Thursday, 14 August 2014

Story cube 3 - bumble bee, person dancing, a burst

On his way to collect nectar from the flowers, Bumble always liked to stop in the garden and watch the humans. They were strange creatures, with only two legs and two feelers, standing upright whenever they walked. The rest of the hive warned Bumble about the humans, but his curiosity always drowned out their voices in his mind. How bad could they be really? They couldn’t even fly.

There was the Man, the Woman and the Smaller One. Bumble didn’t know if it was male or female. There was nothing to set it apart either way. It spent all of its time making loud noises or sleeping.

Today, they were all outside. The Man was spraying water from a strange long, green thing all over the garden. The Woman was holding something in her feelers, staring at it non-stop, only pausing to flick something over then resume staring at it. Bumble had no idea what that was. The Smaller One was sitting in the grass, pulling it up and dropping it on its head. It made a loud gurgling sound each time that made Bumble feel happy. He didn’t know what the sound was, nor why it made him so happy, but he wanted to hear more.

He decided to get closer. Bumble usually kept his distance from the humans. He was unsure how they would react to him and obviously the warnings from the hive had had some effect on him. Today was just too much though. He had to know more.

As he got closer, he saw the Smaller One look up at him. It reached its pudgy feelers towards him. Its face didn’t seem evil. In fact, it looked like it was friendly, so Bumble landed on top of its feeler. There was no fur on the Smaller One’s feeler. It was just covered in a warm, fleshy substance that was kind of sticky. The Smaller One was bringing its feeler closer to its open mouth.

Suddenly, Bumble heard a high pitch noise come from the direction of the Woman. Then there was a waft of air that rushed past him, causing him to take to the air in shock. What was going on? The Woman was now holding the Smaller One, who was making that loud noise again. Its face was all screwed up and going red. Where was the Man?

Just as Bumble turned round to look for the Man, he felt another waft of air. This time he was pushed sideways. The Man was waving his feelers around. He looked ridiculous. Bumble had heard that humans sometimes moved like this when there were harmonious sounds playing, but he couldn’t hear any now. Bumble moved in and out of the Man’s flailing feelers, but eventually one hit him.

Bumble felt a smack and his vision flashed white before him. He felt himself soar through the air, but was powerless to stop it. He landed in a flowerbed with a bump. He lay there for a while, gathering up his strength, lying still in case the Man came looking for him. He didn’t want to be found.

He had no idea how long he lay there, but after a while he could no longer hear the humans. They must have left the garden, so Bumble got up slowly and flew to the top of one of the flowers. After a quick glance around to make sure he was really safe, Bumble shot off back in the direction of the hive.


He would never stop to watch the humans again.

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