.

  Brooke blushed. “Are you sure you’re up for this challenge? You can walk away now. We’ll pretend we never had this conversation.”

  “I’ve seen it all.”

  “Don’t be so sure. She’s something else. I’ve seen her rip balls apart with one shake of the head. She growls at bunny rabbits. Bunny rabbits! And don’t get me started with the mailman. I used to walk her before the birds woke up. I can’t walk her in the light of day. She’d either rip my arm out of its socket or we’d find a bunch of houses going up for sale. I don’t know what you’re going to do.” She caught her breath. “I’m very curious.”

  “Oh, don’t worry.” A smirk streaked across her face. “We’ll get her walking in the light of day again.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Let’s just do it.” Jacky walked toward the back of the house.

  “Right now?” Brooke followed, tripping over her panic.

  “We need to calm your energy first. She’ll pick up on it, and get nervous too.”

  Brooke knew that as a beekeeper she needed to stay calm. The bees could smell nervous energy, and would sting to protect against it. “I’m afraid of a walk in the park with my dog, yet I can stand amongst tens of thousands of bees without concern. How silly, right? Logic says I should be able to tap into that same energy. But, fighting with a fifty pound ball of fur is entirely different.”

  “Well, you understand your bees,” Jacky pointed out. “You know why they act as they do. I’m assuming, they’re predictable?”

  “For the most part.”

  “With Bee, you’re in new territory, unsure of her random patterns. She senses this, and reacts accordingly.”

  “She freaks out. I’m afraid she’ll bite someone.”

  “I understand.” Jacky spun around once they got to the back patio. “But you don’t want to lock her away, because doing that will only reinforce her overprotective and aggressive instincts.”

  “How do we start?”

  “Just imagine you are with your bees. Place yourself in that mindset. You’re a leader when you’re around them, right?”

  “More like a peaceful observer.”

  “You intimately understand when your energy is calm and assertive, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “When you’re in that zone, fear doesn’t come into play because you’re in control and understand how they work. The same will be true with Bee once you understand why she’s acting out, and how you can help her overcome that.”

  “You make it sound so easy. Like step one, step two, and step three. Just do this, and that will happen. Put corner A with corner B and you’ll get a new corner C.”

  Jacky laughed. “Why don’t you put a leash on her and bring her out to meet me?”

  “Now?”

  “Take a deep breath and go get her.”

  Brooke marched to the back of the house, giddy with hope this could actually work.

  Once inside, Bee circled around her, sniffing. Brooke reached up for the leash. “Want to go for a walk?”

  Bee leaped and whined, then sat waiting for Brooke to fasten the leash.

  Brooke bent down and met her gaze. “She seems nice, so be a good girl, and keep those teeth to yourself. Do you understand?”

  Bee fixated on her, squirming.

  Brooke stood, took a deep breath, and headed for the door. As soon as she opened it, Bee fled through it. Brooke dropped the leash to save herself from falling against the concrete patio. “Bee, no jumping,” she yelled out, mortified.

  Jacky turned her back to Bee. Of course, her little devil, with all those cute curls, didn’t understand and jumped up on Jacky’s back. Jacky, with her stoic posture, kept looking straight ahead toward the apiary, ignoring Bee’s tantrum.

  Finally, Bee surrendered. She ran over to the honeybees’ sugar water and helped herself, already bored with this newcomer.

  “I’ll be damned.” Brooke watched with awe as her charming Bee acted like a normal, run-of-the-mill dog.

  “How about that walk?”

  “Yes, how about it?” Brooke tapped her legs and called Bee over to her. Bee ran past Jacky and straight to her.

  “Is that the only collar you have for her?” Jacky gawked at the pronged collar.

  “It’s the only one that allows me to control her.”

  Jacky’s jaw tensed. “Aversion collars like this cause pain and can do a lot of damage both physically and psychologically.”

  “The person at Dog’s World insisted it was a humane device. He said it mimics the mother’s gentle teeth.”

