A Bee...

I exited my apartment in a hurry to go food shopping and almost ran into a honeybee flying erratically over 25 stories above the ground in my common hallway. It was crawling on the rug, then flying around in a circle, then hitting the wall, then falling and repeating this cycle about five times as I watched. To be honest, my first impulse was to neutralize the bee so it wouldn't fly into my apartment and sting one of my boys. I have been stung by wasps and honeybees and dread getting zapped.

Then I pictured one of my neighbors coming out of their apartment, or coming home, and smacking the bee, or stepping on it to kill it. I thought about the possibility of the collapse of bee hives and the dire consequences to humanity should the bee population seriously decline. The only window to the outside and to freedom was about twenty yards away, around the corner and near the elevators. 

So I thought I could call the bee and it would follow me to the window. I walked and talked, but it didn't follow me anywhere so I walked back. Then I thought I could get it to crawl onto my canvas shopping bag and I could slowly carry it to the window. I bent down while it was on the rug, and placed my hand into the bag, and the bag next to the bee so she would crawl onto my bag. Instead, she shot up towards me and I ran as she landed on my ear and the sensation and loud buzzing scared me so much that I bolted down the hallway slapping the side of my head.

When I realized the bee was at the far end of the hall now, I decided to go get a little aquarium fishnet I had and trap the bee in it, but my heart was still pounding from the bee buzzing on my ear. The little net worked. So I put my hand into my canvas bag and braced the net against her so she couldn't escape the net, and she couldn't sting me in her excitement and agitation. I wasn't sure if the bee could still sting me through the canvas but it was worth a try. 

I spoke to her trying to calm her down as I took her down the hallway and all the way to the window. I stuck the net outside and she crawled around in the net for few minutes, until she made her way outside of the netting and took off into the night. I don't know if she will make it back to her hive. I hope so. Then maybe she will tell her bee-mates that humans are not all that bad...but when you buzz by their ear to tell them sweet nothings, they run like crazy, hit their head, and slap themselves silly...