“Hey, you up there, keep the noise down, the twins are asleep!” screeched Owl rudely.
Radmilla Bee, shook her head in disbelief. “Your manners are terrible, you only had to ask politely. We are kinda busy up here you know.”
Sometimes Radmilla wondered why she, and all the other bees bothered! People and owls got so crotchety with them, always complaining and batting them away and although Radmilla knew, deep down, that Owl was only feeling grumpy because she was tired, the sharpness in Owl’s voice had hurt her feelings. “I need a break,” she thought to herself, “we all do.”
Pushing the fuzz out of her tired eyes, Radmilla nodded slowly to herself as an idea slotted into place. “Right guys, everyone stop and listen.” The gentle hum gradually ground to a halt. “We are going on holiday, down tools, shake out your wings, we fly at 5 O’ clock!”
All the bees were befuzzled, they’d never had a holiday. They knew about them, the geese went away every winter bringing back tales of faraway places where the sun always shines. But bees never take a break, all day long they buzz and flit from flower to flower, happy in their work and, if they had socks would have worked them off gladly.
At 5 pm all the bees were ready. “Let’s go!” trilled Radmilla. “Follow me, all you need is yourselves and a sense of adventure.” She gave a sassy wink, shook her fluffy bottom and set flight, singing “Hooray, hooray, it’s a holi holi day,” a cheeky chuckle in her warm voice.
The bees had a ball, happy and relaxed, busy doing nothing in particular for weeks, but eventually they decided that it was time to fly home. Little did they know that home was now a very different place, without them the flowers had stopped growing and the world they’d left behind had lost most of its colour, without the bees it had simply drained away.
On their return, Radmilla rallied the troops. “Bees get ready, the world needs us!”
And the world did need them. Since the bees’ holiday someone had been busy trying to fix things, all around the town, posters were hung on every tree, every fence and every window.
Respect the Bees! Bees come Home!
Come Back, We Need You!
The ‘RESPECT’ campaign had been rolled out by Owl, with the twins painting the posters and delivering leaflets.
Soon enough the bees began to fill in the missing colours, painting the world with a smile on their faces, they felt valued and respected. Radmilla smiled to herself as she smoothed her delicate wings with pride. The holiday had been fun but this was where she belonged, a buzzy, fuzzy bee who could paint a rainbow across the world.
Written by Mrs Burrows