“Ask yourself this. Are they enjoying their summer? Who’s taking them swimming? Who’s having their friends for sleepovers? Or camping out in the backyard? Where’s their vacation?”

“I think they’re doing fine. This has been a tough adjustment.”

“My point is this. They’re not adjusting, and I really think that if you can’t bring yourself to stand up to Sharon, you need to take them to see someone who can teach them coping skills.”

“Well, I’ll think about what you’ve said.”

With that, he got up and left. I realized a few minutes after he left that he was seething with anger. I had said some outrageous things. I knew that. But if I didn’t tell him, who would? Well, guess what? I was seething, too. I went out to my yard and saw that my dahlias were beginning to open. They were already astonishing. I checked my bees’ pans for water. It was as hot as the hinges on the back door of hell. Sometimes late afternoons were more unbearable than midday. I refilled the pans and muttered to myself and the bees.

“This woman is a scourge. She has got to be stopped before she totally ruins this family. But what can I do? Nothing!”

Later in the afternoon, I turned on my sprinklers and went back inside. If I ever won the lottery I was going to put in an irrigation system. On a timer.

I went back inside, and a few minutes later I heard a woman’s voice screaming. Where was it coming from?

I went out to the porch and realized it was coming from Archie’s house, so it had to be Sharon. What was her problem this time?

As I was walking down my steps and toward their house, I noticed a swarm of bees returning to the apiary. To the pink hive. Uh-oh, I thought, what were my naughty bees up to now?

I heard a siren coming in our direction and assumed the siren was related to the screams, because that’s what a smart girl I was. Sure enough, the police car arrived and out stepped Ted Meyers. He wore a serious expression.

He waved to me, went up Archie’s steps, and knocked on the door. Someone let him in. I waited. About twenty minutes later, he came out.

“Hey, Ted!” I said quietly and motioned for him to come over to my porch. He approached my steps.

“Hey there, Holly. Sure is a hot one, isn’t it?”

“Sure is. So what’s going on over there?”

“Well, Archie’s new wife says that when she went into her bathroom there were thousands of bees in there, just sitting quietly all over everywhere.”

“Did you see them?”