THE BEE BOY

Once upon a time, there lived a boy called Andy Williams. He is twelve years old and he lives on a farm. Andy loved to play in the fields with his dog Prince. It was summer so Andy had enough time to play around since the weather is always sunny. One day after playing for a while with his dog, he laid to rest in the fields, his dog did the same and laid on its back. Soon he noticed a little bee hopping from flower to flower.

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Andy became glued to the little bee sticking it's tongue in and out. He had a little read about bees, he understood that bees and flowers were best of friends because bees suck nectar from flowers to produce honey, he was intrigued and he watched the bee till it got ready to fly away. With sacks of pollen on its leg it took off and flew around the front house. Andy ran as fast as his legs could carry him, he didn't want to lose sight of the bee.
But unfortunately, the bee flew higher and further into the woods till he lost sight of it.
He returned a little sad to the flowers and discovered the little bee had friends doing the same thing, he happily laid and watched them for hours. He loved the way they flew busily from one flower to the other. He noticed each bee fly away once it was done sucking enough nectar, he didn't bother to run after bees anymore, he knew more would come.

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"Andy!" His mother called, it was almost dinner and he had to wash up. He reluctantly went in for dinner, his mind was on the bees, he wondered where they lived, perhaps it would be deep in the woods. Wherever it was, he decided to find out he next day after school.
At school Andy could I take his mind of the bees, he was glad it was friday, during the weekend break he would have enough time to watch the bees and find out where they live. He waited impatiently for the closing Bell and when the bell rang, he hurried home.

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He was going to search for where the bees live, so he had to hurry.
"I am going to play mum" he said as soon as he pulled off his clothes, Mrs Williams, his mother was surprised that he did not ask for lunch, that was unlike him. Andy hurried to the flower and as expected, he met the bees going about their normal business.

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He waited till one the bees started to fly into the woods. Quickly he followed the bee, at some point he lost sight of the bee but the buzzing sound always got him back on track. It didn't take long for him to get to where the bees were living. It was a hollowed dead wood, there he saw a lot of bees, more than the ones he saw sucking from the flowers beside the house. He wanted to see what they were busily doing but he could not climb up to see because they were very high up on tge dead wood. He was very happy that he found where the bees were living.

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"I will come back everyday" he said to himself.
A few weeks later, Mr Lee, his father's friend came visiting, he met Andy by the side of the house when himself and Mr Lewis Williams, Andy's father, came out for a walk.

"Andy, how are you doing today, and what are you staring at?"

Mr Lee asked when he got close to Andy. Andy happily shared his story with the bees and how he loved watching them, he also revealed how he discovered where the bees were living and how he goes there everyday to watch them.

"That's very nice Andy, it's good to know you have an interest in bees, I have interest in bees too, do you know I have a good number of bee hives"

"Are you serious mr Lee?" Andy asked.

"Yes of course, you can come visit me, I would take you round to have a good view" Mr Lee said. Andy was happy to hear that, he gave Mr Lee a quick a hug.

"Mr Lee" he called "I would have my own bee hive soon"

Mr Lee laughed and tapped Andy's shoulder.

"That would be nice Andy, once you find a bee hive in the woods, all you have to do is extract them into a bee box" Mr Lee advised.

It sounded so easy to Andy, so all he had to do is get the bee box because he found a bee hive on the dead woo already. He thanked Mr Lee and hurried into the woods to view the bees again.

"So all it takes is just a bee box" Andy said while watching the bees, he began to think on where to get a bee box, he wasn't sure Mr Lee would have one to spare. He began to imagine how many bee hive he would keep for himself. He believed would be able to keep more than Mr Lee's bee hives.

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Few months later Andy was able to locate an old beekeeper with the help of his father, he prayed the old beekeeper would be able to spare at least one or two bee box. Unfortunately, the old man only had an abandoned and broken bee box. Andy was happy still, at least he got a bee box, broken or not he was going to use it to keep his own bee hive.
He took his time to patch the broken parts, restore the locks and paint the bee box anew. He gave the bee box a long stare and felt satisfied, with the bee box he would be able to finally keep his own bee.

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Over the past weeks, Andy had heard there was a bee hive living in a neighboring farm disused cow shed. In the feeding trough. The owner of the farm was an old friend of Andy's father, he picked interest in Andy's dream and happily gave his permission to remove the bee hive.
The day came and Andy was more than ready, he felt he knew all he had to do, there was no internet and no books to aid an in-depth research. All he had seen was gloves and bees veil in photos. The weather was a little cold so he wore a red thick polar neck woolen jumper. With Joy he hurried to the bee hive, soon he was going to have more than one bee hive, he was going to collect more than a thousand, and he was going to have a taste of his own honey, all these thoughts gave him delight as he hurried over to collect the bees.

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He was there and with haste he went for the hive, but unfortunately, the bees came at him with full force, they had to protect the hive so they attacked him from different angle, he screamed in pain at their painful sting, this isn't the way it should be, Mr Lee didn't tell him the bees were going to attack, he actually thought it would be a peaceful and quick. Quickly he ran for his life, he had to retreat to save himself. He was sad on discovering that it is not easy to be a bee keeper. He cried home also because he was sore all over because he was stung countless times by the angry bees.

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Mrs Williams felt sad for Andy and treated his wounds.
"It's alright Andy, good things do not come easy, maybe there was something you did wrong"
Mr Lewis agreed with his wife and he raised the topic in the next discussion with his bee keeper friend, the bee keeper laughed at Andy's mistake

"Oh poor boy" he said

"That is not how to collect bees" he continued

"First Don’t attempt to work with bees in winter. They are in shut down mode and will be very very defensive protecting the hive and their winter hive stock of honey.
They dislike wool
Red is the worst colour and it’s like a red rag to a bull
And you need to pacify with smoke
Never move fast they will chase you"

He explained to Mr lewis, Mr Lewis thanked him to relayed the message to Andy. Andy realised his mistake, he thought the bees were very friendly, seeing the way they flew busily around the flowers at the side of the house. He had learnt his lesson, now he was going to do it the right way, he was not going to give it up, he was still determined to have his own bee hive. It was like his mother said

"good things don't come easily"

He saved his pocket money that winter and bought a smoker. He was determined to get it right this time. Unfortunately he didn't have enough money to buy a small nucleaus hive, but then, his father friend felt sorry for him, he loved the boy's dream to be a bee keeper and he saw how determined the boy was. So he gifted Andy a small nucleaus hive. Andy was very happy and thankful, seeing the small nucleaus hive gave him more courage to get his hive.

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The day came and he approached the bees again, his mother feared he might be attacked and stinged again, but this time he was enlightened and he knew just what to do,he came fully prepared to collect the bees. Finally he safely collected the bees into his bee hive, he ran hole happily and showed his success to his parents, they were very happy for him, MTS Williams prepared his favorite dish to help celebrate his success.

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That spring the word got out that little Andy was the local Bee boy and calls came in to assist with hive removal and catching swarms that had landed on people trees and even on a car once. He was becoming famous in his new found dream, his father's friend was greatly proud of him that he sent him more gifts.
His mother was there to assist and drive him around the country side to collect hives, his bee hives were expanding and he could finally have a taste of his own honey.
One day his mum was standing beside a her car when a some bees
Flew around her. She was paying attention until a few got stuck in her hair. She ran for help, screaming and rubbing her hands in the air. Andy could not help but laugh at the scene, now she knows how it felt when the bees attacked him.

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Andy had a new dream now, he wanted to be a professional bee keeper, he was very happy with his new hobby, and he was equally proud of the name his neighbors gave him "the beeboy" someday, he would be a great bee keeper

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