The Bee Charmer

by Jamallah Bergman

  He blew on it a couple of times before taking a bite and when he did, he moaned from the flavor. “Can I have a bowl?”

  “So, you like it?”

  “Of course I do. I wouldn’t be asking for a bowl if I didn’t but it does need a bit more salt.”

  “I thought so too, I have two more coming over for an interview, by the way,” she told him grabbing a bowl, and then a ladle to put some soup in it. “Grab a plate because the bowl is hot.”

  “I hope you’ll be able to find someone, I know that one girl was no good.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Do not even remind me of that girl and what makes it worse is the fact that I know her mother. Speaking of girls, do you remember Andrea Kennedy? I ran into her while I was in town and she asked me about you.”

  Jeremy knew exactly what his mom was trying to do as he went over to grab a spoon from the clean ones. “What did she say?”

  “Oh, she asked me how you were doing and whether or not you were seeing anyone.”

  “Mom, please tell me you didn’t tell her I wasn’t seeing anyone,”

  “Well, I could have mentioned that if I did give you her number that you might give her a call sometime to go and have coffee,” she said in a playful tone.

  When she got in this mood, it really annoyed him at times. “You know I love you mom, but please stop playing match maker for me.” He’d been dealing with this for over a year ever since he broke up with Jessica.

  Jessica Bartlett was his on again off again girlfriend for over ten years. She was beautiful with strawberry blonde hair that went down her back, soft skin that reminded him of peaches and cream when she blushed. A light dusting of freckles along the bridge of her nose and cheeks made her look more youthful than she was, along with green eyes that seemed to dance when she was happy. Her parents were one of the richest families in town and even though both their parents thought that the two of them were a perfect match, it wasn’t meant to be.

  Jeremy found that Jessica had a temper that would make anyone think twice before even saying hello. Plus, over the years, she’d become jealous of any and every woman who gained his attention, even if they were a customer or one of their mutual friends.

  The only reason why he’d gotten back with her before was because she would lay some guilt trip on him about how much she loved him and needed him in her life. She would promise over and over again about how she would curb her jealous tendencies. To make matters even worse was the fact that she was good in bed. With Jessica, his all-time weakness was when they made love. It was highly passionate and intense.

  The final straw came the day of Hewitt Honey Farm Family Get Together where they would have the whole town come to have picnics in the meadow, things for the kids to play as well as a band. It was something that they would have every summer and it always brought in a great turn out. A good way for people to get better acquainted with their neighbors and friends.

  He remembered that day all too well…

  …. “Jeremy, oh Jeremy,” A woman shouted from within the crowd at the Get Together.

  He looked around and saw a beautiful woman coming out. Her long brown hair was done up in a ponytail that went over one shoulder. She was wearing an orange dress that showed off a very pregnant belly but the woman had a brilliant smile on her glowing freckled face.

  “Cheryl?” He walked over to her and they embraced in a friendly hug. “Damn, how long has it been?” He kept looking at her bump and then back at her.

  She’d been laughing at his expression. “It’s been two years and I’m pregnant with my first kid, six months with a boy. Richard is very happy. He would have been here but he’s been so busy with work and all. He did want me to tell you hey.”

  “Well, you look great and I hate he didn’t come, he still owes me twenty bucks from ten years back.” Jeremy chuckled as let her take him by the arm while they started to walk and eventually, continued talking.

  Then of course, while in the midst of their walk, Jeremy didn’t realize that Jessica had been spying on him, which was one of the things that she would often do whenever they were in a setting such as this. He would often playfully call her a panther always constantly watching over him to see when she would be able to strike at him next. It didn’t take her long before she made a B-line towards the two and he saw a look in her eyes that became all too familiar to him.

  “Oh, my goodness Jessica,” Cheryl exclaimed with a smile.

  Jeremy noticed the smile leaving her face when she looked into Jessica’s eyes.

  Her lips were so tight that he couldn’t even see her lips. “Why hey Cheryl,” She looked her up and down, while holding a red plastic cup in her hand. “You’re pregnant I see,”

  “Yes, I’m going to have a boy.”

  Then she gazed over at Jeremy and the words that came out of that pretty mouth of hers would be something that he would never forget. “So, did you knock her up?”

  Cheryl stared at her in shock and then over at Jeremy.

  He wasn’t shocked. He’d known that Jessica was in one of her moods for a day or so, and had tried to avoid it by working. “Why would you say something like that?”

  “Well, look at you, I mean both of you walking arm in arm, smiling and hugging it up like you just found out.”

  “Well, I did just find out and besides she’s married to Richard, you know that.”

  “Of course, but does he know that you two have been fooling around?”

  “We haven’t been fooling—” Jeremy stopped himself because now people were starting to stare at the three of them. “Jessica you are making a big mistake acting like a fool in front of all these people.”

  “Me? I’m acting like a fool? You are supposed to be with me and yet, you’re the one whose walking around here arm in arm with your pregnant skank.”

  “Skank, Now listen here Jessica, even though I’m pregnant that doesn’t mean I won’t knock you into next week.” Cheryl bellowed.

