The Bee Charmer
By
Jamallah Bergman
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright© 2015 Jamallah Bergman
Editing
By
Leanore Elliott
Book Design
By
Wicked Muse
Cover
By
Anya Kelleye
No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission from the author, except in the case of excerpts or quotations embodied for reviews.
“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.” —Victor Hugo
Chapter One
The sun peeked through the trees as they softly rustled in the wind that morning. Jeremy Hewitt poured a cup of coffee and stood out on the wrap around porch, he helped to build. He blew over the cup lightly before taking a quick sip as it burned his upper lip. He gazed out over the vast green meadow and was thankful he’d decided to build out on this part of his land. It was the perfect spot to watch the sunrise in the morning as well as the sunset at night. He took another sip, realizing that it wasn’t sweet enough. He went back inside to the kitchen to get the honey container from off the counter. Taking the wooden honey wand out while watching the golden liquid drizzle slowly into his cup, he got a spoon to stir and took another sip. He took a longer one, feeling the caffeine slowly working through his system.
The phone rang and he knew who was calling even before he grabbed hold of the receiver. “Hello momma, I should be on my way over for breakfast.” He could hear her giggle and it made him smile.
“You better hurry on up, I’m making buttermilk biscuits and they’re almost done.”
“I’ll be on my way then.” He hung up knowing that if he didn’t get over to his parent’s house that his brother would more than likely get first dibs on those biscuits. He grabbed his keys from off the counter before finishing off the rest of his coffee. Putting the mug into the sink, he turned off the pot before walking out.
Jeremy Hewitt had been use to the same routine every day, going over to his parent’s house for breakfast with the family. They would get together to talk about what they would be doing that day…life on the farm was always a busy one. But the farming he dealt with didn’t have anything to do with cows, chickens, corn or wheat. No, the Hewitt family dealt with bees, beekeeping and the manufacturing of honey.
The Hewitt Honey Farm had been known for generations for making delicious honey from his third great grandfather, Tom Hewitt, who came to Oak Glen with his wife Irena to start a new life, all the way down to the newest member, baby Matthew. His family had been making honey for years and when Tom had heard from one of his cousins how beautiful Oak Glen was, he bought about twenty acres of land where they built a home for his family and with the help of his cousins, they would build what would be the first of many hives that would soon cultivate the most delicious honey around. People would come from three counties over just to grab a jar of Hewitt Farm honey.
As the years went by and the times started to change, so did the way the honey was manufactured. It wasn’t until Jeremy’s father, Weston started to run things that the Hewitt Honey Farm became more than just a town favorite but also well known around the world.
Soon, his mother, Athena wanted to open a bakery shop since she was known for her cakes, pies and other desserts throughout town while his sister in law, Lily wanted to open a shop to showcase some of the lotions, soaps and other things that she would make with the honey and beeswax they got from the farm.
So, with the help of his brother Tyler, the men along with a contractor decided to build a bigger place on the farm. It would be of a gift shop for the travelers who took the tour of the farm as well as to partake of the yummy food that his mother and the cooks would make.
When he pulled up to his parent’s home, Jeremy could see he was the first to make it to the house. He was very lucky they lived on the farm as each brother had his own part of the land, which now outstretched some sixty acres. He’d built his home near the meadow where the spring wildflowers would grow. He’d spent hours playing there when he was a kid. His brother use to go with him at times, calling him a flower child because he would often come home bringing their mother flowers from the meadow. Even to this day on, when the flowers were in bloom, Jeremy would often go out to pick a few flowers just for her.
“Hey son,” his father greeted him while pouring a cup of coffee.
When Jeremy looked over and saw his mother at the stove, he walked over to her and gave a kiss on the top of her long golden blonde hair with its streaks of grey. “Good Morning everybody, cooking up bacon? I can’t wait.” He smiled as his father handed him a cup before pouring himself another cup.
“Be thankful you got here in time before your brother. I took the biscuits out of the oven and they’re in the basket on the table. I’ll bring the bacon when it’s done.” His mother told him.
With a grin, he immediately went to grab a hot biscuit or two.
Athena Hewitt was a wiz in the kitchen. She would always be either baking pies or cakes for the church bizarre or canning vegetables and fruits from the garden. If she went out anywhere, you would often find her talking it up with her friends, swapping recipes and telling folks about what ingredients would go with what food. But it wasn’t just her cooking that was well known around Oak Glen, it was her natural beauty.
Jeremy inherited some of his mother’s ‘beauty’ as far as her golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes but it was his father that he got his strong chiseled features, killer smile as well as height from, since he stood at six five while his brother stood at six foot six.
He heard the truck pulling up in the driveway and Jeremy knew his brother and wife would be coming in. Going over to the table with warm biscuits in tow, he sat down and began to open them up as steam rose from between the softness. Jeremy couldn’t wait as he grabbed the honey jar and butter.
