I was in pre-school when I first got stung by a bee. It was a bumble bee and I recall putting my hand over it, not quite to protect another kid, because I did not know that they stung, but because I wanted to prevent it from crawling on them. I don’t remember the pain but I do remember that it was a bit dramatic. 

Abby got stung by ground bees in middle school and she said that was thrilling and scary but not too painful. I was there when she got stung by a bee for the first time though, that was at Bread and Puppet a few summers ago. That was also a bit dramatic. It’s no fun, being stung by bees. It hurts, then it’s itchy, and it’s a surprise the whole time, too. 

I was there when Roby got stung for the first time and it wasn’t by no ground bees. Roby took it like a champ, a fighter jet of a hornet straight to the tenderest part of her foot (every part of her, including her feet, is tender).

She had just been playing with her new water table (shoutout nona) and she must’ve stepped on it. At first I thought she was upset in a toddlerish way because some element of play was not going her way. But as her sound went up and up and she didn’t seem to like what was happening on her foot, it became clear that wasn’t the case. And of course the wriggling black bastard that I quickly dismembered with her great grandfather’s pocket knife was a bit of a tip off aswell. 

It was hard watching that little girl in that movie be sick. But it was only hard because I imagined Roby being sick. Watching the real Roby be hurt on the most sensitive part of her foot was awful and I do not recommend it.