Louie the Bee: The Insects Prevail.

by Dave Corrick

  Chapter 23

  Pearl Is Worried about the Future of The stream Community.

  A month has passed since the Factory started again in the New Year.

  Rose was now looking after Tiger and Lily five days a week so that Lulu was back with Louie at the Factory every day.

  Tiger and Lily were an absolute delight. Their doting parents couldn’t wait to get home in the evenings to be with them.

  If the weather was fine, Rose would have Tiger and Lily out on the deck waiting for their parents to arrive in the evening. Louie and Lulu flying down the stream from the Factory could see the little bees waving to them from some distance off. There was always so much joy to be back together again. The two little creatures were quite agile now and would bounce up and down like little springs on sighting their parents.

  The two little bees were saying the odd word now such as ‘Daddy”, “Mummy”, “Hungwy”, “Don’t Like”, “No” and “Yes”; that was about the extent of their vocabulary however it was improving all the time.

  They were truly good little bees and were no bother for Rose to look after. In fact she just adored them and helped greatly with the gradual process for them to learn about life itself.

  Rose had usually fed Tiger and Lily by the time Louie and Lulu arrived home after a day at the factory. This meant the couple could enjoy their own meal together while Tiger and Lily played and scampered around making Louie and Lulu laugh. Yes life in the bee household was pretty good.

  Later in the evening Louie and Lulu would have the pleasure of putting the two little bees to bed in their cradle.

  Louie and Lulu with their arms around one another, would watch the little eyes of Tiger and Lily close. There would be a few squeaky little yawns and stretching of little arms and legs. Finally small snuffling sounds would indicate that the pair were indeed sound asleep.

  Before Louie and Lulu tiptoed out of the room they would stroke the little heads gently and stare in wonder at the two precious little bundles.

  Louie and Lulu would look at each other and smile, then go and spend the rest of the evening out on the deck if it was warm or inside by the stove if it was cool.

  On several occasions over the past few weeks Louie had opened up his gaptop and he and Lulu sat and looked at the photos Virgil had taken up at the cave on that magic New Year’s Eve. Louie and Lulu clung on to the memory of that wonderful time as they moved into the reality of the New Year. It helped to maintain an inner strength to face what ever life might throw at them.

  Louie and Lulu hadn’t seen Pearl for a few weeks now. Pearl had been really busy fulfilling her role as Queen to keep the insect community safe by any means that she could.

  Pearl had been spending a lot of time through the quartz, merging with various humans to try and determine what the aims of the village council were, particularly in relation to the stream where the insects lived.

  The ability the insects had to merge with humans had enabled Pearl to attend council meetings and determine the agendas of the councillors and the associated administration. Pearl had also merged with people in the village library and researched the history of the village, amongst other things. Pearl wasn’t happy about what she was finding. It was time to act before it was too late.

  One evening, after the two little bees had been put to bed and Louie and Lulu were sitting out on their deck, Pearl phoned Louie.

  ‘Hi Louie, Pearl here’, said Pearl. ‘I hope I haven’t disturbed Tiger and Lily by phoning you?’

  ‘No problem’, Louie replied. ‘They are both sound asleep; Lulu and I are sitting out on the deck just watching the stream go by while the sun goes down. As you know it’s another one of those beautiful summer evenings’.

  ‘Yes I think I can just see you two’, said Pearl looking out the window of her apartment.

  ‘We have both missed our favourite Moth, we haven’t seen you for awhile’, Louie continued.

  ‘Thanks Louie’, Pearl replied. ‘Yes I have been quite busy. I wonder if I could meet with you and Lulu some time this week. You may remember last year I mentioned a major project we need to undertake. It has become quite urgent to take some action. I’d like to go over it with you and Lulu. We could go to the Country Club if you like and I will shout you a meal? The only thing is getting dressed up; you know what they are like there Louie’.

  ‘I’ll just check with Lulu Pearl’, said Louie holding the phone to his chest while he talked to Lulu.

