A story about Peaches and Honeybees
I stepped out of the shower to a loud rapping on my door. Odd I thought given I live in a penthouse on a very secure top floor of a mixed residential and commercial building and my neighbours don’t hit the door like that. But it sounded serious so I hooked up a bra, threw on a dress and opened the door to a tradesman in a mask claiming he needed to get outside via my balcony to fix something. It’s true that only access to outside of our building is through the apartments. He was most apologetic because obviously I had no idea he was coming to do his tradie jobs and I was obviously straight out of the shower. He really was apologetic and offered to buy me a bottle of wine for my inconvenience.
Indian Summer
That evening I opened the Chardonnay the tradie had bought me, poured a glass and went out onto my terrace for a wander around my ‘garden.’
My garden is a series of overgrown pots lining the balcony. Every now and then I tidy it up but mostly it runs wild. One day I threw some succulents over the balcony but the wind blew them back and now I have succulents growing on aggregate rock on the other side of the balcony.
I heard my phone ping shortly thereafter so I came inside to check it; I sat on the couch to respond to the text and shot straight back up again almost hitting the ceiling in pain as a sharp object that felt like a medieval knight’s very large lance, pierced by right butt cheek.
I raced to the bathroom to check out my ass in the long mirror; I had a tiny raised lump with a small red mark in it’s centre. It looked very very angry. I freaked out because I have seen redback spiders on my terrace previously, (the birds don’t eat them damn them).
The pain kept me awake during the night but it wasn’t itchy so that was a blessing. There is nothing worse than constantly scratching one’s butt!
In the morning I checked the site and it was much much larger red circle with an even larger lump behind it
The Culprit!
I tentatively stepped into the shower and let the cool water sooth the swollen butt cheek which was strangely perky. Coming out of the shower I almost stepped onto a bee close to the mirror, legs in the air, and motionless. My assailant!
Long Story Short
Moral of the story; don’t accept wine from strange men because you will get bitten on the ass!
Jamtin Creative 
Dear Gillian
You did give me a laugh! We also have strange bugs that seem to bite at night and cannot be found in the bedcovers to kill them…..and then one scratches an itch-bite for ages afterwards.
Sorry I haven’t been in touch for some time. I’m basically well, lucky to still be alive at 90, with my mind still around here, somewhere….. Had 5 days in hospital to do tests to find the cause of swollen feet and legs, and difficulty breathing. It proves to be heart problems, for which I’m now getting medicine. We’ll see how it goes.
I had my Covid-19 shot this week, with no after-effects. W are expecting our third wave to gain full force and hoping that by all the injections the numbers can be cut back.
Celia, James and Ceej are all well. Ceej brought home an unexpectedly good report card for her first term in the second year of high school. Seems she has worked hard on her own at home and it paid off – financially too – I contributed R100 to her funds. She is now taller than I and if she follows her mother’s family , still has some growing to do. I rather hope that she stays average height. Her mother’s sister is just over 6’ tall
James, now in his middle 50’s, is lucky to be well established in his job – in charge of all the maintenance of the water system at the steel works. He hopes to work for another 10 years, which will get Ceej settled at whatever she decides to do. l She likes accounting best of her current subjects.
Well, Gillly, I hope all goes well with you and your brothers and their families.
With love and all good wishes,
Kathryn.
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