Boys and Bees at the Texaco

Easter Sunday. Most stores closed. So I stopped at the convenience store at the Texaco Gas Station near my house to pick-up a few things.

Photo by Dianne Glave

As I walked out, there were bees buzzing around. There were also teenage boys swatting at and then running away from the bees. I took out my camera and attempted to take some photos of a bees, perhaps bumble bees, buzzing around a bush and dipping into the small flowers laden with pollen and nectar–bee magnets.

One of the boys walked over towards me and said, “Can I take a picture?”

I responded: “Do you you mean, take a picture of you?”

He smiled, “Yeah.”

“Sure,” I said, snapping a picture quickly before he was on the move again.

Photo by Dianne Glave

After taking a few more photos of the bees, I walked over to the boy and his friend and asked, “Why are you swatting the bees?” The boy in the photo said, “Because they get on my nerves.” I said, “Well leave them alone and they will will you alone.”

When I asked them if they liked nature, they both screwed up their faces and said, “No.” the second boy said, “I like basketball.”

The first boy jumped in and said, “My mother is a vegan and a nature freak. I go to Sweetwater Creek though.”

“Well, I do too,” edging back into the conversation. “What do you like?”

He responded: “I like being outside. The lake.”

“Ah,” I said, “So it wasn’t so bad outdoors. Were there basketball courts?” knowing full well there weren’t.

“Nah,” both boys chimed in.

I waved saying, “Give the outdoors a chance. It’s not so bad. And stop swatting the bees. We need them to spread the pollen to fertilize seeds so more plants can grow.”

They said, “Ok.”

We can find nature and conversations about nature everywhere . . . even at the Texaco.