HONEY
“You Catch More Flies With Honey…” — Benjamin Franklin
Sandra woke up on Saturday morning at 8:35 am precisely, her usual sleep-in-on-Saturday wake up time. She smoothed back her pink paisley sheets and sat on the edge of her bed.
Saturdays almost always made Sandra smile.
Saturdays were for sleeping.
Saturdays were for snuggly sweaters and syrupy sundaes.
Saturdays were for singing and swinging and swimming.
But this Saturday Sandra was grumpy and fussy. Even her satin slippers with the feathery frill did not make her smile.
Sandra frowned in the mirror while she brushed her teeth.
She pouted at the refrigerator while she picked up the milk for her cereal.
She scowled at the robins who hopped around the daffodils blooming in the backyard.
She snapped at Precious Princess who gave her a nonchalant cat glance in response.
She stomped about the house clacking the heels of her satin slippers on the wooden floor.
Finally at 10 am she snatched a mug from the cupboard, slapped the tea kettle onto the stove top and searched for a tea bag of chamomile with the hope that it would improve her foul humor.
Just as the teapot began to hum, Sandra opened the cupboard in search of the honey. Quite unexpectedly and in a manner that on any other day Sandra might have found amusing and delightful, but on this day of ill humor she found annoying and irritating, the honey bottle with its honey bear head with brown bear eyes and round bear ears, with its yellow squirt bottle nozzle, went flying out of the cupboard on newly sprouted dragon-fly wings. Since the honey bear bottle was only half-full these wings quite easily propelled it up and out of the cupboard and right through the partially open kitchen window, out into the sunny spring morning.
Sandra noticed a distinct honey-bear smile as the bottle flew by.
On a smile-less Saturday such as the one that Sandra was currently experiencing, the honey-bear grin made her grimace. She turned off her teapot and dashed out of her front door in pursuit of the Runaway Honey.
She borrowed a bicycle from Billy next door and set a fast pace behind the wing-buzzing bear. Although her eyes were focused on the bear and her lips were clamped in a frown, her nose kept track of the Saturday smells as she peddled her way through the town.
This house had pancakes in soft stacks dripping with warm maple syrup.
This yard had honeysuckle with yellow trumpets of flowers buzzing with bees collecting the sweet puddles of nectar.
This yard had newly mown grass with green spicy scents from the freshly trimmed stems.
This corner had lemonade with the brush of golden tartness tickled with sugar.
As she followed the flying bear to the park at the center of town she finally lost her glare and her fuss and her frown as she passed the bakery which just at that very moment must have had someone with a white apron and a pair of oven mitts sliding a baking sheet filled with one dozen warm, chewy chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven.
After a moment of standing, straddling the bike, just to get an extra cookie sniff, Sandra said to herself, “First things first,” and resumed her pedaling.
A quick turn around the park produced the bear bottle cavorting around in the roller coaster swirl of a breeze kicked up by the children twirling in circles on the whirley-go-round. Sandra parked her bike and asked for a turn. She settled in the seat and pushed with her feet as the feet of all the children sent the whirley-go-rounding. With the speed of the twirl her feet lifted off the ground and stretched straight forward. She held tight to the bar as she leaned her head back to catch the roller coaster breeze. And she was flying. The wind rushed by her eyelashes and tugged at the corner of her mouth. It snatched at her hair and whipped it out behind her in rippled wisps. She opened her eyes just in time to see the flying honey bear coming her way and she reached out to scoop him into her hand.
The whirley-go-round was grand and perhaps even better than the big canvas swing, but not as wonderful as the curvy slide with the twisty tunnel tube. Sandra and the honey bear tried them all.
After whirling, swinging and sliding, while still sporting wind-whipped smiles, Sandra and the honey bear stopped at The Parkside Bakery for warm chocolate chip cookies before pedaling home. Sandra thanked Billy for the kind use of his bike and gave him a chocolate chip cookie tip.
“Saturday,” Sandra thought with a smile, “Is a good day to catch honey while flying.”