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The Beekeeper

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Gerry & Sue’s Weekly Prompts
Weekend Challenge using the word ‘alternative’.
Here’s where the prompt took me.

Image by Me & Gemini

Raymond Lawrence had decided, after forty-three years in accounting, that he needed an alternative lifestyle.

He announced this at breakfast on a Tuesday. His wife, Bev, did not look up from her crossword.

“What sort of alternative?” she asked.

“The sort,” Raymond said with great dignity, “that involves a tent.”

Bev filled in seven across. “You get a chill at the movie theater.”

This was true. Raymond did get chilly at the movies. But that, he explained, was precisely the kind of self-imposed limitation he intended to leave behind. He was going to live off the land …. forage, whittle, perhaps keep bees. He’d watched four YouTube videos on the subject and felt confident.

He lasted less than a week in the wild …. which was, technically, the backyard …. before the bee incident. Nobody could prove the whittling was involved, but the evidence was suggestive.

Raymond returned to the kitchen on a drizzly Saturday afternoon, carrying a damp sleeping bag and what remained of his pride.

“There’s soup,” said Bev.

The soup was tomato. It was warm and it was perfect.

Raymond went back to work on Monday. But he did keep one bee. His name was Rex, and he lived in a jar on the windowsill; he was, Raymond felt, proof that a man could change.

Bev disagreed. But she let him keep the jar.

NAR©2026

This is “I’m a King Bee” by the Rolling Stones

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Alternative

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

34 thoughts on “The Beekeeper”

    1. That’s a great question; thanks for asking! The noise and vibrations of intensive forms of woodworking such as whittling often mimic the sound of other bees boring into wood, which can trigger them to investigate or defend their territory. The bees in my story were not happy with Raymond’s newfound hobby! 🐝

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      1. OMG. You must add that to your story..So interesting. My husband had a large wood studio. He built a treehouse for his kids between several redwood trees and was attached by bees. They chases him all the way up the hill and three sets of steps to our house..

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  3. Too funny. At the same time, props to Raymond for even trying (not quite enough prep, but hey…) Bev let him keep his jar but hopefully free’d Rex.

    These two are similar to my two in my FF 😉

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