Chapter Five
Mel
"This can't be right," Mattie said as he stepped hesitantly out of the shed. I couldn't answer him for a full minute because I was laughing too hard at how baffled he looked by the suit that could've easily been confused for a large trash bag.
"Why is it so baggy?" he asked.
I was trying to catch my breath to give him some semblance of an answer, but Aunt Dorrie beat me to it.
"So the bees can't get you," she explained. "The tighter the clothes, the easier it is for them to sting you."
"Are they going to try to sting me?" he asked.
"Possibly. Better to bee prepared."
We chuckled at that before Mattie went back to adjusting his suit. "Okay, but why is it so hot in here? Can I unzip this a little?" he asked, pointing at the zipper by his neck, the one that connected the helmet to the suit.
I didn't need Dorrie to answer this one and immediately said, "No, definitely not."
"Oh, come on, why not? Just a little bit?"
"If you want to be a lot a bit stung, bee my guest," Dorrie said.
He grinned, saying, "Fine, fine, but when I die from heat stroke, I expect you both to bee at my funeral."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world. We'll throw you the biggest send-off Pine Grove's ever seen," I told him.
"We'll get the whole town buzzing about it," Dorrie added, making all of us devolve into giggles.
When I managed to pull myself together, Dorrie had me suit up to show us the ropes.