Chapter 12. Seeds planted early grow fast

Where would-be brothers go head to head and three wheels are set in motion

Note: Author commentary at the end of the chapter. This commentary is exclusive to the Cacao Muse; you won’t see it on Amazon, my author site, or printed inside the wrappers of my favorite chocolate bars.

Having spent some time mulling over various strategies to ensure he could get to the ceiba tree without anyone noticing, Max decided he would have breakfast alone with his parents, so as not to arouse any telltale looks between him and Itzel. It was also the perfect set-up to ask whether he could play with the children after breakfast.

But his plan turned out to have an unexpected road bump.

“So, Max, what really happened back there with the hive?” Dr. Hammond had no issue cutting to the chase. Max nearly choked on his plantain.

Jane raised her eyebrows. “What’s all this about?”

“Oh, Max and Juan got into a bit of trouble with Don Francisco yesterday,” said Dr. Hammond.

Jane gave her son a look. “Max?”

Max knew that if he didn’t get out of this, there would be no meeting at the ceiba tree. He also knew his parents. Nothing but the truth.

“Don Francisco sent Juan and me to look for stingless bees. Because he needed more for his bee logs. So we went.”

Jane waited, eyebrows still raised.

“And I found them. Juan didn’t believe me at first but I found the first bees. They were scouts looking for a new nest.”

“A new nest?” said Dr. Hammond. This made things more interesting for his research, but the loss all the more tragic. He’d have to share that bit of news with Don Francisco.

“Yeah, they were just starting to build the new hive at the base of this little tree. So we followed the scouts back to the mother hive, and that’s the one Juan wanted to take back to the meilponario or whatever.”

Max paused to assess his parents’ reaction. They weren’t quite done listening.

“How did you follow them? Did you paint them?”

“No, Juan just… he just followed them.”

Dr. Hammond was impressed.

“So, anyway, he, um, chopped the trunk so he could take a piece of the mother hive. I didn’t want him to cut the tree, but he said he’d done it tons of times before and…” Max couldn’t help himself: “He was amazing with the machete.”

Jane shot him a disapproving look. Nuts, thought Max. He quickly decided his mom didn’t need to know the detail about his own less-than-stellar prowess with the machete.

“But then I think he just cut too close and he cut into the hive. It really was an accident, Dad.”

Dr. Hammond pondered Max’s story. Max sat motionless, hoping beyond hope they’d believe him.

“Well, that’s good to know,” his father said finally.

Max exhaled.

“Although losing a large hive like that is regrettable.”

Max fidgeted with his fork on the plate. He’d felt horrible enough about it; he felt worse now. He’d failed to prevent the loss of the bee hive and that meant he’d failed his father.