Don't Drink Bees

Sarah Phillips leaned heavily against her back screen door, eyeing the small shape crouched on the bottom step. The woman frowned, wrinkles creasing her even tan. "How do they always find me?" she asked herself. Its small, blue eyes focused on Sarah, and it made a soft crying noise. "All right," the woman said, quickly backing into her house.

She scanned the cupboard for a clean plate. There was just one. She poured soap in the dishwasher and started up the machine. It rattled to life, and she peered out the door to see if the sound had frightened away the visitor. It hadn't moved from the step. Sarah cranked open a can of tuna and dropped it onto the plate. She slipped a pair of latex gloves out of the drawer next to the sink. As she pulled them over her hands, a shiver ran through her body. "I hope this one isn't sick," she thought.

Sarah opened the door a crack, placed the plate on the top step, and jumped back. The creature tore into the tuna hungrily, swallowing without chewing. "Slow down, girl," the woman said. She wasn't heard.

She moved into the house again and grabbed the phone.

"Hello," a man said, answering her ring. "Warden here."

"Hello, Mr. Morgan. This is Sarah Phillips. Get over here, now. I've got another one."

"No collar?" he asked, wiping sandwich remains off his flannel shirt.

"Nope. I wouldn't have called you if it'd had one," she answered, briskly. "Hurry, though. She seems friendly enough, but when they've been out in the woods, you never can know about disease."

"Another female, then," he murmured. "Okay. I'll be right over in the truck."

"I'll be looking for you." Sarah wrapped her arms around herself tightly. Just seeing the little one out in the cold made her shiver. She put on a kettle of water and waited for the sound of Dennis Morgan's truck. "I hope he doesn't hurt her," she thought to herself. "It's not her fault she's homeless, out on the street. Her mother should've been fixed." The woman grabbed a black hair band and pushed her mop of brown back from her eyes. The kettle whistled as she heard the distinct hiccup of Dennis' truck. She dropped a tea bag into a cup, poured the water, and rushed to meet him at the front door.

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