by Mary Griggs
"All sorts of things. I use it to rustproof metal, coat cheese, and make candles. You can also use it as the original tie-dye."
"What do you mean?"
"You've heard of Batik? It is done by painting designs in melted wax on cloth and then dying the fabric."
"How do you get the wax off?"
"Boil the cloth."
"Can we do that?"
"Sure. That'll be a good thing to do during the winter."
"Excellent."
Jay took the empty frames and leaned them up against the side of the shed.
"What are you doing now?"
"When we're done with the frames, I just set them outside for a couple of days."
"Why?"
"The bees will come by clean up any honey that is left. If I put the frame back in the hive they would repair any damage then starting loading it up with new honey."
"Don't you need to put those back then?" asked Eva. "How can you be sure that they have enough food?"
"To prepare for winter, the colony needs one full super. I've spread that among a couple of hives. By removing a couple of frames, it forces them to consolidate what they have."
"They don't die out?"
"No, in fact they'll stay remarkably warm. The hive is extraordinary. They air condition it in the summer if it gets too hot and their little bodies generate enough heat to keep it warm all winter long."
"That's pretty cool."
"Yeah. They're some of the most efficient and complex insects. They communicate with each other about where to find food with dances."
"Dances?"
"Yeah. After one of the bees has tasted some nectar, they come back to the hive and do a dance for the other bees. They are able to communicate about distance, quality and quantity of the find."
Eva watched a bee fly back into the hive. "Really? You're not just pulling my leg?"
"No, no. It's the truth." Jay worked quickly to return all the items she had used back to their places in the small shack.
"Why do you keep everything way out here?"
"It's easier to have the whole operation close together. That way, you don't have to walk very far with sticky, drippy things. " Jay winked, conspiratorially. "Honestly, I moved the extracting operation out here after Harmony threatened to kill me because of all the honey I tracked into the house."
Jay handed Eva the strained bottle of honey. "Carry this back and set it downstairs near the water heater. After a couple of days, we can pour it into bottles." She directed the teenager outside and closed the door. "When we bottle the honey, we should come out here and put the screens away in the shed."
"What would happen if we left them?"
"Other insects would make their home on them." Jay sniffed, disdainfully. "Moths, mainly. They'd latch onto them in no time flat." She threw an arm around Eva's shoulder. "Pretty neat, doing all that and not getting stung, huh?"
"Yeah. I thought it was more dangerous than that."
"Just remember to come out during the hottest time of the day to check the hives. That way, most of the bees are off collecting more nectar and not hanging around looking to sting you."
"Have you been stung?"
"Several times in fact. But not lately." Jay pointed at her foot. "The last bee that stung me did so because I stepped on him."
"You should watch where you're going."
"Or wear shoes." They laughed. "Bee stings aren't that bad. If you do get stung, you need to get the stinger out as quickly as you can. Then just make a paste with some baking soda and put it on your skin."
"I don't want to get hurt."
Jay shook the youngster gently. "Hey, there used to be people who would go out deliberately to get stung. They said it boosted their immunity."
"No way."
"Way." Going down into the basement, Eva put the jar aside while Jay grabbed a bag of squabs from the freezer. "How about we do a honey glaze on these birds for dinner?"
Eyes bright, Eva nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds great. Can I help?"
"Can you? My dear child, I insist."
"What do you insist?"
Jay nearly jumped out of her skin. Doris had snuck up behind her before speaking. "Damn, woman. You scared me."
"What have you been doing with my daughter?"
Looking confused, Jay pointed at the jar of honey. "We've been charming bees out of their stash."
Doris turned to her daughter. "Is that true? Is that what happened?" At Eva's nod, she asked, "Are you sure that's all?"
"Now wait just a cotton picking minute here." Jay drew herself up and glared at the taller woman. "What the hell are you implying?"
"Not a thing. I would just appreciate it if you would get my permission before you disappear with my child."
"I'd hardly think that walking over to the other side of the pond is disappearing."
"Mom, it's okay. Jay was just showing me her bee hives and all about extracting honey." Eva put herself between the two women. "It was really neat. I can hardly wait until the summer and we get to do it for real."
Jay smiled at the girl. "Don't forget there is a whole fun time during the spring when the bees swarm." At the concerned looked from both of them, she raised her hands. "Not to worry. The old queen takes off and leaves the new queen to rebuild the empire. It's also really cool."