  “That’s a myth. It’s a negative reinforcement tool. So, when Bee is out for a walk and sees another dog or person, then experiences tension from the prongs when she lunges, a negative association is formed. Whenever she sees a dog or other person after this, she remembers this tension and ties it to the dog or person, further increasing the chances of escalating her aggressive behavior.”

  Brooke sank back on her heels. “I had no idea.”

  “Don’t feel badly. I can teach you how to reinforce good behavior without using tension as a motivator.”

  Tears stung Brooke’s eyes. How could she not have realized this herself?

  Jacky softened. “I’ve got a harness that will adjust to her size.” She slid a backpack off her shoulders and a moment later, unveiled it. “This will allow for control and safety.” She bent down and petted Bee’s chest, then removed the pronged collar and slipped on the harness.

  Bee stared at Jacky with love.

  “You’re amazing with her. She never lets anyone but me or my grandparents next to her like this.”

  “I’ve been accused of being part dog,” she said as serious as one would state her date of birth.

  “Well I certainly wouldn’t argue.”

  Jacky stood up and laughed, grabbing hold of the leash. “Let’s take a nice easy stroll down the street. Our goal is to reinforce good behavior.”

  Brooke gulped. “You don’t understand. She really does turn into a beast around other dogs and people, and they’re out right now.”

  “We won’t act irresponsibly. I promise.” She held up two fingers for a scout’s honor. “We’re going to praise her like crazy on this short walk.” She lowered her fingers. “Come on, let me teach you.”

  Brooke nodded, then followed them as they proceeded around the side of the house. A squirrel ran past the tree line, and Bee’s ears shot up.

  “Bee,” Jacky called out in a commanding tone.

  Bee looked at Jacky.

  “Good girl.” Jacky’s voice animated high, then she offered Bee a small treat.

  “It’s about redirecting her attention on us instead of the point of fixation. The moment she looks at me, I’m going to reward her. Soon, she’ll relate looking at me or you with something positive.”

  They continued down the driveway, past the garage, and eventually out into the front yard where reality waited to be explored.

  “My daughter would love this yard,” Jacky said, drawing a noticeable breath. “She used to do a lot of gardening before… well, before all her activities took over.”

  Brooke drew long breaths, too, trying to keep herself calm. “Bring her by for a tour,” she managed in between one of her inhalations.

  “I might suggest that to her.” Jacky breathed in more of the fresh morning air.

  A calmness emanated from her.

  “How old is your daughter?” Brooke asked, hoping the small talk could redirect her own nervous energy.

  “Fifteen going on thirty.�
� Jacky led them toward the street.

  “Weren’t we all at that age?” Brooke’s heart began to beat faster as she released a nervous chuckle. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

  Jacky checked both sides of the street. A couple with a yellow lab mix walked away from them on the other side. “Bee,” Jacky called out in her commanding tone.

  Bee perked her ears and tilted toward Jacky.

  “Good girl!” Jacky tossed a treat in her mouth, and Bee swallowed it whole.

  Bee looked at the couple with the dog again.

  “Bee!”

  Bee looked at Jacky again, earning herself more praise.

  They volleyed these steps back and forth a few more rounds until Bee looked ahead with an air of ambivalence.

  God, I hope you stick around, Ms. Applebaum, you wonderful dog charmer you.

  “We’re ready to take this up a notch.” Jacky opened up her stride, leading them forward with confidence. “Bee is a quick learner, not to mention a good girl. She wants to please, which is an excellent sign that everything is going to be okay with her.”

  Brooke’s heart relaxed. “How can I ever thank you?”

  “You already did by walking out of your front door at ten a.m. sharp as promised.”

  Brooke caught Jacky’s glow. How charming. “That’s all I had to do?”

  “I don’t demand much. It’s the simple things that go a long way.”

  Punctual clients were obviously her simple pleasure and treat of choice, that much Brooke guessed from her tense face the day before. “I’m sorry I showed up late for my appointment at the school.”

  Jacky held up a biscuit, jokingly.

  “Funny,” Brooke nudged her arm, and Jacky broke out into a chuckle. Oh, she’s adorable.