  By this time, his parents, Tyler, Lily and Jessica’s parents came over to see what was going on as well.

  “I’d like to see you try it,” Jessica told her.

  “What is going on?” Paul Bartlett asked the group.

  “Dad, Jeremy is cheating on me!” she pouted.

  “What?” her mother Miranda, exclaimed.

  “Mrs. Bartlett, Jessica is jumping to conclusions again,” Jeremy told her parents.

  “Jessica please, you know that Cheryl and Richard have been friends of yours for years, since high school for Christ sake. Hell, you both were there at their wedding. Why Jeremy would be messing around with a married woman is completely unreal when he’s very much in love with you.” Her mother told her.

  “Look at her momma, she’s pregnant. This is probably the reason why he’s been avoiding me. He’s probably been going to see her and taking her to her doctor’s appointments to make sure about the baby.”

  That was when Cheryl grabbed the drink out of Jessica’s hand and all hell broke lose. Jessica tried her best to attack the poor girl while Lily, who really never liked Jessica anyway, tried to grab hold of Jessica by the hair.

  It took all three men to get both Lily and Jessica off of each other while everyone had been gawking and making comments about what they were seeing before them.

  Jeremy had to make sure that Cheryl was safe and apologized to her over and over again for Jessica’s behavior because he knew that she would never own up to what she’d done.

  After that day, the gossip mill went through Oak Glen faster than a swarm of bees. It was hard for his parents to talk with Jessica, much less her parents after that fiasco.

  His mother wanted nothing to do with her and completely forbid having her on the farm much less having him date her again.

  Lily had even told him that if she even saw her on the farm that she would continue where she left off that day.

  It also put an end to the get together because his parents were too embarrassed by what had happened to c
ontinue it.

  Ever since they broke up, his mom tried her best to set him up with someone and even though he did date from time to time, it was just to be able to get out. Jeremy wasn’t interested in anyone exclusively and knew that there would be time for finding someone later.

  “Mom, I appreciate you helping out but again, please stop.” He grabbed a block of cut cornbread, gave her a kiss on the temple, and walked out of the kitchen.

  When he went to sit down at the counter, his mom came from out back. She wiped her hands with her apron looking concerned but sad as she brought him a glass of ice tea. “I’m sorry sweetheart and I will butt out from now on, as far as your love life.”

  “Two hundred and fourteen,”

  “What?”

  “Do you know what that number means?”

  She shook her head.

  He smirked and braced himself for her response. “That’s the number of times you’ve said that you will butt out of my love life.” Soon, he felt the smack of her hand towel going upside his head and a groan from his mother, this only made him laugh because he knew that she would never butt out of his life.

  Chapter Five

  Pamelia had been thinking.

  Ever since they left Oak Glen over a week ago, she’d been preoccupied with the idea of going back to her Aunt’s home to stay. She went over the good and the bad of moving back and it seemed the good outweighed the bad.

  She knew she needed a change…a BIG change in fact.

  “Did you get a call from a Mr. Wilson today?” Mr. Dawson shouted as he came towards her desk in a huff.

  “Yes, he did sir. I gave you the message when you walked in from lunch.”

  “I never got the message.”

  “Yes, you did, when you came in from lunch and you asked me whether there were any messages, I gave you three of them, and one was from a Mr. Wilson.” She knew what he was trying to do, trying to start an argument with her and usually, she would take it but today, she had had enough.

  “Listen girl, I looked all over my desk for that so called note you so called said you gave me and I haven’t found it at all.”

  Giving him the eye, she stormed out from behind the desk, making her way past Mr. Jones’ office as well as Mr. Steiner’s. She walked into his office, still smelling of cigar smoke, looking around the desk, which was piled high with folders and paperwork, she shuffled papers as they fell on the floor.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  She completely ignored him as she pushed aside folder and paper that was within her reach.

  “Matt…James? Will you tell this girl to get the hell outta my office? She’s making a mess in here!”

  “It was already a mess Stan. What are you looking for anyways Pamelia?” Mr. Jones asked.

  “A note that she supposedly gave to me from Wilson while I was at lunch, it was supposed to been a very important call.”

  “I think you can stop looking for that note Pamelia,” Mr. Steiner told her, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a groan.

  “What do you mean I can stop?”

  “Yes, James what do you mean?” Mr. Dawson asked, incensed with so much rage that he was literally turning red.

  “Turn around Stan.”

  Pamelia watched him turn him around.

  Mr. Steiner reached down and pulled the sticky note from the seat of Mr. Dawson’s pants, then handed the ‘lost note’ to him. “Is this what you were looking for?”

  The color drained from his face and then he looked back at her as his lip curled. “Do you mind straightening my desk back?”

  “I will not straighten up something that you messed up in the first place Mr. Dawson,” Pamelia replied, sick of the years of this abuse that he’d constantly plagued her with. She didn’t care about the fact that they all stared at her with mouths agape, today was the last straw.

  “What did you say girl?”

