#177 — The Birds and the Bees and the Wasps: a Fable

A male bee and a male wasp were discussing love.

"I penetrate the one I love over and over until I see the next person I want," boasted the wasp.

"That's terrible!" fretted the bee.

"Shouldn't love sting? It's what stingers are for. My stinger is smooth--easy in, easy out. I can plunge it a dozen times, quick. Oh, my lover knows I've been there. What about you?" he asked the bee.

"I'm no smooth operator," the male bee answered. "When I attach to the one I love, I stay."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I want to," the bee explained. "The one I penetrate is the one I choose--forever."

"That's no way to use a stinger," the wasp sneered. "In-and-out and out-and-in, I say. Why so monogamous? What would happen if you went looking for someone else?"

"I'd die," the male bee said. "It's eviscerating. Once in love, disengagement is amputation. Love, like my stinger, is a barbed thing--easy in, but..."

"Must be the honey," the male wasp blurted.

A female bee and wasp landed on their branch.

"Only female wasps sting," the female wasp corrected them.

"Same with bees," added the female bee.

"Aha!" said the male wasp.

"What?" asked the female wasp.

"If we don't sting, then what's this thing hanging down?"

"You men," chided the female wasp. "Always flapping around your genitalia."

"Not me," said the male bee. "I'm for life. I was just explaining..."

"You, too," corrected the female bee. "You can't--and don't--sting. But I like your attitude."

"If you lived and died by your penis," the female wasp preached, "you'd be careful where you stick it. Neither of you sting," she repeated sternly. "You should get that into your stubborn heads--the larger ones, that is."

The female bee hooted. "And it's not because of all the honey. So don't 'Honey' me. C'mon home before I sting you."

And the bees and wasps left their branch, the bees as different from wasps as men are from women. And this is how it came to be that everyone flies their separate way--both in love and in life--whether they know the truth about love or not. Whether the truth stings or not.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Louisiana, the place I grew up and lived for a long time, just made it a law that the 10 Commandments must be displayed in every classroom. 47th in academic achievement, and this is what the state worries about.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

For Tuesday, June 25, Day 177 of the Story-a-Day Challenge

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Title-accompaniment photo was AI-generated but the stinging truths were not!

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There are currently three surviving Vocal writers still participating in the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator

• Rachel Deeming

• Gerard DiLeo (some other guy)

Read them. Support them. Pray for them. And watch out for bees!