She wasn’t selling queens yet, but once she’d documented her methods, probably next spring she could start selling them for as much as forty dollars each, and she could produce fifty or more of them per month.
As a hive prospered, she’d split it into two, the second hive with a new genetically superior queen. Her goal was to double the number of colonies over the next few months.
All of this dampened the Queen’s instinct to swarm, but Roxanne knew there was still the occasional colony that rushed from its hive and flew off en masse for parts unknown. In the hours after leaving their hive, the swarm would form a ball in a bush or tree, usually within a hundred feet of the hive. Roxanne had managed to capture several swarms like this and deposit them in new empty wooden hives she had on standby, for precisely this reason. She knew she couldn’t prevent or catch all the swarming hives and hoped the departed colonies would prosper, wherever they ended up.
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December 2020
Archie had a birthday coming up and Roxanne was planning something special. She definitely couldn’t throw a party due to the severity of the pandemic, now killing over four-thousand Americans every day. Their lives were still extremely busy — Roxanne with her medical practice, her garden, and her bees — Archie with his shop and volunteering at the hospital. He’d cut back his hospital volunteer hours to two per day — more people in town were finally ‘stepping up to the plate’ and volunteering.
Every day, Archie and Roxanne found time for each other, whether it was a walk on their property or a drive somewhere in Archie’s Tacoma or Roxanne’s Camry. Nessy Carmichael was out of the hospital and back home for a month now, getting her place ready to sell, so they popped over to see her one evening. Roxanne had a quart mason jar of fresh honey for her. As always, Bud was delighted to see Nessy, obviously remembering his time with her before coming to live with Archie and Roxanne.
Nessy was the first person to hear their big news — they were engaged. Nessy cried a bit, she was so overjoyed with the news. “I could kinda see it coming,” she said, smiling through bleary eyes. “Do you know when or where?”
“We’re struggling with the logistics, Nessy,” said Roxanne. “This damn virus is going to limit what we can do. But we’re thinking in the spring. We’re obviously not youngsters just starting out, so we don’t need a fancy wedding and we don’t want any gifts. And neither of us has any family we’d like to bring all the way here. It’ll be a dozen close friends — including you of course — out in the backyard. We’ll make it as nice as we can. Social distancing… masks if need be… that’ll suck but we’ll make it work.”
“Good for you both,” said Nessy. “It’s so wonderful to have some good news for a change; something to look forward to. Thank you both for this and again, congratulations.”
Back home later that evening, Archie and Roxanne sat in a new hot-tub Archie had installed that week, under a domed cedar pergola. It was out in the garden, a hundred-foot walk from their back door. Surrounded by roses, bougainvillea, and numerous other flowering bushes planted for the bees, they could sit in comfort side-by-side, hips touching, and Archie’s arm around her shoulders as she leaned into him.
With the house so far back from the road, their backyard was utterly private, invisible from anywhere except perhaps a low-flying aircraft. And there didn’t seem to be many of those these days, either. In addition to everything else, COVID had greatly impacted America’s airline industry.
Now in the late evening, utterly dark out here at the tub, the temperature was chilly in the mid-fifties. They’d walked out to the tub in light bathrobes — it would have been too cold to swim in the stream pool. As they sat and chatted, Roxanne decided to tell him what he was getting for his birthday.
“I think we’re going to get lots of use out of this tub, baby,” said Roxanne. “It’s really nice, especially in cooler weather.”
“Yes, the hot water feels great. I’m only good for maybe ten minutes in the stream pool and I’m going numb,” said Archie. “They tell me on rare occasions, we get snow in this part of the state — it’ll be fun to sit out here during a blizzard.”
“I’ve done that at a chalet near a Quebec ski hill when it was thirty below,” said Roxanne. “We had frozen hair contests, dipping underwater to get our hair wet, then letting it freeze in funny shapes. It was hilarious.”
“I sure hope it never gets that cold here,” said Archie.
“Me too,” said Roxanne.
There was a lull in the conversation, then Roxanne spoke.
“Hey Archie baby, it’s your birthday tomorrow.”
“Yep, another year older… another year closer to the big four-oh,” said Archie, grimacing.
“Well baby, I’m pleased to tell you, you are getting two gifts for your first birthday with me. The first is all wrapped up and you’ll get it tomorrow. I think you’re going to like it. But the second gift is a little different. Archie, my oh-so-sexy-and-handsome-and-wonderful fiancé, I’m going to give you something few if any men have ever thought of. I’m going to make love to you all day long.”
Archie was staring at her, his mouth hanging open slightly, wondering what the catch was. She had to laugh at the look of confusion on his face; good, turned-on confusion if there was such a thing. Whatever it was, he suspected it was going to be good.
“Here’s how it’s going to work, baby. Tomorrow’s a Sunday, so we both have the day free and we’re going to stay home all day. I’m going to be naked the whole time, or pretty close to it. I might wear an apron in the kitchen or a dress if anyone comes up the drive. I want you to make love to me for one minute, every half-hour starting tonight at midnight. You are not allowed to cum, starting right now, for the entire day. So your first one-minute session is just after midnight and the last is between 11:30 PM and midnight, tomorrow night.”
Archie still looked like he was in shock.
Roxanne continued. “There are twenty-four hours in a day times two sessions per hour equals forty-eight little one-minute love-making sessions, any way you’d like to do them. I’ll be ready and waiting for all forty-eight. Then after midnight tomorrow night, if you have managed to use up every single session and not cum even once, you can finish any way you like. You tell me what you want baby, and I’ll do it. Anything you can imagine.”
The look on Archie’s face was priceless and she couldn’t help giggling at his confusion. His mind was overloaded thinking through the possibilities. He’d never been offered anything as sexy and erotic as this before in his life and his brain was working valiantly, trying to decide the best way to tackle the opportunity.
“Are you serious, babe? I can’t quite believe this.”
“Oh, I’m serious all right. I’ve thought a long time about how I might give you a very special birthday gift no one else has ever given you,” Roxanne said. “The fact is, it’s a present to me too because I’m going to be there for all of it, enjoying the sessions just as much as you. But the extra pleasure is yours because you get to do it any way you want for all forty-eight sessions. And then afterward, you get to cum any way you want — any way you can imagine — I’ll do anything you can conjure up in your wonderful, sexy imagination. Just tell me and I’ll do it for you, right after the clock strikes midnight tomorrow. Don’t make up your mind yet — you have a whole day to mull it over.”