“Good Morning everyone,” Lily called out in her usual boisterous voice.
Lily and Tyler had been school sweethearts since third grade. They started actually dating in the seventh grade since her father didn’t think it would be right for kids who were in the third grade to be dating. After that, they were completely inseparable, going on dates, going on family vacations with each other’s families during the summer.
Jeremy remembered the day Tyler surprised Lily by asking her to marry him. Even though they’d been together, Lily had wanted to go to school in New York while he went to Georgia but regardless of the distance, they always made time for each other by calling or writing letters to each other. Sometimes, instead of spending Spring Break partying it up with friends in Ft. Lauderdale and Panama City, they would return back home, making future plans. That one summer during their junior year, Tyler had saved up his money to buy the nicest engagement ring and made plans to propose to her in a private spot that they would often go to for intimate picnics. He had Jeremy help him set up a table, while their mother had helped cook Lily’s favorite meal….Chicken and Dumplings.
When Tyler did pop the question, they drove back to their parent’s home to find out that her parent’s along with her brother Bob and sister, Megan were waiting for them to come. They decided to build their home on the same spot of land where Tyler had proposed to her, which their father would give him along with a couple of acres of land. They’d been together now for over ten years…still going strong.
; “Good Morning you two,” Jeremy said, biting into a biscuit as he grinned over at Tyler.
His brother was giving him the side eye as he walked past him, ruffling up his hair.
Jeremy swatted his hand.
Tyler chuckled as he gave their mother a kiss.
“You look better today,” Jeremy told Lily as she sat down at the table.
“Yeah, that sinus headache had been bothering me so bad. Thank goodness, the doctor gave me something for it. Oh Athena, I thinking about redoing that milk and honey lotion, I figured a way to make it a bit thicker.”
“I’m glad you thought about doing that. Some people were asking about why it was a bit runny.” Athena told her while bringing over a plate full of bacon to the table along with some scrambled eggs.
Tyler pulled out the chair for his mother and brought over the pitcher of orange juice.
Smiling, their father sat down at the head of the table as always.
For the first couple of minutes, they were passing plates of food, serving themselves as they all ate. This was the norm during breakfast for at least those first ten minutes of eating.
“Oh yeah, I have the ad ready to put in the paper.” Lily reached around for her purse and grabbed a piece of paper to hand over to Athena.
“An ad, what for?” asked Weston.
“Well, since Philip and Abby are leaving us in a week, we’re going to need someone to help out around here. So, I had Lily make up an ad to put in the paper,” She looked it over and smiled as she read it. “It looks great, just go on to the newspaper and have them put it in. I know a lot of people will be answering that ad in no time.”
“Well, boys we’ve got to check out that spinner that’s been giving us some trouble,” Weston announced.
“I need to go into town to get that part for it. Rodney told me that it would be in the shop.” Jeremy took a huge bite of his biscuit.
“Good, lord knows that thing has been an issue for about a week.”
Jeremy took another sip of coffee before he got up from the table, “Thanks for breakfast Mom, I better head on out.” He walked over to the sink with plate and cup in hand to put it in. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“Oh, wait a minute son, since you’re going into town, maybe you can take this ad to the newspaper for us.” Athena handed him the paper.
“That would be great if you could,” Lily added.
“I’ll get on it right away.” Giving his Mom a kiss on the forehead, he left the house with a full stomach and a determined state of mind. Once he got in his Black Chevy Tahoe and turned his car around to face towards the main road, Jeremy set off for town. He turned on the radio as 80’s music began to blare through the speakers. He went past some of the hives that he knew were probably buzzing with activity from the bees. There was nothing that he enjoyed more than working with the bees.
His parents started showing him and his brother how the farm operated when he was five and his brother was eight. They would watch as his dad and the workers would wear the protective clothing along with the hooded hat and veil that Jeremy used to get scared of because he always thought that his Dad was some kind of alien until he started to talk. Then there was that smoker, which didn’t help much either with the alien ideas that he had going on in his head. He would watch as they took a frame from the hive and he got to see what honey actually looked like before it was put into a jar. They would uncap the cells by hand using an uncapping knife and if there were any more beeswax, a fork would be used to get whatever was left. Then they would extract the honey by using a spinner. This was the fun part, because their Dad would let them turn it and the humming sound it made was really soothing to Jeremy. Then once the honey was filtered, his father would let it run from the spigot, and he would put his finger underneath, so he could get the first taste of it.
“How does it taste?” His mom would always ask.
“Yummy,” he would chime in, which made his parents laugh. Sometimes, him and Tyler would get a piece of beeswax and suck on it all day long.
When he finally made it into town, he went over to the Oak Glen Gazette to put in the ad. “Why, hey there Jeremy, how are things going?” Mr. Randall asked. He’d had been working with the paper for forty-five years.
“Doing great Mr. Randall, mom wanted me to bring this to you.” He dug into this pocket, and opened up the paper before handing it to him.
