Chapter 5

Chapter 5 FLIGHT OF THE HONEYBEE. FRIGHT OF THE STUDENTS. A CHANCE TO JOIN THE DANCE! The next day in science class, Po was still feeling guilty. He had known the trident wasn't a toy. And he really, really should have realized that leaving it in the middle of a forest was a bad idea. "You didn't do it on purpose," Morgan said. "Don't be so hard on yourself." "And that goes double for me," said Jodi. "Right?" "You should have known better," said Morgan. "I mean, a mutant sheep beast? Even if that was possible, why would you want to see it?" "A sheep beast would have been able to protect itself from wolves. It might have protected other sheep,

too," said Jodi. Morgan raised an eyebrow. "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!" "It really did," said Po. "Your sister can be very convincing." Class hadn't started yet, and Po was just pulling out his textbook when Harper slumped into a nearby seat. "Everything okay?" asked Morgan. "I was up late reading about bees," answered Harper. "I wanted to get a head start on today's lesson." Po nodded sagely. "Yeah, doing extra homework would bum me out, too." "No, you don't understand," said Harper. "I ended up reading about something called colony collapse disorder. It's when an entire colony of bees just…dies.

Scientists don't totally understand why, but it's happening a lot." She dropped her head on the desk. "You know how I get when I start worrying about the environment." "Man," said Morgan. "Everyone has a lot of feelings today, huh?" "Bees," Doc said so suddenly and so forcefully that Po jolted to attention. "They are marvels of nature. Without them, we would have no fruits! No flowers! And…no honey!"

Po gasped. "But…but my mom puts honey in her peanut butter and honey sandwiches. It's a key ingredient!" "You have the humble honeybee to thank for your sandwiches, Po," said Doc. She thought about it for moment. "You should also thank your mother. Honestly, you're probably old enough to be making your own sandwiches." Po gasped again. Their classmate, Shelly Silver, raised her hand. "But why do bees make honey?" she asked. "They aren't just doing it to be nice, are they?" "No indeed," said Doc. "Bees make honey so that they'll have something to eat during the winter, when there are no flowers in bloom. Typically, a bee's diet consists of nectar. That's why you'll see them buzzing around flowers so often." Theo entered the classroom late, which was unusual for him. "I'm so sorry, Doc," he said. "I was with Ms. Minerva. She…uh, she wanted me to read this note to you." "Go ahead," said Doc. Theo cleared his throat, then read aloud from a sheet of paper. "Dear Doc, Please excuse Theo's

tardiness to science class. He is a member of our school's newest extracurricular club, the Woodsword Gardening and Landscaping Club. We have our work cut out for us ever since someone thought it would be a good idea to have a hundred students all trample the front yard. Sincerely, Ms. Minerva." Theo grinned bashfully. "And she drew a little smiley face. But it sort of looks like it's scowling…." "Thank you for your service to our school, Theo," said Doc. "Please have a seat, and I'll compose a reply for you to take back to Minerva. Honestly, if she'd just used my combination lawn mower, woodchipper, and hedge trimmer, the yard would be in fine shape by now. 'Too many blades,' she said." Theo slipped into his seat, obviously less than enthusiastic about running notes back and forth between the teachers. Po gave him a little pat on the back and a sympathetic smile. "The problem here is that Minerva is a bit of a queen bee…and so am I," said Doc. "A bee colony has only one queen—no more and no less." "What other sorts of bees are there?" asked Morgan. "King bees? Royal vizier bees?" "Court jester bees?" asked Po.

Doc shook her head. "Aside from the queen, every adult bee in the colony is either a drone or a worker. The drones are male bees. They have no stinger, and they stay behind to tend to the queen. But the workers, ah! The workers are female bees, and they go out and explore the world." As if Doc had somehow summoned it, a bee flew in through the open window. The teacher smiled, obviously happy to have a visitor. "It's a bee!" cried Morgan. "Look out, here it comes!" yelled Po. Someone screamed, and then half the kids in class were on their feet, ducking and dodging to stay out of the bee's path. "Students, students!" said Doc. She held up her hands to signal for calm. "There's no reason to