Bee Happy

by Marcia C Brandt

  The sun was reaching its peak in the sky, almost noon and Roger should be arriving here very soon. Spotting him on the path, she began to arrange their lunch on the table cloth she’d pack in her basket. She loved the red and white checkered cloth, it had been her grandmother’s and she remembered as a small girl having picnics in the back yard with her dolls and her grandmother. Roger smiled as he saw the table cloth, “Your grandmother loved that. We had many a picnic with it. Do you remember?” “Yes, I remember being in the back yard with grandmother and my dolls, but I don’t remember what we ate, just that it was fun.” Enjoying the food and the activity of the bees, they discussed all the products that they could create with the honey, pollen and propolis. Their dreams matched each other’s and as they talked the ideas expanded. “We’ll probably need more than two hives to produce enough honey to make the variety of products you’ve created already. This is going to be our legacy for the future. Plus it will give us something to offer at the winter farmers market. I hear that they are going to rent the basement at the city hall this winter. That will help us keep our positive cash flow going.” Roger was beaming and feeling grateful that he’d finally healed his heart. He knew that his grandfather was helping them from the other side. Having Calli involved just completed the circle and hopefully it would continue into the next generation with her children. He hoped that some day she would understand about the communication from the other side, he knew there was more assistance available than anyone could ever request. “Guess I’ll head back and start the plans for some more hives. This is really fun for me.” Calli agreed and gave him a hug before he left.

  Being alone by the pond was peaceful for her. Feeling relaxed Calli lay down to take a nap, something that she never did during the week, but it felt like a good time to totally unwind and allow herself to rejuvenate her spirit with the energy from the earth. As she pondered that thought, it occurred to her that maybe she did believe in energy more than she’d admit. After all she totally understood how good it felt to work in the soil, growing plants and harvesting, that must be some type of energy although she didn’t know what to name it. For sure Sally would have the proper name and explanation. As she started to drift into dreamland, her cell phone rang. Pulling it out of her pocket, she noticed that it was Jim. “Hello.” “Calli, this is Jim, can you come over here this afternoon? I’m in a quandary and need to talk to someone right now. I can’t explain over the phone but it’s very urgent. Please!” Surprised by his pleading and his concern, “Of course, it will take me a little bit because I’m down at the pond right now. But I’ll be over as soon as I can. Are you okay?” “Yes, I’m okay for now, but not too sure how long that’s going to last. Please hurry!” Closing her phone, she felt puzzled, he was usually very easy going and nothing seemed to get him bothered. This must be something very unsettling. With her basket filled, she jogged back to the house, knowing the sooner she got to Jim’s the sooner she’d know what was bothering him.

  As she pulled into his driveway, he hurried down the porch steps and grabbed her into a bear hug, as soon as she got out of her van. He was hanging on like his life depended on it. “Thanks for coming here so quickly. I’m about out of my mind. Let’s sit on the porch. When I got home from the wedding last night, I picked up the mail, I’d forgotten earlier in the day because I was so busy getting ready for the wedding and our date.” He called it a date, another positive mark on her check list. “Well, there were the usual bills and advertisements and then this yellow envelope caught my attention. The return address was a newspaper in Washington DC. I tore it open and read the letter. They are sending a reporter out here to research my discovery about communicating with the aliens. At least that’s what they labeled it. I thought this was over and I could live peacefully here growing my vegetables and meeting other beautiful gardeners.” Calli blushed at his comment and gave him a quick kiss hoping it would calm him a bit. “I tossed and turned all night remembering all the crap I went through about this, losing my job, my wife and daughter, being institutionalized and the deep depression, like a living nightmare all over again. I don’t want to rehash any of this but I’m afraid I don’t have a choice in the matter. They said they were sending him this week and that I should look for a call from him so I could give him directions to my farm.” By now Calli understood why he was so frantic, burying the past had been good for Jim, digging it up would probably undo him. “Jim, how can you stop them? I don’t think its right for them to invade your privacy; can you call a lawyer or something?” Her concern touched him, finally after all these years he had found someone he could trust with his secrets and now it felt like everything was going to be taken away from him again. “I just don’t know what to do. Plus I haven’t told you the rest of it. This afternoon I got a phone call from an area code I didn’t recognize, I let the answering machine pick up and listened to the message he left. It was the reporter, telling me he’d be arriving tomorrow and would I kindly call him back with the directions to my farm. There’s not going to be anything kindly about what I say to him if he arrives here and starts to question me about everything.” Jim was actually getting angry and Calli knew it was justified, but she still didn’t know how she could help him other than listen.