  “I’m not a girl Mr. Dawson. From the first time, I started working here, you along with everyone else have been nothing but rude and underhanded towards me and I put up with it. The only one who’s been nice and cordial with me has been Mr. Jones. Why did I put up with it? Well mainly, because I needed this job, but I don’t need the ridicule and hatred brought on by you of all people, Mr. Dawson. At least Mr. Steiner says something nice to me every once in a while. You’ve never said a nice thing to me since day one. Every chance you got, you insulted me. Sure, I could have went and told the press just how much of a bigot you are. But I’m not like that, that’s not how my momma raised me to be. I have a better opportunity to make things better in my life and I can say now for sure that I won’t find it here! You know what Mr. Stan Dawson? I finally realized why you hate me so much. It didn’t take me very long but I kept what I knew to myself that you are nothing more than a racist, a good ole’ boy. Being that I am the only black person in the office, of course, you needed a punching bag. Always waiting to see if I was going to break and I didn’t. I stayed strong for the sake of my job which I did well too. Better than any of these other girls you got working for you!” She made her way past Mr. Dawson, along with Mr. Steiner who stood there in the hallway with Virginia and Elizabeth.

  “What are you doing?” Elizabeth asked her as she went into her desk to grab her purse.

  “I quit.”

  “You quit, what the hell do you mean you quit?” Mr. Dawson bellowed with that fat cigar sticking out from the side of his mouth.

  “Just what I said, didn’t you hear me when I said it? Hold on, let me say it a little bit louder for you…I QUIT! You can find yourself another lackey who can tolerate your colder than the Artic office and your snide, crappy treatment.”

  “Pamelia…” Mr. Jones spoke up, his face showed his concern.

  She knew he was sorry about this but what could he have done? He’d already tried talking with the man about his behavior towards her for years and he knew that it’d gotten completely out of hand.

  “Where are you going to go?”

  She walked up to him, holding his hand for a moment and smiled warmly. “Don’t worry about me Mr. Jones. I’m going to be taking another road toward something better for me.”

  “I hope so, but I will say that I’ll miss your face around here.”

  That kind of broke her heart a bit, because she always thought of Mr. Jones as a father figure, who always worried about her along with his wife. She gave him a hug as he held her tight. “I promise to give you a call when I get to where I’m going.”

  “You better young lady. I know Bernice will be heartbroken if she didn’t hear anything from you. Will you be coming to get your last check or do you want me to have it mailed to you?”

  “I’ll call and let you know, I promise.” So, with that, she headed out the door, leaving her past behind and looking toward what would be her future.

  When she finally made it home after going to her favorite Chinese restaurant to grab some wonton soup and egg rolls, Pamelia decided to call her sister up.

  “Hey girl, have you finished off that fudge yet?” Veronica asked.

  She just laughed. “No I’m half way there with the fudge, but I did quit my job.”

  “No way, So, you finally left that death trap huh?”

  “Yes, I left the death trap.” She rolled her eyes at her sister’s comment. She knew how much her sister hated her working for the law firm, especially when it came to Mr. Dawson.

  “Thank God, so when are you going to go to Oak Glen?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to gather up boxes and all plus, I found someone who I know will move my stuff to the house for a reasonable price. I just have to let him know when I want him to do it. I did look through the newspaper back in Oak Glen for jobs.”

  “You clever minx, you knew all along that you wanted to go back. Playing it off like you were thinking about it and you knew you were going to go.”

  “I didn’t tell you this Veronica, because I thought if I told you, you would t
hink I was crazy or something. But when I got home from Oak Glen, I was just resting, munching on some Laffy Taffy. I swear to God Veronica, while I was sitting here eating, Aunt Marlene was sitting over here on the couch on the opposite side of me. Wearing that black turtleneck and white pants, she always liked to wear. She was smiling at me and told me to stop eating that candy or it would rot my teeth out.” She chuckled. “But she told me that something bigger and better was going to happen to me, once I move back to her home. I swear it was like she was right there in front of me in the flesh and then after that, she disappeared.”

  Silence echoed from her sister’s end for a moment but then in her own sisterly way she said, “You’ve had way too much Laffy Taffy.”

  “I’m serious Veronica. I’m for real on this. You know I wouldn’t lie to you and especially, something this eerie. I didn’t even get any sleep after that. But Mr. Dawson got to me today and I just about had it. Ever since I got back, he was on my ass left and right for every little thing, like he was punishing me for leaving that day. Then today, he had the nerve to call me girl because his fat ass ended up sitting on the note I gave him that he said I never gave him in the first place.”

  “The bastard, I’m just glad you left when you did. Just let me know when you want me to come, so that way we can help with you packing your stuff. Did Mr. Matthews ever get the yard straightened out?”

  “Yes, he did. He got the guy and a friend of his to come mow the yard, trim the trees and bushes. From what he told me, everything looks real nice.”

  “Well, that’s good, maybe we can go by and just do some light cleaning you know, open up the windows, do some dusting, wiping the place down a bit to freshen it up.”

  “You just want to get some more of that fudge don’t ‘cha?”

  “Chris found my secret stash and ate up my fudge, including his. So yeah, I told him I hoped he got sick, which…he did.”

  They both ended up laughing. Pamelia knew that Chris was just as much into sweets as they were.