  Brooke liked this woman’s energy. She also admired her intelligence and capability. Thanks to her, for the first time ever, she and Bee were able to ease into a comfortable stride in the light of day.

  ~ ~

  Sophie heard the front door close while in the kitchen spreading peanut butter on her bread. Jacky walked into the kitchen. “Oh, hey, kiddo.”

  “Hey.”

  Jacky plopped down on the stool and placed a bottle of raw, unprocessed honey down on the counter.

  Sophie reached for it. “This is the good stuff.”

  “It should be. It came straight from the honeycomb.”

  Sophie turned the bottle over to check for herself. No back label, which probably meant authentic. “Where did you get this?”

  “My newest client runs a bee apiary down on Rocky Gorge Ave. She manages over a hundred hives, and she offered us a tour whenever we want.”

  Jacky crawled her gaze around her face, waiting on a reply.

  Wouldn’t you be happier if you just walked away from having to raise someone else’s daughter?

  “That’s a lot of honeybees.”

  “How cool would that be to experience being around so many?”

  “Hmm.” Sophie focused back on her peanut butter and bread. With each swipe of the knife, she imagined herself in a bee suit with hundreds of bees sitting on her shoulders and arms, a dream of hers since she read The Secret Life of Bees. She read about how the wings of honeybees created a breeze and tickled the face.

  Jacky watched her spread peanut butter across the bread. She couldn’t take it. “Want one?”

  “Sure,” Jacky whispered. “I’d love one.”

  Sophie took out two more pieces of bread from the loaf and spread a glob of peanut butter across them. She sliced it in half and put it on a plate for Jacky.

  “Here you go.” Sophie slid it in front of her, then walked away, leaving her alone in their big kitchen. “I’ve got to get back to my project.”

  “Of course, kiddo,” Jacky’s voice echoed behind her.

  Sophie bit into her sandwich as she walked down the dim hallway toward the staircase. Once inside her bedroom, she plucked up one of her gardening books from her shelf and began to thumb through it. She read through a paragraph about how the rinds of a watermelon break down and create sustainable fuel for flowering plants. The author talked about his experience adding coffee grounds into the composter, and how they smelled earthy when mixed with the other raw elements.

  She tossed the book down, bored. She craved hands-on research, the kind where she kneeled on the ground and got her hands dirty with something real, touchable, breathable.

  She could start a garden again that year. Garden soil, vegetable waste, huge tomato plants didn’t compare to what she suddenly wanted to experience. Bees. They beat composting. Jacky seemed interested enough too. So, she wouldn’t be bugging her by asking her to take her. Maybe they’d get more honey out of the deal, too. The subject needed attention. Honeybees were dying, after all.

  She climbed to her feet, stuck her head out the door and yelled, “Can we really take a tour?”

  The chair screeched across the ceramic tiles in the kitchen. “You bet,” Jacky rang out.

  ~ ~

  Jacky first met Sophie when Drew had invited her to play tennis, something Jacky had never played before in her life. Of course, wanting to impress Drew, she purchased a very expensive tennis racket, and took a few private lessons in the days leading up to their date at the Catonsville Tennis Club courts. She arrived to find a cute little springy child wearing a pink sundress with little polka dots and her hair in two ponytails. Her center part resembled the perfect lines down the tennis court. The girl giggled and tossed balls at her very beautiful mother who wore white shorts and a black tank top. She styled her hair in a low ponytail and sported a pink visor. She beamed as she caught one of the balls the little girl tossed her.

  “I couldn’t find a babysitter, so I decided she could be our ball girl.” Drew jogged past her and tossed the ball into a bucket near the gated entrance to the court.

  “Yeah, I’m going to be a ball girl.” She bent down and leaped up in the air. “My name is Sophie. Who are you?”

  In those early moments, Sophie never stopped talking. Her breaths connected to each word, and she had an endless supply of air to grab hold of. She absolutely exhausted Jacky by the end of their thirty-minute tennis match, and owed some of that to Drew’s lack of tennis skills. Jacky assumed Drew knew the game, but it turned out she had never picked up a racquet before that morning. Turned out Drew loved new experiences, and decided she wanted to experience the rush of chasing balls around the court.

