Chapter 8

Chapter 8 ALAS, POOR BUZBY! WE HARDLY KNEW YE. (SNIFF.) Harper knelt in the grass beside the beehive. Some of the bees seemed fine. They flew to and from the hive on their errands, buzzing as they went. Other bees were obviously not well. They were having trouble flying. Harper saw one drop right out of the sky, and she went to pick up the little creature. "Careful," warned Morgan. "You don't want to get stung."

"These gardening gloves are thick," said Theo. "Here, Harper, use this extra pair." With one glove each, Harper and Theo worked their way through the grass, lifting honeybees off the ground and placing them back atop the hive. "At least they won't be stepped on," said Harper. "But we still don't know what's causing the problem." "Oh no!" said Jodi. "It's too late for this one." She cradled a bee in her palm. It was completely still, curled up in a little ball.

"Poor guy," said Po. "We should give him a proper burial." "You all should set that up," said Harper. "I'm off to see a doctor." Harper needed answers. And she knew only one place to go in order to get them. "Doc!" she said, storming into the school lab. "Something's wrong with the bees." At last, a bit of luck: Doc was still there, even though school had ended nearly an hour ago. She looked up from an experiment in progress, flipping her safety goggles up to her forehead. "Harper? What is it?" Harper held out a gloved hand. She had a bee in her palm. The bee was alive but very still. It didn't try to fly

away. It didn't try to do anything at all. "This one dropped right out of the sky," she said. "The same thing happened to several of them. One of them died." "Bring it here," said Doc. "Let's take a closer look." Doc rummaged through her drawers until she found a device Harper had never seen before. It looked almost like a microscope, but instead of sitting on a table, it fit over Doc's face. She watched as Doc fiddled with the settings. "Place the bee on my desk," she said, and Harper did as she was told. Doc leaned over the bee. The device whirred and clicked. "This is a magnification device of my own making," she said. "Handy when examining anything smaller than a salamander but too big for a microscope."

"What are you looking for?" asked Harper. "Parasites," answered Doc. "It's a common problem for bees. Little red mites will affix themselves to the bee's body and suck it dry." She shook her head. "I don't see any sign of them on this one, however." She looked at Harper. Her eye looked huge through the magnification lenses.

"There must be some other problem," Doc said. "I'll take a look at the hive and see what I can find." "I'm coming with you," said Harper. While Doc examined the beehive, Jodi approached Harper with a matchbox. "Buzby is in here," said Jodi. "Theo is digging a little hole for him, and Morgan is going to give the eulogy." Morgan's eyes went wide. "I am? But I didn't even know him!" "Morgan!" Po said in a scolding tone. "Don't speak ill of the dead." Morgan tugged at his collar. "I guess I could come up with something nice to say." Theo was on his knees, using his garden trowel to dig up dirt at the base of a tree. "This is a nice spot, Theo," said Harper. "Good choice." Theo nodded, then wiped the sweat from his brow. "That should be deep enough," he said. Jodi carefully lowered the box into the hole. "Go ahead, Morgan," she said.