Nathan stared up at the sky. It was late afternoon and there was still plenty of light, but the sky over the ocean was darkening.

‘Looks like rain,’ he said, as he shook out his bee suit.

Sharkey was already zipping his up. He was one of those people who did everything flat out, making his fat, saggy face and body jiggle constantly. ‘Yeah, well, that’s why we need to get these hives blocked up. Fast.’

They climbed over the broken wire fence and made their way through the trees to the beehives, which stood out stark white against the green and brown hues of the coastal vegetation. Only two weeks earlier, the cottonwool-like kunzea flowers had been fragrant and alive with bees. Now, their dried and shriveled remains carpeted the ground, and the dank, piney smell of rotting she-oak needles layered the salty air.

Looking like spacemen in their white body suits and rubber gloves, the two men blocked up the hive openings with wads of crumpled catalogues, and heaved the bee boxes over the fence and onto the back of the ute. The disturbed cacophony coming from the boxes rose a few octaves as the bees were tossed about. The vibrations surged through Nathan’s fingers like mild electricity, causing the muscles in his forearms to flutter. The bees that had been shut out of their hives smashed themselves into his mesh veil, trying to get to his face. Their menacing, high-pitched buzzing put him on edge.

‘Man, there’s some honey in these,’ said Sharkey, as they shuffled the heavy hives around on the tray. ‘I’ll make some decent coin out of this.’

While Sharkey roped on the load, Nathan wandered down toward the sea and found a clearing surrounded by coastal wattles. He bent over and picked up a smooth stone that seemed out of place. It bore markings that he had seen before. Searching around the immediate area, he observed several more stones just like this one. He picked up another. It had a waxy sheen, and a long, serrated edge that appeared as if it was sharpened only days before. It fit snugly into the palm of his hand.

‘What ya got there?’ called Sharkey. He had already taken off his bee suit and was striding down toward Nathan.

‘Stone tools,’ replied Nathan, indicating with a nod to the scatter around their feet.

‘Give it here,’ said Sharkey. His pudgy hand shot out and snatched the stone from Nathan’s grasp, and he held it up to the remaining sun as if to see through it.

‘Trust you to find this,’ said Sharkey, raising his eyebrows. He brought the stone close to his face, squinting at it while rolling it through his fingertips. ‘Don’t go tellin’ the rest of yer mob what ya found here. Bloody … next thing ya know there’ll be a land rights claim on me honey turf.’