  Jim stood up and started pacing the porch running his fingers through his hair. “I’m so frustrated and angry. I really have to get a hold of myself. I’m not thinking clear enough to take any type of action other than ranting and raving and that’s not going to do me any good. Help me Calli, what should I do?” This is what a relationship is about, when one person needs help the other is supposed to know what to say and help them. Calli so wanted to be the strong one right now but she was as befuddled by this as Jim. “I wish I knew what to tell you. The only thing that comes to mind is to call a lawyer and see if you can get some kind of restraining order to keep them from invading your privacy. I’ve never heard of this, other than for celebrities and I think they have to hire body guards.” Together they went through the phone book looking at the ads for the local lawyers, Calli only knew one of them personally and he was basically good at writing wills and stuff like that. Then the most amazing thing happened, as they turned the pages in the phone book, on the very last page of ads, Calli noticed that there was something about one of the ads that made it stand out on the page. She wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was, maybe the print was bolder or different font, but both of them pointed at the same ad at the very same time. “Here’s the one, I don’t know why but I have a feeling that I need to call this guy right away. What do you think?” Jim looked for her agreement, “I agree Jim, for some reason we both noticed this one at the same time, Sally would call it fate or something else. I think it’s a sign of some sort -- you know I’m not much for this spiritual stuff, but I feel like you are being led somehow by a force outside you.” Jim was calling the lawyer as she finished her statement. “Tomorrow morning at 9 am is perfect for me too. I’ll see you then.” Jim closed his cell phone and looked at Calli, “Thanks for being here with me and I hope this doesn’t scare you away from me. I really need your support and I feel I am falling in love with you.” Calli didn’t know how to respond to his declaration of love. She pulled him into a hug, “I’ll be here no matter what. I care for you Jim; I’m not quite ready to use the ‘love’ word just yet. But if you keep hugging and kissing me and taking me dancing that might change very quickly.” He sealed the commitment with a kiss that made Calli’s toes curl.

  Chapter 21 Discovered The next morning Jim arrived early for his appointment with the lawyer. Calli had agreed to meet him afterwards. She decided to go to Sally’s office beforehand and tell her what was going on. Hopefully she would have some more ideas for Jim. Plus she wanted to tell her about Jim’s ‘falling in love’ statement. Lucky for her Sally’s boss was out for the day so they could talk freely. “I’m just so worried about Jim. He seems so angry and upset about this reporter. I went over there yesterday afternoon and he told me all about
it.” Sally listened intently as the story unfolded. “At the very end of our conversation, you’ll never believe what he said to me!” Sally already knew what she was going to tell her, her psychic abilities were in full power at the moment. “He said that he’s falling in love with you. Does that surprise you? After all you are quite the catch and from what you told me the most beautiful girl at the wedding.” The teasing in her voice helped Calli relax a bit. “How did you know? Oh, I forgot you can read other people’s minds. Isn’t that a crime?” Sally rolled her eyes, and stuck out her tongue, similar to what Calli had done to her not too long ago. “No, you have the move wrong. You are supposed to cross your eyes, not roll them around.” Now the two of them were laughing, the tension had disappeared and they got down to discussing the possibilities for Jim to get rid of the reporter even before he arrived. “There’s always hiring someone to ‘rub him out’! But then they’d probably just send another one to investigate and report on the murder. What do your psychic guides say about all this drama?” Without hesitation Sally declared, “This is an important step for Jim to finish his healing concerning his wife’s death. And he will be reinstated in the scientific community and his finding will be verified. There already is study going on and he will be able to publish his papers and his manuscript.” After she came out of her trance state, Calli looked shocked. “I don’t know whether or not to believe all this or to even consider that it might happen. I was just getting comfortable with the idea that Jim might be my husband and that we could grow vegetables together and have kids and…..” Her voice faded away as she thought about Jim leaving here and becoming a famous scientist again. He wouldn’t have time for her and her dreams of a family. It just didn’t seem fair, she was just getting ready to fall in love again and then wham! Something steps in and whisks him away.

  “Where did you go? You look absolutely devastated. Calli, talk to me.” With tears in her eyes, she told her best friend all her hopes and dreams and her fantasy life with Jim, running the orchard together, selling their vegetables at the farmers market, and them carrying on the honey business that she and her grandfather were building. “Oh, honey, that’s a wonderful dream, but don’t call it a fantasy. As we imagine our lives to be they can actually become. There’s a saying, what matters to you, becomes matter, in the physical sense. So if it matters to you that you have a wonderful life with Jim, keep focusing upon that and see what happens. I know that you’ve opened your heart enough to let someone love you again, don’t stop now and close it all back up in a tight little ball.”

  Calli’s cell phone rang, it was Jim, “Yes, okay. I’ll meet you there in half an hour.” Sally was curious and hoping that he had good news. “What did he say?” “Nothing, I’m going to meet him at the Burger Barn for lunch in half an hour. Would you like to join us?” With her boss gone for the day, she had a little more flexibility for her lunch hour. “Absolutely. I’ll be there.” Giving her friend a quick hug, Calli left the court house and headed across the street to the town square and the bench they usually sat on for lunch. The pigeons were flocking around her hoping that she had bread crumbs or some other food for them. “What do you think I am? One of those elderly gentlemen who sit here in the afternoon and play checkers feeding you to keep you off the checker board?” For an unknown reason, Calli was even irritated at the harmless pigeons this morning. Well, maybe not unknown, but what exactly was causing her bad mood. She was projecting so much into the future that she felt helpless. One of the things that Sally preached to her constantly was to stay in the present moment. We can’t change the past and we can’t live in the future. Right now is all we have. It was like a broken record playing over and over in her head. Stay in the moment. Focus upon what you want. The past is over. But it seemed like the past was coming back to change Jim’s future. How did all this work? I’m so lost spiritually with all this attraction stuff. Think I’ll go to the bakery and find me a nice cherry turnover to sooth my mood.

