A beary bad day.

Today was a beary bad day.

"Ajdin, where are you?" Uncle Tibbs asked.  "Oh, there you are.  I was looking for you.  Hey, Ajdin... are you crying?"

"NO.  NO, I AM NOT CRYING," I said, wiping away some bear tears.  "I am a big bear and I do NOT CRY."

"What's wrong?" Uncle Tibbs asked.  He picked me up in one scoop with his big paw.

"I was looking for some honey today in the woods and I got stung by some bees!" I sobbed.  "There were so many of them.  I got stung and had to run away empty pawed.  It was so embarrassing."

"Hmm, stung by bees, eh?" Uncle Tibbs said.  "That's happened to me lots of times before.  Sure, we bears have fur but it still hurts sometimes, doesn't it?"

"Yes, beary much," I said.  "I don't want to go back to that place.  There were SO many bees there, Uncle Tibbs, SO many.  I had never seen so many bees before."

"So many bees, huh?" he asked, as he pulled out a box of Band-Aids.  "You know, Ajdin, when there are lots of bees, that usually means there's a lot of honey.  Now you say there were SO many bees.  There must have been SO much honey there.  I bet you were beary close, and the bees didn't want you to find it."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yup, that's how it usually works," he said.  "Those bees see a bear coming and then they all gang up on him and try to stop him from finding the beehive.  When he's really close, that's when the bees really start to attack."  He put a Band-Aid on my head, then continued.

"Back in the day, I entered a honey hunting competition and I was in a similar situation.  There were a few of us bears looking in the same spot when all of sudden, a massive swarm of bees came at us from out of nowhere."

"Wow, what did you do?" I asked, intrigued.

"The other bears gave up after a few minutes and went away, but I kept on looking around.  Then I saw it.  Inside a tree hollow was the BIGGEST BEEHIVE I had ever seen.  Yep, I took home first prize that day!  Getting stung isn't pleasant, that's for sure, but just think of all that honey that's coming your way."  Uncle Tibbs grinned.

"Hmm," I said.  "That is beary interesting.  Maybe when life gives you bees, make honey?"

"That sounds about right, Ajdin, some good advice for bears and non-bears.  Here, how about a spoonful of honey to cheer you up?  Then, we'll work on our plan to find this big beehive of yours!"