CONSUME: “Queen Bee”

By Marion Voytinsky, 1st Place, Fiction

           Kent Macleod was counting down. There were forty-six days of agony left. He couldn’t wait to see what fresh horrors this Tuesday might bring. He put on his dark blue golf shirt over blue jeans before walking to school.

           First period was Geography. Mr. Mehta was distributing the summatives, projects worth half the grade. These were always group efforts. Kent preferred working alone.

           The assignment was to design an Ontario town. Kent was hoping to partner with one of the sensible guys. They could decide who would do what and each do it. Instead, he ended up with Abby, the most popular girl in the grade. Abby looked a bit surprised. She turned and flashed him a toothy grin.

           “Meet me in the Caf at noon. We’ll talk!” she said, before flying off in the middle of a bubble of giggly teens.

           Kent’s spirits sank even lower. He hated the cafeteria. He preferred to eat in the woods behind Bell High. But he nodded an acknowledgement. He was consumed with a feeling of dread. Even Chemistry failed to buoy him up.

           At 11:45, Kent entered the noisy, smelly cafeteria. Abby spotted him and buzzed right over.

           “You’re Ken, right? I don’t think we’ve talked before,” she said.

           “Kent,” he said. “With a T. Kent Macleod.”

           She smiled. “Gabriella Abigail Tomás Velazquez,” she replied, twirling her long, dark curls. “I’ve been called Gabby Abby all my life.

           “What if I give you my Discord coordinates and we’ll set up a chat there. You pick which parts you think you can do. I’ll cover the rest,” said Kent.

           Abby pouted. “What’s the fun in that?” she asked. “Bouncing ideas off each other in person is so much more…” she trailed off, looking for a word.

           “Time consuming and annoying,” said Kent, looking away from Abby.

            “Creative,” said Abby. Her dark brown eyes twinkled as she talked. “We’re here now so we may as well talk. I love Geography because it’s all about how people interact with the planet. How about you?”

           Kent thought. “I enjoy science. I prefer geography to history, because history keeps shifting and being re-interpreted. Geography stays reassuringly stable,” he said.

           “See, we have something in common,” beamed Abby.

           Kent sighed and pulled out a notepad. The town needed a location, a size, major geographical features, a transportation system, infrastructure and special features.

           “How about we start with infrastructure?” suggested Kent.

           Abby shook her head. “Let’s start with passion,” she said.

           Kent looked startled.

           “This fictional town needs to have a reason for being. What are you so passionate about that it consumes you? We can make the town all about that. Then we can fill in the details,” said Abby.

           Kent was silent.

           “Come on, there must be something that you love so much that it lights up your life,” said Abby.

           “If I tell you, it’ll be all over Discord in a flash and I’ll never hear the end of it,” said Kent. To him, part of surviving high school was keeping a low profile.

           “As long as it’s nothing pervy, nobody will really care. And if they do, so what? Most of them are losers. You’re smart enough to ignore them.” Abby flashed her perfect teeth in a big, winning smile. She waited, smoothing the ruffles of her long dress.

           “Bees,” said Kent. “I have a consuming passion for bees. I’ve been accepted at Guelph next year to study apiary sciences.”

           “Perfect!” said Abby. “We can make this about bees. Let’s create the Bee Capitol of Ontario. The industries will all support an annual Canadian Bee festival and beekeeping. The downtown can include hotels and a convention centre. The shops can sell honey, and other stuff from or for bees. Mead, wax products, flowers. Consumers keep the economy afloat.”

           Kent was thunderstruck. This queen bee of the school was taking him seriously.

            “Actually, there are seven distinct types of honey bee, and the honey bee is one of about seven hundred species of bees in Canada. Most of them are pollinators, but not honey producers. Most are not even yellow and black. Some are blue,” he said.

           “We need to add a Bee Information Centre to our downtown,” said Abby. “And have cafés where bee lovers can cluster to talk. And have parks with different flowers to feed the bees.”

           Kent was typing furiously on his tablet.

           “How about we start with this? I can design a sign for the town, and you can start in on your infrastructure,” said Abby.

           “What’ll we call it?” asked Kent.

           “You decide,” said Abby, “I can’t do all the heavy lifting on this project by myself.” Her smile made it clear she was joking. Kent was not used to kindly teasing.

           “What about ‘Abeilleville’?” he asked.

           “You want to name it for me?” asked Abby.

           “Get over yourself. ‘Abeille’ is French for Bee,” said Kent. He started to pack up his stuff. He still had time to get out into the forest for a few minutes before Physics.

           “Sounds good. See you tomorrow,” said Abby. She saw some of her friends, smiled, and made for the centre of the group.

           Kent walked out to his favourite spot behind the school, under a pine tree. He might just have found a new consuming passion. Abby Velazquez.

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