| Show THE MANTI l 1 MESSENGER lESSENGER R ae I r Snow College Colleg Literary Winners Winny Editors Editor's note These winning literary works were I published in t the he Snowdrift official school paper for Snow C gu College ollege lIege and are reproduced in this pa paper per with permission fO for the enjoyment of the readers of this paper STUNG Honorable ble Mention Honors Q By Y R Robert obert III j know now what lets let's do said Bart as we were going to the after the milk cows pasture ture pas night Lets go around one cemetery and md steal b the hv by from old Charlies Charlie's some honey bee hives where we were we From could see sec Charlies Charlie's place That sounds like a good idea And its it's almost almost al- al to to me I I replied most dark so we shouldn't much trouble have ve too hadn't been into Charges Charge's Char Char- We e ge's lies lie's b bee e hives yet that year headed excitedly for his so a we e spurring our horses to tom place dace maximum m speed We soon et I g get I Cached reached Charlies Charlie's lies field gate and rand I 1 dismounted and opened It Its Crts ai airways alWays always al- al I exclaimed Ways been night when we robbed robbed rob- rob bed the hives before Do you think that w we ca can do o it with with- out getting stung stung- We can sure tr try replied Bart Ill try an anything thing once By the way have you got some matches Yea Ive I've got two or three why 1 I III hear that if you ou smoke them out they wont won't hurt you We can set some of this rabbit brush on fire for a smoke screen This sounded like a good idea to me so I produced my total otal of two matches One of the he matches was broken but we ve pro proceeded to make us some brush torches Well VeIl the idea dea didn't seem to work too tool well l and we were soon out of matches natches with no torches to Show how for it The brush was slightly wet wel and we just dust couldn't seem to make it burnIm burn Tm Im III going to get some of that hat honey comb if its it's thel thelast the l last ast st thing I do I said I It was then that Bart came up tip ip with another of his bright Ideas deas and he replied Lets ICLet's just ride through the hives Ir fast ast t on our horses and get the he honey before fore the bees ti have ve time to o sting us I l didn't know now the plan would auld work but it sounded worth a try Ve We mounted our th horses and started through he e e hives The bees didn't em to be too active and we grew more lent tnt nt With a whoop I put my arse am to a run and started for fore fora a ITne ne e of the gray colored hives I passed the hive Iff I If ached cached down and neatly ff f n. n knocked the lid off onto the ground A swarm of bees came up from the hive but we were far ahead of them on our galloping horses S Say I said This is going going going go- go ing to be as easy as taking candy from a baby Yes HYes Bart replied only Conly sweeter We Ve rode through the hives again to look the situation over and as we passed the lidless hive we could see the bees in a mass on top They were sitting one on top of theother the theother theother other making a layer of bees about two or three inches thick on top of the hive We Ve then rode out of the bee hives to plan our next attack This isn't going to be as easy as we thought Bart said Im not about to stick my hand into that pile of sting sting- ers Were Vere not licked yet I replied I HI know just what we can do Lets Let's get some brush swats and ride through and kill the bees then we can go goin goin goin in and get the honey and not be bothered with them This sounded good to Bart and we started the m mass mas a s s slaughter The first few trips throw h t f 1 J T g ii wen n went ulo LUH i ne and aim i I suppose sup suppose sup sup- up- up pose that we killed some four or five thousand bees The third trip however howe did not goso go goso goso so good My l horse fell just asI as asI asI I was reaching out to swat the bees I landed squarely against the topped open-topped hive knocking it over with the im im- im pact As the hive toppled on its side it emitted a cloud of bees V Well ell that cloud of infuriated infuriated infuriated ted bees headed right for me sharpening their stingers as they came I was on my feet and leaving a blue streak be behind behind behind be- be hind me in nothing flat but the bees weren't going to be cheated out of their revenge As I would slap at one bee with his stinger in my rump another one would bury his in my ear car As I started to outdistance outdistance outdistance out out- distance some of the bees I had time to notice that I would have to solve this problem entirely by myself because my inconsiderate buddy was rolling rolling rolling roll roll- ing on the ground with hy hy- hy steria I suppose that I did present a rather comical sight slapping myself and trying to rake the bees from underneath underneath underneath under under- neath my shirt but I can tell you I was in no laughing mood I felt more like a pincushion pincushion pincushion pin pin- cushion than anything else and acid a d I have since doubted that even a pin cushion has as many holes in as I had I finally cleared myself of the rest of the bees and went over to where Bart was still laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes All HAll r rig right i g h t laughing-boy laughing wheres where's my damned horse I yelled in my f fury ry Ive never seen anything so funny in my life Bart wailed flY You ou were hilarious think hilarious when I get hold of you I yelled and md made a lunge for him He pleaded and made an honest effort to stop laughing then he informed me that my horse had left for home during the excitement This was just about all I could take and I sunk to the ground in a defeated state only to leap back up with the bee all stings on my rump hurting the worse With some encouragement from Bart I finally eased myself myself my my- self sel up behind him on his wi horse and we started started- out again to get the cows leaving the well armed bees to them them- selves Approximately a 8 half h hour ur later we were driving the cows toward home when I saw my fathers father's car coming down the road Oh Ohl What was I gom go going go- go m ing g to do now How could I explain my red swollen face The true story would sound ridiculous As the car pulled up beside our horse my father fath fath- er poked his head out of the window and yelled We saw your horse come home with the saddle on and thought something had happened to you I would have to think fast now What could I say She got away from me as I was closing the gate I lied V Well ell there was that faked off now what would be the next question question question ques ques- tion Then it came just as I had expected What in the world is the matter with your face mother moth moth- er asked I I HII I dont don't know I guess its it's just sunburn I stammered Well uVell you had better find ahat ahat a ahat hat to protect you from the sun said dad and they drove off I heaved a sigh of relief as they left I r had had to lie about it but at least I was safe for fora a little while I knew that I wasn't safe for long though because I could fee feel the ef effects effects effects ef- ef of the bee stings coming on I could feel the skin on my face tightening up with swelling and my eyes were puffed and swollen nearly shut A feeling swept over me and my temples temples temples tem tem- ples felt cold and damp Before Before Before Be Be- fore we reached home a cold sweat had broken out all over my my body When we reached home I stole dazedly into my room and plunked down onto my bed just in time to avoid fainting The room was swirling swirling swirl swirl- ing crazily around me and be before before be- be fore long I had dropped fast asleep Hey wake up my brother shouted Arent you going to todo todo todo do your chores tonight I opened my eyes far enough to see my brother Jerry shaking shaking shak shak- ing me then I moaned that I Iwas Iwas Iwas was too sick to do chores chore I slowly told him the bee story then I bribed him to do my share of the chores and to not tell my parents the reason why I was sick After Jerry had left I amused myself for a moment counting the bee stings that I had acquired and I came up with a grand total of 17 stings I had just dust about dropped off to sleep again when my mother entered the room Jerry told me the story she said I HI had better doctor you up dont don't you think At that moment I was too ill to care who knew about the story or whether I was go going going going go- go ing to be doctored or not I remember only of making the vow never to try robbing bee beehives beehives beehives hives again |