  Jim was relieved to see both Calli and Sally at the Burger Barn. He really felt like he could use all the friends he had. The lawyer hadn’t been very positive about stopping the reporter from contacting him. He had said he could refuse to talk to him, but that probably wouldn’t stop them from digging up details and writing the story anyway without Jim’s input. He felt trapped and ready to escape, anywhere but here. After explaining all the legal points Jim looked at his friends and hoped that they would have a better solution. “I’m at a loss and don’t know what I should do. The lawyer wasn’t much help but at least I know my legal rights. He thinks I should talk to the reporter to keep the record straight. That way they can’t go making up stuff that isn’t true. What do you think? Should I leave for awhile and not be found or what?” His frustration was gaining momentum the longer he talked about it. Sally was the first to speak, “I know that you aren’t going to like this one bit, but my guides have shown me the outcome if you talk to the reporter. You will be pleased to know that the picture they presented to me was a very happy one. You were acknowledged for the work that you’ve done and your manuscript was published. You were on the board of a very prestigious institution and seemed very happy to be back in the scientific community.” Jim just looked at her. He wasn’t convinced that she was that good of a psychic so he turned to Calli for her confirmation. “I can see by the look on your face that you don’t believe Sally. I understand, over the years I’ve been very skeptical of her predictions but I have to tell you that she’s always been right with everything she’s ever told me. Sometimes the journey to the outcome takes some twists and turns but in the end the results manifest.”

  Not wanting to discount Calli’s testimonial Jim asked Sally specific questions about her vision. She gave him as many details as she could. After about twenty minutes, he seemed satisfied. “I’m not happy about doing this but if what you say happens I guess I’ll have to at least give it a shot. I love being here and working in my orchard and my gardens. But I also loved the scientific community until they threw me out. There is something about connecting with intelligence from another galaxy that gives me hope for our future. I am one of those people who believe that we will have contact with other races of people, and not the kind that we see in movies who want to dominate us and take over our world. The more I hear myself talk about it the easier it seems it might be to see where this takes me. Although I’d prefer to stay here and keeping enjoying my life, it’s becoming very special to me now.” With that said, he looked at Calli with the most loving expression she’d ever seen. Her heart flipped in her chest and her mouth went dry, unable to speak. “Well, I’d better get back to work, and leave you two love birds alone so you can plan your future.” With that said, Sally left them sitting there holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes.

  Calli wasn’t hungry after her cherry turnover, but Jim was famished. He’d skipped breakfast because he’d been so nervous about his meeting with the lawyer. He hated working with the court system, and didn’t like lawyers very much, although this guy in Evergreen seemed okay. After they ordered some lunch, Jim began to tell Calli more details about his life as a scientist. She listened with both ears and her heart wide open. She had to understand what this life had been like for him. Especially since Sally predicted that he’d return to being a scientist. She was trying to see if she would fit into that lifestyle. Listening and praying that he still thought he was falling in love with her, she questioned if that would be true in another location. Here in Evergreen, life was simple, easy and relaxed. Being in a big city with the pressures of city life just didn’t fit in her makeup. But she knew deep in her heart that she was also falling for Jim. What would happen to her fantasy?

  A stranger walked into the Burger Barn and started asking questions of the waitress. Calli noticed him right away. He didn’t look like he was from around here, and she was almost certain that he was the reporter that Jim wanted to avoid. As she watched them talking, she saw her point to the table they were sitting at.
She was right. The stranger was walking towards them. Calli wanted to shout to Jim, ‘run’! And she wanted to run with him, as far away as possible so they could live here in her happy ever after world. Jim noticed the guy just as he came up to the table, “Excuse me, but are you Jim Wild?” Jim caught the panic on Calli’s face and understood that she was about ready to get up and run away. He grabbed her hand to keep her there beside him, “Yes, I am. And who might you be?” The stranger smiled looking pleased to have located him so easily, “I’m Brent Williams from The Baltimore Sun. I hope you received my call and the letter we sent. I don’t want to alarm you in any way. But my paper is very interested in your discovery of the code of communication. May I join you?” Again Calli felt the impulse to escape, but Jim held her hand tighter almost understanding what she was thinking. “Yes, please sit down. Would you like something to eat?” Calli could not understand why he was being so polite and nice to this guy, the one who was going to destroy their dream life together. “Thanks, I am hungry, it was a long flight and then the rental car wasn’t ready. It’s a nice little town you have here. Very different from the city.” The pleasantries continued while Brent and Jim ordered and ate their lunch. “Well, I’m sure you are wondering exactly what I’m looking for. And I want to assure you that my intentions are purely scientific, I don’t want to delve into your personal life or the tragedy of your wife and daughter’s death.” With that Jim knew that from this moment on his life was going to change, nothing was going to remain the same and he prayed that somehow Calli would be able to change with him or his heart was going to be shattered once again.