  ‘Let’s go to the Country Club! Please Louie’, said Lulu looking up with her appealing brown eyes. The pleading look on Lulu’s face caused Louie to agree without question, even though he hated getting dressed up!

  Louie responded to Pearl. ‘The Country Club it is Pearl, when would you like to meet?’

  ‘That’s great Louie’, said Pearl. ‘Could we make it next Monday, it will be quiet then. Come up to my apartment just after 11.15 a.m. and we can get aboard the 11.48 a.m. train’.

  ‘See you then Pearl’, Louie confirmed.

  ‘Thanks Louie, give Lulu a hug from me’, said Pearl before hanging up.

  Louie sat down beside Lulu again and put his arms carefully around her then squeezed her tightly. ‘This is from Pearl’, said Louie laughing.

  ‘Well how about another one from you then Louie?’ said Lulu mischievously. Louie obliged of course!

  Lulu was glad that they were going to the Country Club. She had made herself a delightful little green mini skirt with a matching top, out of pressed dandelion leaves. Lulu was dying for an excuse to wear her new outfit.

  Monday came. Louie had arranged for Import to look after the Factory. Rose was looking after Tiger and Lily.

  Just before 11.15 a.m. Louie and Lulu were ready to head for Pearl’s apartment. Lulu looked just the cutest little bee in her new outfit. She was so pretty. Louie was very proud of her.

  Louie wore his spider silk shorts and braces together with a natty looking green tie Lulu had made to match her outfit. What a stunning couple!

  Louie and Lulu said goodbye to Rose, Tiger and Lily. Tiger and Lily waved to their parents as they flew off and disappeared up to Pearl’s apartment.

  It was only a moment before they were at Pearl’s apartment. It was good to see Pearl again.

  ‘Come on in you two’, said Pearl as she opened the door. ‘My! You both look so smart! Make yourselves at home; I will be ready in a few moments’.

  Shortly afterwards when Pearl was ready the trio headed down the stream, through the village, and then alighted on the roof of the railway station in the sun and waited for the train.

  While they waited on the station roof Pearl filled in the time talking about her experience merging with people in the village library.

  ‘It’s been an amazing educational experience for me at the village library’, said Pearl. ‘I have learnt so much more about the planet we live on. I used to think the planet extended from the hills we see in the west to somewhere past the village! Not any more. I have learnt about what the sea is that we see from the cave and how out across these seas are other countries like where we live here. The planet we live on has millions and millions of humans. I’ll tell you more about it sometime. Believe me the powers we have are almost unimaginable.

  ‘If you two get a chance some time, go and merge with someone in the library, you will be amazed’.

  Louie was about to say something when the train arrived.

  The insects flew into the train driver’s cab. They were off to the Country Club. Louie looked at his beautiful Lulu and thought how much happier he felt now compared to the time when he had first come out for the meeting about the tunnel project.

  On arrival at the Country Club, Pearl took Louie and Lulu to a special table she had booked by the window.

  Sir Cada and Lady Bird were at the Club (as they were most days) and came over to have a brief chat. Before Sir Cada and Lady Bird arrived at their table, Lulu nudged Louie gently and whispered in his ear. ‘You are to be o
n your best behaviour you naughty bee’.

  All went well however. Sir Cada thought it was “fwightfully” good to see Louie and Lulu again and didn’t even mention how clever his son and daughter were or how many “degwees” they had. In fact all was very pleasant and Sir Cada and Lady Bird went off and sat down at their table again.

  Pearl sighed with relief and smiled at Louie and Lulu without saying a word.

  Some glasses of honey nectar were ordered. Today the food was being served as a buffet so the insects could help themselves as required. There was a beautiful selection of their favourites including chocolate cake of course!

  Pearl got straight on to what she wanted to say. Deep down she was very very worried and it was good to have Louie and Lulu with her. There was a degree of urgency in her voice.

  Pearl set about explaining what she had been doing in the village for the past few weeks, particularly in relation to the village council. First of all she gave Louie and Lulu a background on how the town politics worked before moving on to what the council had been up to.

