37

I’ve probably mentioned this beefore at some point, but... have you ever noticed that when it comes to just beeing generally considerate, there are some of us who Just Don’t Get It? I have. Take yesterday, for instance.

As I’m sure everybody remembers, it was recently my Birthday, again. A whole bunch of my Beeps sent me Much-Appreciated Happy Birthday Greetings, but nobody ever got ahold of me to tell me when and where my Surprise Birthday Party was gonna bee, so I waited...and waited...and waited. All that day I waited, but I never heard from anybody about that. So, I thought, “I’ll bet my Editor knows where the Party is,” so I buzzed over to his Office. As soon as I walked in, he was at me.

“Do you know what day this is, bee?” he asked me.

“Yes, I do,” I told him, “it’s my Birthday.”

“That may bee,” he said, “but that’s beeside the point. Today is the day that you broke the record for beeing late. You were supposed to bee here, in my Office, 34 days ago. But were you?”

“Well, no, but...” I was about to say.

“Don’t interrupt me,” he said, “that was a Rhetorical Question.”

“I knew that,” I said, “I was gonna give you a Rhetorical Answer,” I told him, but he just glared at me.

“Do you know how utterly Inconsiderate you’ve been lately, bee?”

“Have I?” I asked. Beesides not showing up in his Office earlier than I did, I think I’ve been Highly Considerate, mostly. I mean, when it’s been nice outside, I’ve been Considerate enough to go out and enjoy myself. And when it’s been cold and windy (which it was A LOT so far this Warm Season), I’ve been Considerate enough to stay inside and stay warm so I wouldn’t run the risk of catching Frostbite or having my wings ripped off by a gust of cold wind. I’ve also been Considerate enough to make sure I haven’t missed any Episodes of my Stories on TV, especially after I spent all that time watching every Episode of “Escape from Bee Island, it would have been Unacceptably Inconsiderate of me to miss the Series Finale, especially when they went to all that trouble to make it, right? Right.) I think he was beeing kind of harsh by accusing me, of all bees, of beeing Inconsiderate, so I gave him Non-Rhetorical Answer.

“I’ve been buzzy,” I said (beecause I have been, mostly).

“You’ve been Inconsiderate,” he said again. “Your Beeloved Readers - and our Paid Sponsors...”

“You mean like Great Grandma Gee Gee’s Royal HoneyChew Krisp Cookies™, those Paid Sponsors?” I asked.

“Exactly,” he buzzed at me, “our Paid Sponsors have not been one bit happy about the fact that you once again disappeared and failed to provide the Valuable Insights and Editorial Commentary on which we have all come to depend. That’s Incredibly Inconsiderate.”

“I didn’t disappear,” I informed him. “I’ve been somewhere this whole time, so I think it’s just unfair and not correct to say that I disap. . .”

“Don’t argue with me,” he started. “There’s no excuse for your repeated Extended Absences. Once again, you’ve been Derelict in your Duties, you’ve disregarded your Contractual Obligations, and this Unacceptable, Inconsiderate Beehaviour has to stop NOW. You had better start showing up to do your job - OR ELSE!”

What was I supposed to say that?

“Fine,” I said, then I asked, “So where’s my Party?” I wanted to know.

“What are you talking about, bee?” he seemed really annoyed.

“My Party. My Surprise Birthday Party. Where is it?”

My Editor just glared at me again and buzzed really loudly at me.

“Get out of my Office!”

Even though he never told me where my Party was, I’m guessing he just didn’t wanna spoil the Surprise, so I did that. I left.

On the way back to my Shoe Box, I couldn’t help but think about how Incredibly Inconsiderate it was of everybody to make me spend my entire Birthday without ever finding out about where and when my Surprise Birthday Party was supposed to bee. I mean seriously now . . . does everybody think it would bee Cute and Funny to keep me guessing all day? Well, it’s not. It’s rude - and Highly Inconsiderate.

After it finally got dark (and still no Surprise Party), I decided that I’d put on my pyjamas, grab a bag of Popped Pollen Puffs, and spend the rest of my Birthday watching old Talula Beehead Movies. Just beefore I fell asleep, I thought to myself, “I’ll bet everybody’s working on a Massively Festive Beelated Surprise Happy Birthday Party for me. Planning for such an Important Event takes a lot of time, energy, and resources - and this is the Buzzy Season, after all - so I’m sure that’s what happened. Probably.”

So I’m still patiently waiting for everybody to start beeing Considerate about all this Surprise Party, even if it is Beelated. (Beelated Consideration is better than no Consideration at all, probably.) If I find out when and where it is, I’ll make sure all my Beeps are invited. Until then . . .

Let’s all bee highly careful out there.