The old man adjusted his wire rimmed glasses that were almost about to come off his little nose. “Well, looks like you guys might need some help up at the farm huh?”
“Uh, yes sir,”
“Well for this ad, it will cost you six fifty.”
He grabbed his wallet and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. He gazed around the room, looking at the walls with the different front page articles, which for a small town like Oak Glen, there really wasn’t much to print unless you were talking about city council news, baby and wedding announcements along with those who’d passed away.
“Here you go and I’ll make sure they put it in tomorrow’s paper.”
“Great and thanks Mr. Randall.” Giving the man a hearty handshake, Jeremy went on about his day.
Chapter Two
Pamelia heard the buzzing of the clock but didn’t want to get up.
It was always like this when it came time for her to go to work. Slowly but surely, she raised herself up out of bed, rubbing her hand along the back of her neck to wake herself up. When she did get up and walked her way into the bathroom, she looked in the mirror, eyes still trying to focus themselves on her reflection.
She knew she needed to get her hair done this weekend. It’d been over a month since going to Lisa, her hairdresser and she knew she was in need of something a bit different.
Reminder for today….call Lisa to make an appointment for Saturday.
Opening up the shower curtain, she turned on the water as streams shot down onto the tile floor. Grabbing her scrunchie that was on the back of the doorknob, she pulled her naturally curly hair into a messy bun. She didn’t care if it did get a bit wet because that’s what towels were for.
Taking her time, she relished these moments in the shower before going to work. Once done Pamelia got out, dried herself off, and went to her dresser drawer to grab some underwear and a bra. She could already smell the coffee brewing as she always set it to start right when she woke up. Lord knows, she could use a hot cup right now. She went into the closet to grab her diagonal ombre belted dress in blue and black print.
Gazing into the mirror once more, she grabbed her brush to put on her makeup. In reality though, she really didn’t need much makeup, just a little blush and some lipstick worked just fine with her. Pamelia was thankful that she never got a pimple in her life, unlike most of her friends when growing up they would break out in such a bad case of acne, her face always looked smooth and clear from those unsightly blemishes.
Glancing at the clock, she only had about forty something minutes to head onto work. Quickly spritzing on some perfume, she grabbed her purse and jacket, as she knew it would be freezing cold in the office. For as long as she’d been working at the Steiner, Jones and Dawson law office, which as of today, would make seven years, the office always felt cold. When she first started to work there, she was told by Mr. Steiner that Mr. Dawson liked it cold. The thermostat was always set at sixty five, whether it was during the hot sweltering summer or the cold frigid winter. She didn’t mind it at first and the only reason to that was because when she was hired, it was hotter than hell outside and it felt so good in that office.
Now though, it was just getting ridiculous and she would often end up catching a cold and miss a day or two from work. Her complaints fell on deaf ears because whatever the bosses wanted, they got.
I’d better grab a sweater too.
Thankful that traffic wasn’t as bad as she thought, it didn’t take Pamelia long to get to the office. She walked towards the small kitchenette in the back where she was happy to see that someone had
started a fresh pot and poured herself a cup that she kept in the cabinet.
“Hey Ms. Thang, how was your weekend?” Elizabeth asked.
Pamelia hated that nickname. “My weekend was just fine.”
“You should have come out with us to the club. Lily and I had too much fun, we danced the night away and drank so much, I ended up with a hangover the next day.” She giggled while pouring herself a cup.
Elizabeth’s idea of fun was going out every single night to the clubs, drink herself into a stupor and talk about her latest conquest with the man who bought her drinks that night.
Pamelia could never understand how someone could waste their time going out every night, and then come into work just as fresh as a daisy. “Well, as long as you gals had fun that’s all that matters.”
She heard her scoff when leaving the room. Pamelia knew how much Elizabeth enjoyed rubbing it in her face that she had a social life and Pamelia didn’t. Her partying days were over and done with, because every time she did go out, it brought her nothing but unhappiness, dealing with the same riffraff night after night. So, her days of enjoyment were mostly for when she stayed at home or if there was a festival going on in town or to a poetry reading.
When she walked back to her desk, the front door opened and in came Mr. Jones and Mr. Dawson. Out of everyone she worked with at the law office, Mr. Jones was the only one she could tolerate. He was an older gentleman, in his mid-sixties with shocking white hair that reminded her of snow. But he had the most gentile disposition with everyone he met and always tried to help out those that he knew were in need of the most help, unlike Mr. Dawson and Mr. Steiner who were only out to make money. “Why hello Pamelia, how are you this morning?”
“Doing fine sir, how are you?”
“Well, we went out to the lake this weekend with Bernice and the grandkids and boy, we had a lot of fun. I made some of famous BBQ ribs, hot dogs, and hamburgers for the kids. Bernice really outdid herself with everything else, including the dessert.” He put down a paper bag on top of the desk.
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