Read Online The Summer We Saved the Bees by Robin Stevenson - Free Book Online

tell her,” I said. “Tomorrow.”

    The twins woke early, as usual, and were watching cartoons by the time Tess and Hazel came downstairs, all dressed for school in matching denim skirts and striped tights.
    “Morning, girls,” Eva said cheerfully. She was in the kitchen, pulling box after box of cereal out of the cupboards and plonking them on the table in front of me: Rice Krispies, Vector, Cheerios, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, Alpen…“I was just getting breakfast ready for Jade’s kids. You two want oatmeal? It’s already made. Or do you want the junky stuff?”
    “Junky stuff, duh,” Tess said. She sat down and pulled the box of Cheerios toward her. “Hey, Wolf. Where’s everyone else?”
    “Violet’s in the shower. My parents haven’t got up yet.” I eyed the Fruit Loops. Mom would flip, but maybe she wouldn’t find out. “The twins don’t eat breakfast.”
    “Really?” Hazel looked at them curiously. “I love breakfast.”
    “Yeah. Me too.” I poured myself a huge bowl of Fruit Loops. “Especially at your house.”
    Eva laughed. “It’s a bit absurd. I swear, we seem to collect cereal.”
    “Where’s Mary?” I asked.
    “Already left for work.”
    “What does she do?”
    “She works at a health clinic downtown,” Eva said. “She’s the clinical manager.”
    “Do you work too?” I reached for the milk, hoping I didn’t sound too nosy.
    “She’s a psychologist,” Tess said.
    “Well, not so much, these days,” Eva said, laughing. “Mostly what I do is make jewelry and sell it online.”
    Tess leaned toward me, lifting her necklace for me to look at. “She made this, see?”
    Twists and coils of shiny silver wire were studded with blue and green glass. “It’s beautiful,” I said, meaning it.
    “I’ve made one for Jade,” Eva said. “A pendant.” She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out a small square box. “Want to see it?”
    I nodded, and she set the box down in front of me. I lifted the lid off. “Oh…wow.” A silver tree, roots and branches spreading and joining to form a circle, and pieces of colored glass like fall leaves, in shades of orange and red. “She’ll love it.”
    “I hope so.” Eva put the lid back on the box and returned it to her pocket. “Your mom is one of my oldest friends, Wolf.”
    “I know.”
    “How are you feeling about this trip?” she asked. “It sounds very exciting, but I guess it means leaving your school and your friends and all that?”
    “Yeah.” I ate a mouthful of cereal and wondered what Eva would say if I told her I didn’t want to wear the bee costume.
    “Your mother is one of the most passionate people I’ve ever known,” Eva said. “She really stands up for her beliefs.” She sighed. “Seeing her again makes me realize how little I do these days.”
    “You seem pretty busy to me,” I said.
    She laughed. “Crazy busy, with work and the house and the girls. But I meant that I don’t do much these days to make the world better. Not like I used to.”
    I looked at her daughters, eating their cereal, and past them, at the cozy living room, the stacks of books, the half-finished Monopoly game still spread out on the floor, Timmy sleeping on the couch. Their world looked pretty good to me, and a big part of me wished I could just stay here. But if Mom was right, all this coziness would be no protection from what the future held.
    They’d starve and die along with everyone else.

    Mom and Curtis finally got up, long after Tess and Hazel had left for school and I had finished my third bowl of Fruit Loops. I waited until they’d had a coffee and Mom had been given her necklace before I raised the subject of today’s show.
    “So what time do we have to be downtown?” I asked. “At the art gallery?”
    Mom shrugged. “It’s not scheduled or anything. It doesn’t really matter.”
    “Did you put it on the website?”
    “Just said around lunchtime . I figured there’d be more people around