Read Online Chew Bee or Not Chew Bee by Martin Chatterton - Free Book Online

Rising Gorge

    Willy could only have looked guiltier if he had been wearing a large hat with the words ‘Bee Thief’ written on it.
    He licked his lips and glanced around. Everyone was staring at him.
    Then Rosenbloom shot out a gigantic paw and lifted him off his feet by the front of his tunic. ‘Can I eat him now, guv?’ he said in a low growl.
    Skellington looked up at Willy. His face twitched with rage. ‘Possibly later, Wosenbloom,’ he said. ‘For the moment I would pwefer to ask him a few questions. Put him down.’
    Rosenbloom replaced Willy on the stage— quite carefully, Willy thought, considering Rosenbloom was a boy-eating ogre.
    Skellington’s eyes darted in the direction of the honey pot lying near his feet. ‘An admiwer of my pwoducts, I see.’
    Willy nodded and forced a smile onto his face. ‘Th-th-that’s right, Sir Anstruther. Yum. Love that honey.’
    The bee chose that moment to buzz loudly.
    â€˜And the pot contains honey?’ sneered Skellington. ‘Because I thought I heard it buzzing just now.’
    â€˜No, no,’ spluttered Willy. ‘That was my… stomach. Groaning with hunger. For some honey.’
    A clear buzzing sound came from the honey pot.
    Skellington’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is that so?’ With some difficulty, he bent over and picked up the pot. He thrust it under Willy’s nose. ‘It’slunchtime, Mr Waggledagger,’ he smirked. ‘You must be vewwy hungwy.’
    Willy’s mouth puckered up so tightly he thought he’d swallow his own lips. ‘N-no,’ he eventually managed to spit out. ‘I’m fine, thanks all the same.’
    Skellington smiled nastily. ‘But I insist, Master Waggledagger. I insist.’
    Willy gulped and looked at the pot. Then he reached out and took it from Skellington. A violent vibration fizzed through his fingers. It must have been a very angry bee.
    Willy smiled glassily and lifted the pot to his lips. There was nothing for it. He didn’t want to think what would happen if Skellington discovered the real contents of the pot.
    Goldstein sniggered.
    Skellington nodded encouragement. ‘Whenever you’re weady.’
    Willy lifted the honey pot to his lips, quicklyuncorked it, and emptied the bee into his mouth. He snapped his lips shut.
    â€˜Tasty?’ asked Skellington.
    Willy nodded. The bee zipped furiously around inside his mouth. He could feel it bouncing off his teeth.
    â€˜Why are you moving your lips like that?’ said Skellington.
    Willy shrugged and tried to look as though this was the way people from Stratford always ate honey. He gave Skellington the thumbs-up.
    â€˜Enough of this widiculous chawade,’ Skellington snapped.
    The moment Willy was dreading had arrived. He had been able to talk his way out of the evidence that placed him at the warehouse. And, if he ate what was in the pot, Skellington might believe that Willy had simply bought some honey from the market and hadn’t been anywhere near Devil’s Dock. But if he spat out a buzzing bee, he wouldbe in very big trouble, no question about it.
    It came down to one simple choice.
    Chew bee or not chew bee? That was the question.
    Willy’s head bobbled, his eyes watered and his stomach lurched.
    And then, as Skellington’s smirk threatened to take over his whole face, Willy realised there was only one thing a self-respecting Shakespeare could do.
    Chew bee.
    Willy started munching.
    It wasn’t as bad as he’d expected.
    Not at first. There was a soft crunch which could just as easily have been a blackberry as a bee. And then a sharp pain at the very tip of his tongue as the bee struck. It was all Willy could do not to yelp. Instead, he gulped down the contents of his mouth.
    â€˜Mmm,’ said Willy. ‘Lovely.’
    Skellington stepped closer to Willy andstared suspiciously at his mouth. ‘There’s something wong