BUZZ OFF

Staffer can’t shake stinging fear of bees

BUZZ+OFF

Ilana Williams, Rumbler Staffer

Buzz. I turn my head to the left. Nothing. Buzz. I turn my head to the right. Nothing. I look in front of me and let out a shrill scream. In front of me is a bee coming for my sweet flesh.

Bees are an everyday problem for me. During lunch I want to stay in my classroom and hide under a desk just in case someone brings a bee inside by accident. I have a list of why I hate summer and spring with a fiery passion and bees take up most of the list. More than 200,000 people get stung by bees and I really don’t want be one of them. What if I’m allergic? What if it stings me in the eye? Granted I have my handy-dandy glasses to protect me, but still. I never know. What if when I get stung and the boo-boo swells up so big it looks like I’m sporting a second head? I know bees help the environment with pollination and stuff, but why do they need stingers?

What makes me so afraid of bees (or anything else that can potentially sting me) is the fact I have never gotten stung. When my dad got stung by a yellow jacket he said it was like a pinch gone wrong. What if that happens to me? My skin is too sensitive for something to pierce through! Though my dad told me it felt like a pinch I think it will feel as if I were getting a blood test, but the nurse misses the vein so it hurts three times more than it would have if they put the needle in correctly. I get chills just thinking about it.

Unfortunately getting stung is something I can’t prevent from happening no matter how hard I try. My mom is always telling me if I don’t bother it, it won’t bother me, as much as I would like to believe her I can’t. She’s always trying to get me to overcome my fear. Last weekend she wanted me to shoo away two bees from an apple core. She did it to show me how harmless they are but they would be harmless if they didn’t have stingers filled with poison. Bees are so evil I bet just looking at one is going to get me stung.

Overall, I don’t know what’s going to happen this summer, but I don’t want to be scared anymore. Bees, wasps and all other bugs can come at me, but I hope they know I’ll be carrying a can of bug repellent and I’m not afraid to use it.