"I'm not sure I want Eva to have anything to do with that."
Eva's face fell. "Mom, it's not dangerous at all. The bees didn't even come close to stinging me."
"It really is very safe, Doris."
"I'll be the judge of that just as I'll be the judge of any other activities that involve my child."
"Whatever." Jay patted Eva on the shoulder and walked by her to the stairs. "I hope you let her out of jail long enough to help with dinner."
Doris looked at her daughter. "I don't care for her attitude."
"You insulted her, mother."
"Don't take that tone with me."
"Of course. You just take that tone with everyone else."
"Eva Maria Matlan, you go to your room. There is just no talking to you when you're like this." She stalked after Jay. "It's obvious that you know nothing about raising children."
"I didn't do anything with her that I haven't done myself."
"You have the experience to make such decisions for yourself, not for a minor child."
"Nothing happened to her!" Jay nearly shouted in her frustration.
"This time. What about next time?"
"She'll be just as safe next time as she was this time."
"If you can't be responsible, I'll need to insist that you keep away from her."
"That might be a little difficult as we live in the same house." Jay stomped upstairs.
Doggedly, Doris followed her. "You need to respect my decisions regarding my daughter."
"Frankly, I'm finding it hard to accord you any respect at all." Jay pulled open one of the doors to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of tequila. Pouring herself a shot, she downed it with a cough.
"That's fine coming from someone with a drinking problem."
"I don't have a drinking problem. I have a problem with you and I'm drinking. Big difference."
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Martha stepped out of her bedroom and looked between the two women.
"Oh, your sister seems to think that letting her daughter be alone with me will either kill or corrupt her." Jay poured another shot. This one she savored with her eyes closed.
"Hey, is that Patron?"
"Yeah. You want some?"
"Damn straight."
Jay giggled. "No, that's why we're having issues." She pulled out another shot glass and filled it with the pale liquid. Pushing it across the table, she grinned at Martha.
"I don't think that your drinking is going to solve anything," Doris hissed.
"There's only one way to solve this and, until that happens, my drinking might just be what saves your life."
"You'd threaten me?"
/>
"No. No threats at all." Jay raised the bottle and an eyebrow at Martha who shook her head. She recapped the bottle and put it back on shelf. "I've tried to be patient and give you the benefit of the doubt, Doris. But you seem bound and determined to make the lives of everyone else around you miserable."
Looking at her sister, Doris asked, "Are you going to let her talk to me like this?"
"Shut up, Doris."
Jay nodded a thank you to Martha. "I'm tired of these almost daily clashes. I get that you're not happy but that's no reason for poisoning the air for the rest of us."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that from now on you need to apply yourself to the principle that if you don't have something nice to say, you say nothing at all."
"You're silencing me?"
"Since you don't seem to have the ability to do it yourself, yes."
"You can't do this."
"You're right. I can't. You have to." Jay glared at her. "And if you don't, I'm not sure I can be held responsible for my actions. You've already had a taste of what happens when I lose control."
Doris stood staring at her with her mouth open. Taking the two empty glasses, Jay dropped them off in the kitchen before she headed out the door.
In her wake, the two sisters just looked at each other. Martha waited for Doris to blow up.
"I can't believe you just stood there and let her say those awful things."
"Doris, I can't protect you anymore. You promised me when we last talked that you'd try to get along. I really haven't seen that you're making any effort at all."
"I am trying. It's just so hard." Doris started to cry. "All of you are against me."
Martha stood fast. "No, we're not. We're all in this together. You are the one keeping yourself apart."
"But I have to."
"Why?"
"Because my eternal soul depends on it."
"Sister, you've lived with me and mine. You've seen the love in my life. How can you possibly think that I'm not made exactly the way God wanted me to be?"
"Because the bible says so."
"Exactly where? After the passages about it being okay to sell your daughter into slavery? Or the one's about it being okay to rape someone if you offer to marry them afterwards?"
"Homosexuality is an abomination."
"So is eating shellfish and getting tattoos but I've never seen you turn down an oyster and that rose on your shoulder isn't exactly invisible."
"I just know what I've been told," she wailed. "I don't want to go to hell."