  Pearl’s explanation went something like this:

  There were twelve councillors including the Mayor, Mayor Twyfle. It had become apparent to Pearl that Mayor Twyfle was easily manipulated by the other eleven councillors and was certainly no leader.

  The twelve councillors voted on village issues put forward by either the Mayor, individual councillors or by submissions from the public.

  A chief executive officer, a certain Mr Grovelmoore, implemented the courses of action agreed by the councillors via the council staff hierarchy. The staff under Grovelmoore consisted of an overly large number of over paid, paper shuffling seat warmers!

  As a simple example of how it all worked, Pearl recalled the Cyril Marchfart debacle (the council inspector who had caused a great deal of bother to Mr McFarland). Marchfart was simply part of the council staff hierarchy carrying out policies formulated by the councillors and its executive. In this particular case the policy being administered was not about saving trees but a subtle means of collecting revenue!

  Since the beginning of the year, the village council had met twice to formulate and document the direction the council would take in the coming twelve months. Pearl explained how she had merged with all of the councillors at both of the meetings. To Pearl’s disgust, the councillors including Mayor Twyfle, had an underlying attitude to put their own needs first without any real consideration for the welfare of the village and its citizens. Pearl had seen this by the way many public submissions were ignored. Often responses to public submissions were deliberately prepared in such a manner as to say why things couldn’t be done.

  One thing that had really shocked Pearl was that at the first meeting the councillors had all agreed that they needed to double their remuneration so that what they were paid matched the private sector! Really? Pearl had thought if they wanted payment similar to the private sector then go and get a job there. It appeared to Pearl that these particular councillors had failed in the private sector and this was the only reason they were with the council. Disgusting!

  In order to achieve the change in remuneration together with other spurious expenditure it was going to be necessary to raise rates by twenty percent. This had been agreed to by all the councillors in five minutes flat!

  To Pearl, raising the rates by twenty percent could have serious implications for the insect community. Residents such as Mr McFarland in all likelihood wouldn’t be able to afford such an increase and would therefore sell up and move away. If Mr McFarland moved it was quite possible that the Factory could be destroyed. New owners would probably demolish the old shed where Louie and Lulu ran their operation.

  Pearl had found that the culture that existed amongst the councillors was to make money, not to serve the ratepayers who had elected them. They even referred to ratepayers as customers! Were these guys for real!

  In the minds of the councillors and the executive, the council was to be run as a business. Ratepayers were to pay for services on a user pays basis even though the rates collected had paid for the services many times over. As far as the councillors were concerned, rates were to be collected to fill the trough that they and the executive had their snouts firmly entrenched in!

  As part of this money making culture, the councillors felt that it could be a good idea to sell off the reserve land along the stream and turn it into a housing development. This was totally against what ratepayers wanted. However the councillors had agreed to ignore the interests of the ratepayers in favour of their own selfish needs and considered the option as a done deal.

  What really worried Pearl deeply was that if it eventuated that the reserve land along the stream be turned into a housing development, Louie’s Reserve Bank would disappear; the dollops and scents would be gone. Worst of all, the tunnel would go and the insects would no longer be able to go through the quartz and do the things they were able to do now. Yes what Pearl had been discovering was very serious indeed.

  There was more, much more. Pearl had also found that the councillors had voted unanimously to spend a large amount of ratepayer’s money on a trip away they had defined as being a “fact finding mission”! Yes all of the councillors were to be away for the whole of the next month. However it became obvious to Pearl that this was no “fact finding mission” but instead a holiday at the ratepayer’s expense! In fact the councillors had laughed amongst themselves how easy it was to use ratepayer’s money to their own advantage and considered it their right to do so. To make matters worse, the councillors had agreed to give Grovelmoore, the chief executive officer, a massive bonus so that their own agendas would be executed without question!

  Pearl had uncovered another disgusting piece of human greed.

