No Lessons Learned

The sweet scent of honey seemed to be everywhere that spring. Even some flowers smelled like honey to the untrained in the plant matter nose of Conn. He tried to munch on the most smelly ones but they tasted either like nothing or like the most bitter version of the smell one could imagine. He quickly gave up on the idea of eating plants and decided on a better plan - to actually eat honey. 

There were plenty of beehives all around the area. Smaller and bigger ones, ones that hung from the branches and ones that were hidden inside tree hollows. And the bees were everywhere as well. In theory Conn knew that bee stings hurt. He saw others get bitten. He was pretty sure once a bee tried to stung him but it didn’t work too well for the bee. So the only problem with eating honey he saw was actually finding a hive he could eat from comfortably. Which was an actual problem given his huge head and tiny hands. 

So he spent a whole day walking around the forest and looking around for the perfect beehive he could find. 

Before he went, Radio told him: “When you will get bitten, and you WILL get bitten, I won’t help you with going to doctor Sunflower.” 

Which was annoying more than anything and Conn didn’t take it to himself. In retrospect he should have, but he didn’t. He didn’t care about Radio playing the strong silent and wise type, or about doctor Sunflower and his healing, or actually about anything that wasn’t his goal at the moment. And that often ended with him getting hurt and not learning a single thing from that experience. 

The forest was vast, as forests tend to be, and in search of honey Conn had to go in directions he hadn’t walked before. He knew that meadow or that stream, but usually he didn’t pay much attention, trusting his nose to lead him home if need be. But this time he had to pay attention to the surroundings, at least a little bit, to see if his nose was leading him towards something worth investing time in. And wow, the forest turned out to be super pretty! There were all those… Trees. With different shapes of leaves! Some had bark in different colors? Oh, and the flowers! There were many colors and shapes, Conn liked that too. And some of them grew ON trees? That seemed wild, Conn never before paid any attention to that. 

For a while he got so amazed by nature itself that he forgot about his quest. But then Conn smelled the beautiful sweet scent of honey coming from a perfectly big tree hollow, set on a perfect high for him, and his eyes sparkled. Oh it was time for the FEAST to begin! 

The bees buzzed all around as Conn walked up to the tree and unapologetically stuck his head inside the hole. For a moment he tried to get a bite of whatever it was called that held the honey. Honeycomb? Something like that. In any case he bit into whatever he found and tried to take his head out. And that’s when the problem started. 

Obviously, his head was stuck. In the beehive. Full of bees. Inside and outside. And suddenly he realized the bees weren’t very happy about it. 

“Ouch!” he said when he felt the first sting. 

Conn felt as more and more bees were sitting on him, walking on his body and his head, some even venturing into his open mouth. He obviously wasn’t about to drop the idea of stealing the whole honeycomb, so he struggled to get his head out as well as to keep the honeycomb inside his mouth. 

He tried and he tried, wiggling his body in any way he could. The stings were coming and weren’t looking as if they were about to stop. The bees were ferocious little creatures. Conn huffed as much as he could every time a bee tried to enter his mouth or nose. He WASN’T about to be bitten inside of himself, that’s for sure! 

Finally he pushed on the tree with both his legs and so his head was free! Conn landed on his back kind of painfully, but it was nothing compared to the freedom he felt! The honeycomb was still in his mouth and the bees were attacking so there was no time to feel bad about yourself. As fast as Conn could he gathered himself and started running. Thankfully he was a fast runner so the bees were quickly left behind and all they left were all the stings he felt. 

Conn’s body hurt, his head was spinning, and the honey in his mouth… Didn’t taste that good. Yes it was sweet, it was nice. But after everything he endured to get it he felt disappointed. It was sad, he felt sad. 

Unhappy, he dragged himself to visit doctor Sunflower. Obviously Radio was hanging around the doctor as the damned bodyguard that he was. When the acro saw Conn coming in covered in bee stings all he did was send Conn a look. 

“Aren’t you gonna say it?” asked Conn, ready to hear ‘I told you so’ or any other form of that saying. 

“No, I’m not. I don’t have to,” said Radio, smugly. Once again Conn was unhappy. 

The visit to the doctor took a while. As it turned out there were quite a few bee stings still stuck in Conn that needed removal. Doctor Sunflower then put some kind of plant… Thingie, that was supposed to help with the pain and swelling. 

“Was it worth it at least?” asked Radio when the doctor finished his work. 

“Yes, obviously it was,” Conn lied. “Honey was very sweet and very good, thank you very much.” 

“Hmm,” was all he got in response. 

It took Conn a few days to recover, more in terms of his pride than in actual stings. But when the pain was gone and the swelling wasn’t a problem anymore he was ready to do a new stupid thing, having learned nothing from this one.