Chapter 10

Chapter 10 HONEYBEES DON'T GET WEEKENDS OFF, BUT THEY DON'T GET POP QUIZZES, EITHER! In the real world, it was the weekend, and Harper and her friends had decided to go on a fact-finding mission. Harper's parents were more than a little confused by her request. "Are you sure you want to go to the orchard today?" they asked. "Apple-picking season is weeks away." "That's why I want to go today," said Harper. "I'm not interested in the apples. I'm interested in the bees that are pollinating the apple blossoms." In the end, they'd agreed, and they dropped Harper off at the orchard while they ran errands nearby.

Her friends were there waiting, and they'd already found Mr. Shane. The man had traded his cowboy attire for a beekeeper suit. He had taken the beehives off his truck and set them all over the orchard grounds. When Harper arrived, he had just removed a tray from one of the hives, and he was scraping fresh honey off of the tray and into a glass bottle. Bees were crawling all over him, but he didn't seem to mind. Po frowned at the sight, though. "I'd go up and say hi," he said, "but even if bees aren't aggressive, I don't want to be outnumbered a hundred to one." "I'll do it," said Harper, and she strode forward, waving her arms. "Hi!" she said. "Sorry! Mr. Shane?

It's important!" Theo grinned. "I guess she means business." "She made a promise on Buzby's grave," Jodi reminded him. "Nothing's more serious than that." Mr. Shane held up a hand to keep Harper from coming too close. He put the hive back together, grabbed the bottle of honey, and came toward them. "Can I help you?" "We're hoping that we can help you, actually," Harper said. "Your bees are in trouble. The ones you left by the school, I mean. And we're trying to find out why."

Mr. Shane came closer, removing his helmet. The skin around his eyes crinkled as he smiled at them. "You must be Doc Culpepper's students," he said. "She called me about the problem. I'll tell you what I told her: it's sadly pretty common, these days." He sighed. "I lose a lot of bees." "Why?" asked Harper. "Why do honeybees need so much help to survive?" Mr. Shane tipped his head at her. "I'm happy to tell you more," he said. "But let's walk while we talk."

Harper had been to the orchard before, but never when the trees were in full bloom. It was a beautiful sight. "I didn't realize apple blossoms were so pretty," she said. "They're pretty…and they're an important part of the natural balance," he said. "I'm sure Doc's told you all about how this works. Bees seek out flowers for nectar to eat. That's where honey comes from. But while the bees are getting what they need from the flowers…the flowers are getting what they need from the bees. The insects spread pollen from the flowers all around. Then the flowers become fruit, and the seeds from the fruit ensure that more trees grow." He patted a nearby tree trunk. "It's a pretty good system. Worked well for millions of years. Then people came along, and things got complicated." Po crunched loudly into an apple. "Oh," said Po. "Sorry! I didn't think that was going to be so noisy." "Where did you even get that?" asked Theo. "There aren't any apples here yet!"

"It's from the grocery store," said Po. "Aha!" said Mr. Shane. "See, that's interesting. We know it isn't apple season around here. The bees are only now doing the work of pollinating. But it's apple season somewhere—in another climate, maybe another hemisphere. And people have gotten used to having year-round access to every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine." "Thafsa good fing," Po said around a mouthful of apple. "It's not a bad thing—not always," agreed Mr. Shane. "Believe me, I'm happy to have year-round