The Summer We Saved the Bees Read Online Free

She seemed a lot older than my mom, and she wore a lot of makeup and had long painted fingernails that Mom said were fake. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t understand our plans.
    “It’s hardly a secret,” she said. “I’ve just read your mother’s website. Every wacky word.”
    “Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. I could picture Susan’s narrow face, her small mouth pursed in annoyance. “Right.”
    “Can I talk to Jade, please?”
    Susan and Curtis couldn’t talk without fighting, so it was always my mom Susan talked to about Violet-related stuff. “I’ll get her,” I said. Then I covered the phone with one hand and yelled, “Mom!”
    “Come out here if you want to talk to me!” she shouted back.
    “Phone!”
    She came in, dust mask dangling around her neck and a rusty line running across her cheeks and over her nose. “Who is it?”
    “Susan.” I handed her the phone.
    She wrinkled her nose, wiped her hands on her jeans and took the phone from me. “Susan?” A long pause. I could hear the angry buzz of Susan’s voice but couldn’t make out what she was saying. “Uh-huh. Well, that’s up to you…No, of course Curtis and I want her to come with us…”
    Mom dropped to the couch beside the twins, holding the phone a couple of inches from her ear. “I know she doesn’t want to…” Buzz. “Well, I think not wanting to leave her boyfriend is a big part of it…She does? Did she say that to you?” Buzz buzz buzz . “Let me talk to her.” Buzz . “I don’t care if she doesn’t want to.”
    At that point Mom noticed me listening and shooed me away. I didn’t move. She put her hand over the phone. “Wolf. Go help Curtis.”
    I headed back outside, sat down on a wooden block near the van and watched Curtis. He was using a finer grit sandpaper now, polishing the surface smooth. “That was Susan,” I told him. “On the phone.”
    He grunted. “What’s she want?”
    “Violet’s over there.”
    He stopped sanding and turned to look at me. “She is?”
    “Uh-huh. With Ty.”
    “What’s that about?”
    I shrugged. “I dunno. She really doesn’t want to go on this trip.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Susan called it a crazy trip. And she called Mom wacky.”
    “Crazy? She said that?”
    I nodded. Waited. I could see a muscle twitching in his jaw.
    “What’s crazy is staying here,” he said. “What’s crazy is sticking to this whole system of jobs and buying stuff and worrying about what people think.” His voice was getting louder. “What’s crazy is buying a new house and paying someone to lay down turf for a lawn, like Susan just did. A bloody lawn! The bees are dying, the world economy is on the edge of total collapse, and she’s thinking about her lawn. That’s what’s crazy. ”
    “I know,” I said. “I know.”
    He snorted and pulled his dust mask back down over his nose and mouth. “You can’t eat a lawn,” he said, turning his attention back to the van. “Someone oughtta tell her that.”
    I picked up a new sheet of sandpaper and watched Mom walk out of the house and toward us. Her hair was in a long braid to keep it out of the way, and she was twisting it between her fingers.
    “Wolf tells me Susan’s got her panties in a knot,” Curtis said, looking up at her without pausing in his sanding. Scritch scritch, scritch scritch .
    Mom sighed. “Violet’s upset about missing school and leaving Ty. She asked Susan if she could stay with her for the summer.”
    “Violet’s not thinking straight.” He shook his head. “Susan would have her in summer camps and piano lessons. She’d have her in bed by nine. Vi would have about as much chance of seeing Ty as she would if she was halfway across the country with us.”
    “It’s a moot point anyway,” Mom said. “Susan said no. She doesn’t want her.”
    “Yeah,” Curtis said.
    They were both quiet for a minute. I couldn’t imagine my mom ever, ever, ever turning me or the twins away. Couldn’t imagine her not wanting