Bees, an observation

 I really didn't want to write any more about car accidents and I think I need a break from writing about music, so I browsed through a book of writing prompts (642 Things to Write About). I picked this one:

"Track the path of the next bug you meet. What is it up to? Where is it going? What do you think it is thinking?"

Quite a few years ago I attended a teacher workshop at the Chicago Botanic Garden (https://www.chicagobotanic.org/). The idea was incorporating nature into the classroom curriculum. I probably still have the handouts and notes from that somewhere. The Botanic Garden is wonderful - if you visit Chicago you should definitely try to visit. It's located in Glencoe, a north suburb. 

The part of the workshop that I remember most clearly was the assignment the leader gave us to choose a bee and observe it for 10 minutes or so. We were in one of the flower gardens, maybe the rose garden. It was a beautiful, sunny day, not too hot. I found two bees hanging out in a flower. Most of the bees were gathering nectar and pollen. After watching for a bit, I decided that one of the bees was injured or sick. It didn't move much and stayed farther back in the flower than the healthy bee. They were not going anywhere, just staying in the flower. Sometimes another bee would land on the flower, but the healthy bee would drive it away. It was fascinating and I still don't know if that is normal bee behavior.

I don't know much about bees and most of what I know is from the Outlander book series. Main character Clare has bees and there is some discussion amongst the characters about bee behavior and how to keep them happy. 

To return to the questions- one of my bees was a caretaker, the other was maybe injured, maybe in pain. They weren't going anywhere. I hope there was some resolution before night. 

What could they be thinking? Do bees make friends? Is it normal to guard a fallen comrade like this? 

It's an unsolved mystery.