  From that first day, Jacky fell in love with Sophie’s inquisitive side. In those first few years, Sophie taught Jacky about the world through the sheer nature of her incessant need to question everything and anything.

  Jacky missed that side of Sophie, and would do just about anything to get her back.

  After finishing the peanut butter sandwich that Sophie whipped up for her, she poured herself a glass of lemon water and drew a bubble bath. She stepped inside the soothing bubbles. She lay back against the bath pillow, and swirls of lavender steam curled up around her, offering her the rest she needed.

  An apiary tour could be just what they needed. Sophie would like Brooke. The woman had an intriguing quality to her that would put Sophie at ease, instantly. She was refreshing and, admittedly, very cute. In a friendly way, of course.

  Chapter Five

  Several years back, Brooke’s nana spiked a fever of one hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit. She lay in a hospital bed suffering through a severe kidney infection. Brooke and her grandfather spent every minute they could with her, both fending off the demons of fear as their minds ventured to that place where death barged into their hearts and toyed with them. On the third day of receiving intravenous meds, her nana finally became lucid and called Brooke to her side. “How are my bees?”

  “They’re fine,” Brooke said, smoothing her nana’s white hair back from her forehead.

  “I miss them terribly.”

  “Of course you do.”

  “Bring them to me.”

  Brooke peeke
d up at her pepe and shrugged.

  He looked away, misty.

  “Nana you know I can’t bring your bees here.”

  “Yes you can, dear.” She closed her tired eyes. “Bring them to my imagination,” she whispered. “Please, I miss them.”

  Brooke bowed her head not sure what to do.

  Her pepe moved up to their side. He cradled Brooke with one arm and ran his worn fingers through his wife’s snow-colored hair with the other. “It’s early morning and the first sunbeam has awoken you,” her Pepe whispered. He moved in close to her face. “You’re the first to witness the start of the day.”

  She glowed. “Ah, yes.”

  Her pepe nodded to Brooke, urging her to join in. Brooke set her hand on her nana’s warm forehead, brushing her hair back. She closed her eyes and traveled back to her childhood, back to those bedtime stories Nana would whisper in her ear about bees and butterflies.

  Your antennae are kissing the first wisp of morning air, and a wave of blissful tranquility passes through you, she began, crafting a new story of her own for her Nana.

  You arrive at the foot of the hive, taking your first brave step. You’re calm and alert.

  You step down onto a second landing, sliding deeper into a state of complete joy.

  Now you take another bold step down onto the wooden frame of the hive box. Your heart warms with gratitude for the new day.

  Then you take a final step onto the soft blades of grass. You’re alive and renewed.

  You’ve graduated to a field bee. There is so much to celebrate and explore.

  You look around and take in the full beauty of the early morning sunshine. It sparkles on the dew dripping from each blade of grass. You flutter and perch on the vibrant spring green leaf of a strong and noble sunflower. The earth tastes of green grass and succulent honeysuckle. You raise your body and breathe in the freshness. It whets your appetite and spikes an earnest desire to bring back a full load of life-sustaining nutrients for the beloved Queen and the rest of your beautiful hive family.

  Guided by the dance of those who foraged before, you lift up and trust in the power of flight. You fly up and away on a journey. You glide over blades of grass that dance in the breeze. You look over your right wing and spot others bursting with gratitude for another new day. With wings fluttering, their yellow markings mirror the beauty of the sun. You travel across the pond near a big oak tree, soaking up the bright blue sky’s reflection in each ripple. A great black bird with large wings and a regal head passes by you, singing a song, headed in the same direction as you, toward a spot where appetites come bursting to life. You know the sweet spot. Your sisters have waggle-danced its location for you. You know its exact position from the hive and the sun, and have no doubts. You are on your way to a place where life dances on the petals of pretty flowers and where the nectar runs wild.