  Up the stream well past Sir Cada and Lady Bird’s place was a large property that had up until recently been owned by a Mrs Appleton. Her husband had died some years ago. Mrs Appleton had lived off the land and grown beautiful flowers along with vegetables and had planted a fine stand of native trees. It was a delightful place for the insects to visit on occasions.

  Unfortunately Mrs Appleton had now died. In her will she had left the property to the council with clearly spelt out instructions to designate her property as additional streamside reserve land. Her intentions were for all citizens to enjoy what she had known.

  The councillors in order to suit their own needs had overturned Mrs Appleton’s wishes by declaring the land to be subject to flooding and therefore not suitable as a reserve for the public. Pearl knew very well the land had never flooded in the time the insect community had been around.

  However it soon became apparent that this was all part of an agenda of one councillor Shufflegrub. He had now bought the land off the council for a considerably reduced sum to further his own interests.

  The land Mrs Appleton had owned was quite extensive and fertile. It had a beautiful home that Mrs Appleton had meticulously maintained. Councillor Shufflegrub had in his wisdom decided that there was money to be made in dairy farming. He intended to run a herd of two hundred cows on the site and live there with his family. Apparently two hundred cows was only the start. It could end up being one thousand or more later.

  This might have sounded innocent enough however Pearl had to her horror discovered that a consent had been granted by the council to run the effluent from the milking shed straight into the stream! This on its own would destroy the whole of the insect community along the stream banks. Even worse was the fact that this wasn’t a “might happen”, the milking shed had already been built and the effluent pipe to the stream was not far off being laid.

  Pearl referred again to how she had spent some considerable time in the village library and reiterated what an amazingly valuable source of information for the insect community it was. She had researched the history of the village.

  What Pearl had found was that some thirty years earlier the village council had been run on an almost voluntary basis. In earlier times
it had been an honour to serve as a councillor. Councillors in these times had the village in their hearts and did their best to fulfil the ratepayer’s wishes and to make the village a good place to be. Rates in these times had been comparatively low and most services were free. Unfortunately human greed had been allowed by stealth to infiltrate the village council culture to such an extent that now the agenda was to exploit the villagers to support a greedy few. In effect what the council and the team of councillors had been doing via the council processes was make dishonest and immoral practices legal. They felt it was their absolute arrogant right to do so!

  Finally to add insult to injury Pearl had noted with interest that as part of the greed by stealth process it was proposed over the next ten years to double the number of councillors. The chief executive officer position was to be replaced with a team of five highly paid directors. The five directors would report to a managing director.

  For cooperation in this deviousness, the current chief executive officer, Grovelmoore, was to be elevated to the managing director position. Where would it all end?

  Pearl could see that human greed manifesting itself in the form of legalized dishonesty would eventually destroy the insect community as well as possibly the lives of the people in the village. Unfortunately it was not something that would happen in the future, it was happening now.

  Pearl was very very angry and at times was shaking with rage as she spoke about what she had found.

  Heaven help anyone who enrages Pearl Baker-Moth; as we shall soon learn!

  Pearl spent a good hour or more explaining to Louie and Lulu just how serious the situation was. She carefully went over things that Louie and Lulu didn’t understand.

  When Pearl stopped talking there was a long silence. Pearl settled her emotions and gained composure while Louie and Lulu reflected on what Pearl had said. Lulu was afraid for the future of the two little bees at home with Rose.

  Pearl now having composed herself broke the silence and said, ‘Come on you two, none of us have had any lunch! Let’s get some and then I will talk some more. There will always be ways around these things. I’ve got a few ideas already and you two can help me implement them’.

  ‘I think we need a little red wine after that lot’, said Louie. ‘I will get us all a glass’.

  When the three had sat down again to have their lunch Pearl went on to say, ‘When we were up at the cave for New Year’s Eve it really struck me just how precious and wonderful our lives and our community are. We have to do everything we can to preserve it. I know how happy you two are together; I can see it and feel it. As for those two little blighters Tiger and Lily, I would die before I let anything happen to them’.

