The Music of Bees

Harry has a history of making bad decisions. Two friends from high school persuaded him to be the driver in a robbery attempt. As a result of that episode, Harry served a two-year prison sentence. He hoped to make a new start when he moved out west. Now he sits in a café with Moira, looking at the job classifieds. He responds to several, including one from a beekeeper who needs light construction. In the afternoon, he goes to the waterfront and watches some kiteboarders. He chats with one of them, a friendly guy named Yogi. Later, he goes to a party at Moira’s house but feels uncomfortable there and leaves early. He cycles back to his uncle’s trailer.

Jake stayed overnight at Alice’s home, and they have breakfast together. Afterward, she shows him around the farm and explains what’s involved in caring for the bees. She opens a hive and explains what she looks for when she inspects a hive. Jake is fascinated and asks many questions. When he asks her how she got her first hive, Alice is thrown into confusion because it triggers memories of Buddy, her late husband. Without replying, she tells Jake she has an errand to run and drives off. She recalls that she first saw a beehive when Buddy took her to the county fair. He bought her a hive, and they assembled it together. Alice still feels grief at the loss of her husband, and the memory of it now threatens to overwhelm her. She feels panic and a loss of control. She recovers, however, and drives to a place where she picks up some bales of hay. She has decided not to hire Jake because the physical demands of the work would be too much for him.

Alice puts off telling Jake that she can’t hire him. He’s enthusiastic about the bees, still asking her questions and even staying up late reading one of her books about beekeeping. Alice drives to her job at the Hood County Planning Department. She has worked there for nearly two decades, even though the job is routine and boring. At a meeting, a representative from Cascadia Pacific (CP) makes a presentation. CP is a large company that funds local projects in return for permission to run its fiber-optic cable in the county to support the tech companies there. The rep mentions that CP has become a regional distributor for SupraGro, a pesticide company, and he hopes local farms will use their products. After the meeting, Alice learns from Stan Hinatsu, leader of a local environmental group, that CP was the target of a lawsuit in California for environmental pollution following a train derailment.

Jake loves the beehives, especially the buzzing sound the bees make, which fills him with delight. While Alice is at work, he explores the yard further. He wants to stay at Alice’s; the thought of returning home fills him with dismay. He notes that Alice’s house is wheelchair accessible, apart from the living room, so he summons his friend Noah Katz to help him move some things around. Noah arrives with his girlfriend, Celia. They help Jake move some furniture in the living room and rearrange the kitchen. Celia shows Jake how to cook, and they prepare dinner for four, spoiled only by the burning of the rice pot, as a result of which the kitchen fills with smoke. Just at that moment, Alice arrives home.