15 Margaret sat in her room, crying, and being comforted by Sophie, Inez, Etienne, and Alice. It had been two days since her father left.
“I should have gone with him,” she mumbled softly between sobs.
“It is best that you stay with us, Margaret. Your father is going to be very busy; besides, it is going to be so dangerous. You must continue your studies,” Sophie replied and stroked Margaret’s hair.
“But I only just got him back and now he’s off again!” she wailed and buried her face in her hands.
Inez sat on the bed and put her arm around her. Inez was, undoubtedly, the toughest one of the group, but she could be extremely caring and compassionate.
“We should get some fresh air,” she told Margaret.
“No, I just want to be alone,” Margaret, whispered back.
“Nonsense! You should be happy! Your father is now safe and he has the word of all those British soldiers to back up his story. It is a good day, Margaret,” Sophie stated with confidence, and that caused Margaret to look up from her hands.
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” she hesitantly agreed.
“Of course! Did you see your father? How he killed that Dreyfuss in a duel to the death! I’ll bet not another schoolgirl in all of France has seen her father kill a scoundrel in a sword fight,” Inez shrieked and started bouncing up and down on the bed.
Margaret forced a smile, as she was almost driven off the bed by the bouncing Inez.
“She’s right, Margaret. Your father really was brave. It’s not a day for sadness,” Alice agreed.
“Okay then, now that we have that all settled, I have another adventure for us that will cheer Margaret up,” Inez yelled and continued to jump on the bed.
“Oh no,” Sophie moaned.
Inez continued to laugh and giggle, her red hair flopping about in the air as she continued to jump higher and higher on the bed.
“Oh yes, today we are going to get honey!” she yelled.
“Honey? That’s not an adventure,” Sophie answered.
“It is the way we’re going to do it. We’re going to get it straight from the beehive!” Inez laughed.
“Oh no, Alice and I have had enough of bees after what we did to Miss Cromwell at our old school,” Margaret responded sternly.
“We’re not going to release the bees into Sister Anne’s office, silly. We’re going to take the honey and honeycomb straight from the hive! Imagine how good it will taste dripping from our fingers and as we chew on the scrumptious honeycomb,” Inez gleefully yelled. She finally stopped jumping on the bed, hopped down to Margaret, and began mimicking licking gobs of honey off her fingers.
“I don’t want anything to do with stealing honey from a bee’s nest. Are you mad?” Sophie scolded.
“Oh, don’t worry, pretty Sophie, the bee stings won’t ruin your beautiful looks,” Inez replied and started rubbing Sophie’s face and hair to the laughter of the other girls.
“I’m not vain, Inez,” Sophie answered with disdain.
“Ha!” Inez yelled, and Sophie knew she was beaten. Trying to beat Inez in an argument was like trying to break a stone with a noodle—utterly hopeless.
“I will get the beekeeper’s gear. I know where a fat and juicy hive with gobs and gobs of luscious honey is just waiting for us,” Inez said, bounding out the door and down the hill to the maintenance shack, where she quickly gathered up the beekeeper’s gear and two large mason jars. Running back up the hill, she looked like an overloaded truck chugging up the road.
“Okay, it’s about two miles away along the lake,” she said, throwing the gear into a waiting burlap bag, which she slung over her shoulder. She handed Alice and Etienne a mason jar each.
Soon, the five girls were headed off school grounds, walking through the dense forest and foliage and along a beautiful mountain lake. Margaret, more than the others, felt a weight lifted off of her shoulders. She had been feeling melancholy all morning, and her friends had certainly lifted her spirits. Walking along the dirt path, she noticed two butterflies playing among the cattails and water lilies. The sun bounced off the lake water, and she inhaled a deep breath of lilac and pine and relaxed in the safe confines of nature. Her thoughts drifted to a holiday in Switzerland three years ago, when she and her father had gone hiking in the Swiss Alps. For the first time in a long time, she felt completely at peace. She remembered how wonderful the holiday had been, recalling the smile on her mother’s face and the joy in her father’s eyes. This trail reminded her of that vacation—on that trip, her family had scarcely seen another person for two weeks, as they had stayed in a remote cabin. She hadn’t minded one bit, as she and her brother had easily entertained themselves, hiking freely among the beautiful Alps and swimming in the many rivers and lakes. Her father had taught them so much, such as how to tie a bowline knot, and how to catch a fish with nothing but a safety pin and a bit of twine.
She was grateful for her life. She was thankful her parents were anything but ordinary. She was amazed by her friends and their loyalty. She was happy.
“Okay, the hive is just up there. I will put on the gear and gather the honey. All of you stay back so you’re not stung. If they come after you, then you must jump in the lake,” Inez said with immense seriousness.
“Jump in the lake?” Etienne protested.
“Better to get a little wet than stung by a bunch of bees,” Sophie replied and Etienne nodded in agreement.
Inez dressed herself in the beekeeper’s suit. It was completely white and covered her body from head to toe. The only problem was, it was about five sizes too big for her. The sleeves flapped over her hands and she had to bunch them up. Even the gloves were twice as big as her hands. The pant legs were scrunched up in rolls and the stockings were almost three times the size of her of her feet. Sophie placed the helmet on her head and it almost rolled off, there was so much space. Quickly tightening the chinstrap, it barely stayed on her head.
“How do I look?” she mumbled from beneath the black mesh mask.
“Um,” Sophie answered, not knowing how to respond.
“Just don’t fall or let the helmet drop off your head,” Alice said and Inez looked down at her feet mournfully.
“Here, you’ll need the jars—can you even hold them?” Sophie asked and handed her the two mason jars.
“I think so,” Inez answered and was barely able to hold onto the large jars with her two oversized gloves. In fact, she had to brace the jars against her body so they wouldn’t fall to the ground.
“Be careful with those, if they break, the entire trip will be for nothing,” Etienne reminded her and Inez shook her head in understanding.
She turned around and waddled towards the beehive, looking like a baby polar bear that had gone on a diet and was now much, much too skinny for its skin.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Alice asked.
“I have no idea,” Sophie replied and watched as Inez disappeared into a grouping of trees.
Inez walked fitfully into the forest, her hot breath bouncing off the mesh face mask directly back into her face. It was hot in the helmet and she started to sweat. Her eyesight was compromised as she tried to see through the tiny black wires. Up ahead was the beehive. It was nestled in a stump out in the open. A few bees hovered around the outside of it.
Walking towards it, she suddenly felt nervous. What if the suit didn’t work? What if the helmet fell off and the bees swarmed her head? Steadying herself, she shook off her fears and continued to walk straight to the hive.