  Lulu reached out to Pearl and said. ‘Louie and I would die for Tiger and Lily too Pearl, we are right behind you in anything you decide to do’.

  ‘Thank you, I do need your help and support with this one’, said Pearl. ‘I don’t want you two to worry. As I said there are ways around these things. We do have tremendous powers and if we use them sensibly and with integrity we will continue to preserve what we have. Goodness only knows Louie what would have happened if you hadn’t come across the blue light from the quartz in the tunnel, we would be history by now’.

  Pearl paused for a sip of red wine then went on to say. ‘The problems we face immediately are difficult enough and somehow we will deal with them. Unfortunately this won’t be the end of it. With the greed culture that now prevails in the human world there is no genuine concern for the planet itself. Most initiatives by humans to save the planet are a cover for extracting money off others. An example is the carbon tax which will make a few rich and many poor. It’s just unbelievable.

  ‘The real issue that there are too many humans on the planet will never be dealt with. The greed for money along with religious cultures will see to that. With the ever expanding human population, eventually we could if we are not vigilant, be overrun by shear numbers and a lack of space left on the planet. We will need to recognise threats early and deal with them accordingly. Some of these problems will be much bigger than we are facing now. But again I am sure we can deal with them’.

  Pearl paused for a moment then went on to say. ‘Take heart in the fact that our community uses renewable energy resources, we don’t pollute the planet and we don’t have a culture of greed. Insects such as us should be around long after humans have destroyed themselves. We need to be strong. If we take the necessary action we will prevail’.

  What Pearl had been saying was indeed very very profound. She really had learnt a great deal from the information available in the village library.

  ‘I guess’, said Louie recognizing that it was a case of dealing with one thing at a time, ‘the immediate problem to deal with is the pollution of the stream by the proposed dairy farm. I hope there is still time?’

  ‘You are right Louie’, said Pearl. ‘What I suggest is that we go and have a look at Mrs Appleton’s property in the next few days, the sooner the better. How about say Thursday 10.00 a.m., I could call in at your place first. I would love to see Tiger and Lily again’.

  Louie looked at Lulu. Lulu nodded.

  ‘Right that’s settled’, said Pearl. ‘We are moving in the right direction, one step at a time. I have an idea in my mind how to deal with the councillors. I will talk to you about it later when I have had more time to think and formulate a plan. In the meantime let’s relax and enjoy ourselves. I don’t want you two to worry. With your help and some determination I just know we can deal to the issues I have outlined. We have to, to survive’.

  With a complete change of subject and an attempt to dispense with the gloominess that prevailed, Pearl looked at Lulu and said, ‘Lulu you look absolutely stunning in that new dress you have made and I love the green tie you have made for Louie to match’.

  ‘Thanks Pearl’, said Lulu. ‘Sorry I have been down a bit but what you have said has come as a bit of a shock’.

  ‘Don’t worry Lulu’ Pearl responded smiling at Lulu while reaching out and clutching her hand. ‘As I have said the problems have been recognised and now we can deal with them. We are just so fortunate to know about them now before it is too late’.

  The three felt a little more positive having talked it through. There was a very strong resolve to preserve the happiness they all had and they would do it at any cost.

  About mid afternoon the trio caught the train back and flew on home. They were all quiet and virtually said nothing all the way. There was a great deal to think about. It was a very serious situation to be in.

  After flying back up the stream Pearl waved goodbye and headed back to her apartment. As she flew off and up to her apartment she shouted back. ‘See you on Thursday at 10.00 a.m. at your place, you are not to worry, that’s an order!’

  Louie and Lulu landed on the deck outside their home and held each other tightly for a moment; they were both stunned with what Pearl had told them.

  The tension didn’t last long however. Two little bees came running out shouting ‘Daddy’, ‘Mummy’ and clung to their parents as though they hadn’t seen them for a year! Louie picked up Tiger and Lulu picked up Lily. Louie and Lulu faced each other and smiled, then they laughed, yes they would fight this thing to the bitter end! No one could ever be sad with Tiger and Lily around!