Like a Bee to Honey by Jennifer Beckstrand Read Free Book Online Page B

you doing?” Rose asked.
    â€œJosiah Yoder wouldn’t know the difference between a sink and a snake even if one bit him. The sink is still clogged. I’m going to fix it myself.”
    â€œYou should have told him. He would have kept trying.”
    Aunt Bitsy swatted that suggestion away as she slid the bucket under the pipe. “We would have had a flood that even Noah would have envied. Besides, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”
    â€œDidn’t want to hurt his feelings? Aunt Bitsy, you told him you weren’t glad to see him.”
    Aunt Bitsy grunted as she knelt down beside the open cupboard. “Well, I have to keep them humble or they get too confident. I don’t like a boy who’s too sure of himself. That’s Luke Bontrager’s problem.” She unscrewed the washer that Josiah had loosened and then the washer on the other end of the elbow-shaped pipe. The elbow piece fell into Aunt Bitsy’s bucket. Aunt Bitsy got up and ran some tap water through the elbow-shaped pipe. Water splashed from the pipe into the bucket below. She took her yellow-gloved fingers, pulled a plastic fork covered with black scum out of the elbow pipe, and held it up for Rose to see. “We should watch Dan Kanagy very closely when he’s in the kitchen. All sorts of things fly when that boy does dishes.”
    She let water run down the sink into the bucket, then reattached the elbow pipe by tightening the washers. “Good as new,” she said, “and Josiah never needs to know. We wouldn’t want him to think he got a soaking for nothing.” Aunt Bitsy snapped off her gloves and washed her hands at the now-unclogged sink. “Now, baby sister,” she said, wiping her hands. “We need to have a talk.”
    Rose’s heart sank. Aunt Bitsy only called her “baby sister” when it was serious. “About what?”
    Aunt Bitsy motioned for Rose to sit at the table, and she pulled a chair out next to her. That close, Rose got a good look at the spider tattoo on her neck. Aunt Bitsy loved trying out temporary tattoos. The spider had a pink bow on its head and was smiling and waving. The tattoo was friendlier than Aunt Bitsy.
    â€œWhen you came in here,” Aunt Bitsy said, “you looked like you’d seen a ghost. Or a zombie. But since you don’t know what a zombie is, it was either you saw a ghost or Josiah did something to upset you. And if he upset you, I’m not afraid to give him a good look at my shotgun the next time he comes over.”
    Of course Josiah had upset her. But he didn’t deserve the shotgun. “He wants something from me.”
    Aunt Bitsy narrowed her eyes. “What does he want?”
    Rose’s sigh went all the way down to her toes. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’ll be a disappointment like I always am.”
    Aunt Bitsy pinched Rose’s earlobe between her finger and thumb. “Baby sister, you have never, not for one day, been a disappointment.”
    â€œI was in the honey house, and a strange boy passed by my window. I thought it was the one who had tried to burn it down. I couldn’t even move I was so scared. Josiah chased after him and brought him back to the honey house. He was just cutting through our fields on the way home. I embarrassed myself because I was so frightened. Then I didn’t dare walk back to the house by myself. I practically begged Josiah to come with me.”
    â€œIt’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Aunt Bitsy said. “It was a frightening thing.”
    â€œAre you frightened about the troublemaker, Aunt Bitsy?”
    Aunt Bitsy shook her head. “I’m annoyed.”
    A tear escaped from Rose’s eye. “Everything frightens me. I can’t even go to a gathering without one of my sisters. You all have to bend over backward because I’m too afraid to do anything.”
    Aunt Bitsy frowned. “You’ve been