Bees

       In small city Polewa, lived old Jagodzinski who kept bees. The hives were located near my apartment building. Jagodzinski had bought the hives from the Germans, who sold them to him for small money. My mother had also bought me wooden skis from the same Germans and for small money too. The Germans were removed from Polewa by Polish government to West Germany, so they were selling their belongings. I often approached the hives to watch the bees, and admired them for their hard work. They were constantly in motion. Some flew out, some flew in. They worked all day without rest. As we all know, bees can sting painfully. But for unknown reason, these German bees never stung any of the Poles. Not even the children, who approached too close to the hives. Located near the hives were wooden tables and benches. Often residents of our apartment building sat there, drank alcohol and played cards or just talked. Apparently, the German bees were the bees which liked the company of people, or maybe they had just become accustomed to the presence of people near the hives.
        One day, a worker called Miazga joined the Communist Party and immediately was promoted to supervisor. He now had power over the workers and of course a higher salary; not to mention the illegal extra income associated with his new position. For example, for a bribe, he could add greater numbers of worked hours to somebody pay. Also for a bribe, he was able to turn a blind eye to the fact that a worker was late or even absent from work. His neighbors persuaded him to celebrate his promotion. So he bought two big bottles of vodka, and invited neighbors, the president of the company, the leader of Communist Party and a few supervisors.        His wife prepared simple foods; bread, sausage, home-made pickled cucumbers, and they started the party outdoors. Unfortunately, they did not celebrate too long. Without any warning, the bees furiously attacked Miazga and he was severely stung. Surprisingly, the other participants of the party were not attacked by the swarm of buzzing bees. As a result of the attack Miazga was taken to the hospital. He did not make an official complaint against Jagodzinski. They made a private financial settlement with appropriate compensation. Even since, Miazga avoided bees. Everyone wondered why the bees chose the fresh member of the Communist Party as a target. Several months passed. Kapusta, then a young factory manager, was returning from a meeting of the Communist Party. He was walking home drunk along Swidnicka Street not too far from his home located near our apartment building. As he continued on Swidnicka, out of nowhere, came a sudden attack of the bees. This was very strange because the hives of bees were placed on nearby Embankment Street parallel to Swidnicka Street, so the bees had to fly distance from one street to another street to attack Kapusta. Almost all of the residents from my building saw as Kapusta heroically tried to defend himself from the swarm of raging bees. Of course, the bees won the fight. Kapusta also was taking to the hospital. The entire town of Polewa was gossiping about this incident for several days.
       Another attack of the newly labeled “anti-communistic bees” occurred in an even stranger location. The third attack occurred at a bus stop near City Hall in Polewa, far away from the hives. It appeared that the bees were waiting for the meeting attendees. But, how did they know about the meeting?
       Regardless, the attack was well planned and well executed. Enemy loses were huge. Old Ruminski, the head of the City Council and former communistic guerilla, suffered the most. The second most severely injured was young Wolak, who later become the leader of Communist Party in Polewa. He was the youngest attendee at the meeting. Others were also seriously injured, and were taken to the hospital. This time Jagodzinski did not get away without any punishment. The Police locked him in jail for several days. He had to pay damages to the victims and had to remove all of the hives from Polewa. He placed them close to the nearby village of Roscishoff, where members of the Communist Party did not live. He waited for the trial. News about Jagodzinski’s bees spread throughout the county, province and country. People visited him from remote sites. They brought sugar for the bees and money, to cover the cost of his trial and the cost of compensations.
      And people asked him, how he trained the bees to attack only the Communists?
       “Gentlemen, I do not know anything, please ask the bees, they did it! I didn’t!”
       But his eyes, however, expressed satisfaction and pride.