“It’s a surprise party, Archie.”

“She’s got the final word, Holly. She’s coming home at two thirty to talk to him.”

“Y’all are unbelievable.” I hit the end button. I turned back to my hives, told them the story, and said, “What now?”

It didn’t take long for me to get an answer to that question. At precisely two thirty, Sharon pulled up in the driveway. My bees from the pink hive bearded her car, so many of them that all the windows were covered. I could see them leave the hive as they flew over in a swarm. She started blowing her horn over and over.

“Help!” Sharon was screaming bloody murder. “Help! Archie! Help!”

The bees were undeterred. Archie and the boys came running out of the house and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what was happening.

“Call the police!” she was screaming. “Call them!”

She turned her windshield wipers on and began spraying them with the wiper fluid. This infuriated the bees, who quickly flew away and joined their sisters on the sides of the car.

I saw Archie give Tyler a push to come over to our house, presumably to get me. Maybe he thought I could do something.

I met him at the door.

“What’s going on, Tyler? Happy birthday, by the way.”

“Thanks! There’s a billion bees that have Sharon trapped in her car! Dad says for you to come quick!”

“I’ll be along in a minute. Let me get my suit on.”

He followed me through the house and out the back door to my shed.

“I don’t know why he thinks I can do a thing about it,” I said. “Now, Tyler, I want you to stand way back from her car, okay? Maybe my smoker will help. Maybe it won’t. Let’s hope.”

I pulled my veil down and lit my smoker. When I got to the scene, Sharon was beyond hysterical.

“You’re a menace!” she was screaming at me. “I’m going to sue you for a million dollars!”

“Good luck with that,” I said and started smoking the girls. They began to land on me, and when I had them all, and I estimated ten thousand or so, I simply began walking them back to their hive.

“The bees are all over her!” Sharon screamed. “Oh, my God! She’s a freak!”

“No. I’m not. I’m a beekeeper,” I said calmly.

A few bees, which might have been affected by the windshield washer fluid, hung back.

“Maybe that will teach her a lesson,” I said quietly to them. “I love you, girls!”

They buzzed all around me in a waggle and returned home to their hive.