"What you've managed to do is make this a hell on earth." Martha clasped her hands together. "Please, leave the judging to God."
Doris threw herself into her sister's arms. "Don't hate me!"
"Sweetheart, I don't hate you. Life is hard enough without hate." Martha patted the sobbing woman's back. "Just try to be a little more tolerant."
"I don't mean to..."
"What you mean doesn't matter," interrupted Martha. "The results are all that concern me. You have to accept that no one here shares your particular belief system."
"I feel so sorry for them."
"Don't worry. Believe me, they are filled with as much pity for you."
"How dare they?"
"Knock off that holier than thou attitude." Stepping away from her, Martha pointed a finger at her sister. "From this point forward, no more snide remarks, no more baiting, and absolutely no more boundless accusations.
"I don't know if I can."
"Well, if all else fails, why don't you simply try to keep your distance from Jay?"
"If you say so." Doris wiped her face. "Um, Martha?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't think we should have alcohol left out like that?"
"Like what? She put the bottle back in the cabinet."
"There is no lock. Think of the children."
"I trust the kids."
"There's no need to put temptation into their way."
"It's not like they're ever left alone in the house. I don't think you need to worry about it."
"That's the difference between the two of us. You don't worry enough and I worry too much."
"No, the real issue is that you tend to worry about things that don't matter in the grand scheme of things. We're working for our very survival here, Doris. We don't need to waste our time getting wrapped around the axel with something that doesn't matter."
"Are you saying that my caring about my daughter means nothing?"
"No, just that you need to start caring about more important things." Martha began to pace. "We need to make sure that we have enough food to feed us through the winter and enough firewood to keep us warm. An open bottle of booze is not the end of the world."
"It's how things start. Don't you get it? The same thing happened in the country. Every blessed person willing to turn a blind eye to sin."
"No. The way things started is that some people refused to accept that they aren't the center of the universe. Just because you're white and hold as truth a particular version of the bible doesn't give you the right to force your ideas down everyone else's throat."
"You can't tell me that you don't believe that there aren't moral absolutes."
"Not really. I believe that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, everything else is relative. I've stolen to feed my family and I'll kill to protect them. I guess you could say that my ethics are situational." Martha pinched the bridge of her nose. "We've gotten a little off topic here. Your issues with the state of our souls notwithstanding, I want you do your fair share without us having to tell you and I expect that you'll keep a civil tongue in your head."
Gritting her teeth, Doris nodded. "Fine."
"Good. Now, how about you come with me to chop the rest of the log out front? We need to get that area cleared so that we can bring another log down." Martha led her sister out of the house and into the sunshine.
Chapter Fourteen - A Mighty Fortress is Our God
And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
Words & Music: Martin Luther, 1529
"Oh, man. You should have seen it!"
"Seen what?" Susan asked. She came out of the kitchen to see Piper and Martha roughhousing in the living room. "What are you two doing?"
"You're looking at two of the baddest hombres on the mountain." Martha boasted as she got the other woman in a headlock.
"Really? What have you done now?"
"We just brought down that mondo log."
"What?"
Piper blew a raspberry on Martha's side and grinned when she was released. "Yep. It's over by the pond. We couldn't get it any further on our own."
"I thought we were going to leave that one until everyone to go up and help bring it down."
"Help? We don't need no stinking help," cried Martha in a bad, Spanish accent.
"You two are in amazingly high spirits for people who are about to get a lecture on safety and teamwork," Susan stated as she set plates down on the table. "You're lucky that I don't even know where to begin the lecture."
"Well, you could just forget about it," Piper said hopefully.
Susan shook her head. "No way. I'm not just going to ignore your doing something potentially dangerous and extremely foolish. Now sit down for lunch."
In a small voice, Martha asked, "Are you really mad at me?"
"I'm a little disappointed, darling, but I'm sure we'll work it out." To erase the sad look on her lover's face, she leaned over and kissed her soundly. She then had to wipe her lips with the back of her hand. "Wow, you're salty."
"It feels good to be active again."
Flexing her arms, Piper kissed each of her biceps. "I'm so glad the rains stopped and we could get out there and use these babies."
Jay took he
r place at the table. "What are we going to do with you two when winter hits?"
"Oh, God. I hadn't even started to think about that." Susan shook her head.