The Secret Life of Bees Page #3

[June]

You gonna break my car?

[Man]

No, I'm not gonna break your car.

I'm just askin:
'cause you're

lookin' a little confused.

[Singing On Radio]

It is hotter than a pot of rice, and you got nerve

to give me a hard time? Give me that wrench.

- No, you get it.

- Not gonna play, June Bug?

You gonna play?

- Come here.

- No. What?

- Come here now.

- What are you doing?

- You know what we doing.

- I don't dance.

- Oh, you're dancin' now.

- No, I don't. I don't dance.

- No, no. Get off.

- Come here. [Laughs]

- Come on, June.

- Don't you pick me up. [Laughing]

Stop it.

Place a beehive on my grave

And let the honey

soak through

When I'm dead and gone

- That's what I want from you

- Oh, thank you.

The streets of heaven

are gold and sunny

- But I'll stick with my plot

- [August] Mornin;

- Mornin'.

- You sleep all right?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Come on. Grab yourself a chair.

- Okay.

- Hey.

- This one's yours.

- Thank you.

- So, who's that man out there?

- [August] Oh, that's Neil.

He teaches at the school

where June teaches music.

- He's sweet on her.

- It seems like she's sweet on him too.

Yeah, but she won't say so.

He tried every which way to get her

to marry him, but she won't.

- How come?

- Too scared.

[Scoffs]

May, June might think that's a little personal.

Hell, I'll tell any folk that'll listen

I threw my man out.

Put his brain in a bird

and the bird'll fly backwards.

[Laughs]

[Laughs]

[May]

Mmm.

How come y'all got names

from a calendar?

Our mama loved spring and summer.

We had an April too, but...

she died when she was little.

[Sobs, Hums]

[Sobbing]

- You ain't gonna fix that car.

- I'm gonna fix it.

- What set May off?

- [Water Running]

She upset 'cause

you won't marry Neil.

See that? You should go on and marry me

and quit upsettin' your sister.

Get out of here.

No, woman, you promised me pancakes,

and I ain't leavin' till I get 'em.

You must be Rosaleen. Neil.

- And you must be Lily.

- Yes, sir.

- What's burnin'?

- [Sizzling]

Don't worry.

We'll just make you another one.

- [Clattering]

- Or how about some grits?

No. Thank you.

That's... That's all right.

I'm just not really hungry.

Then let's get to work.

Check on May.

I'm going to the N.A.A.C.P. Offices.

We're canvassing voters this morning.

Uh, wait.

What about my pancakes?

Uh, wait.

What about my pancakes?

The batter's right there

by the griddle.

Now how could beauty be so evil?

I've been stung so many times,

I have immunity.

They barely even hurt me.

But since you don't, you need

to know beeyard etiquette.

- Beeyard etiquette?

- You see...

the world's really

just one big beeyard.

The same rules work in both places.

Don't be afraid, as no life-lovin' bee

wants to sting you.

But don't be an idiot.

That's why we wear long sleeves and long pants.

And don't swat.

Don't even think about swattin'.

And above all, send the bees love.

- [Bees Buzzing]

- Every little thing wants to be loved.

Let's go.

[Vehicle Approaching]

[Buzzing]

Now, we'll constantly

be checking the hives.

We have to make sure the queens have enough

room to lay their eggs, otherwise we get swarms.

What do you mean, a swarm?

When you get a queen and a group

of independent-minded bees...

that split off and look for another place to live,

then you get swarms.

And I lose my bees.

So, what we have to do is...

take out the frames

filled with honey...

and put in empty ones.

Now, the smoke, it calms the bees...

and it masks the alarm scent

released by the guard bees.

Why, you ain't scared a lick, huh?

I love you. I love you. I love you.

I love you. I love you.

All right.

Easy movement.

See right there, Lily?

That's the queen... the large one.

[Chuckling]

That wall behind the house...

Why does it have little pieces

of paper in it?

Oh, well, that's May's wall.

She made it herself.

I guess you noticed

she a little different, huh?

She sure gets upset easy.

She had a twin sister, April.

- The one who died.

- Mm-hmm.

It's like the two of them were

one soul sharing two bodies.

If April got a toothache,

May's gum would plump up red.

One time my father used

a belt strap on April.

I swear, welts rose up

on May's legs too.

[Chuckles]

When April died, it was like the whole world

became May's twin sister.

And we tried for years

to get her help...

but the doctors just kept

telling us to put her away.

So June and I come up with

this idea of the "wailing wall."

- What kind of wall?

- The "wailing wall," like the one in Jerusalem.

The Jewish people go there to mourn. See,

they write their prayers on tiny pieces of paper...

and then they tuck 'em in the wall.

And that's what Miss May does.

Those bits of paper are

all the heavy feelings May carries around.

Seems like the only thing

that helps her.

Poor Miss May.

Yeah. Poor Miss May.

That's Zach's car.

He must be in the honey house.

Why don't you go in and say hello.

All right, this one's dedicated

to all my honeys.

Oh... Don't worry.

You my honey too.

[Laughs]

Baby, I need your lovin'

Got to have all of your lovin'

Baby, I need your lovin'

Got to have all of your lovin'

[Chuckles]

I w... I was just singin'.

I'm Lily.

I'm staying with Miss August

and them for a while.

Oh. Well, um, I'm-I'm Zachary Taylor,

her godson.

Zachary Taylor was a president.

[Chuckles]

Yeah, so I heard.

Come here. Look.

See? "Zachary Lincoln Taylor."

Uh, Miss August told me about

you bein' here helpin' out.

She didn't mention anything

about you being white.

Maybe she didn't notice.

[Tuning]

[Classical]

Ooh.

- Mmm, mmm.

- Just put it in.

Miss August, you know

I got stung today, right?

Did you? Where?

Right there.

Probably can't see it much.

[Chattering]

No, I'm telling you that

they don't intend on voting.

[Neil]

But you gotta see it from the other side.

[Woman]

The time is right

- I'm gonna pack my bags

- [Sniffles]

And take that journey

down the road

'Cause over the mountain

- I see the bright sunshine

- Go. Let it go.

- But I want to live inside the glow

- [Giggling]

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I wanna go

to the place where

I am nothing and everything

That exists between

- Here and nowhere

- [Whispering, Indistinct]

I wanna go the place where

Time has no consequences

Oh, yeah

- Hear the poppin'?

- Yeah.

- The sky opens to

- It's from capping. Now you try.

- Whoa. Whoa.

- I'm sorry.

I wanna go to beautiful

Beautiful

- Put the uncapped frames in the spinner.

- Beautiful, I wanna go to

- Pushes out all the honey.

- Beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful

I wanna go to

beautiful, beautiful

- Miss August says you can run like Wilma Rudolph.

- [Zach Laughs]

Yeah, in a championship game

I was running everywhere like...

- Uh, hey, hey. [Laughs]

- Oh, no!

Beautiful

I wanna go to

Beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful

I wanna go to

Beautiful

Hmm.

- You want me to light your candle?

- Yes, ma'am.

You all enjoy.

Thank you, Miss May.

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