“This time of year, the purple blooms were busy with life- not just the bees, but butterflies and ladybugs, skippers and emerald-toned beetles, flitting hummingbirds and sapphire dragonflies. The sun-warmed sweet haze of the blossoms filled the air. "When I was a kid," said Isabel, "I used to capture butterflies, but I was afraid of the bees. I'm getting over that, though." The bees softly rose and hovered over the flowers, their steady hum oddly soothing. The quiet buzzing was the soundtrack of her girlhood summers. Even now, she could close her eyes and remember her walks with Bubbie, and how they would net a monarch or swallowtail butterfly, studying the creature in a big clear jar before setting it free again. They always set them free. As she watched the activity in the hedge, a memory floated up from the past- Bubbie, gently explaining to Isabel why they needed to open the jar. "No creature should ever be trapped against its will," she used to say. "It will ruin itself, just trying to escape." As a survivor of a concentration camp, Bubbie only ever spoke of the experience in the most oblique of terms.”
Quote by Susan Wiggs
Book:The Beekeeper's Ball
Work
The Beekeeper's Ball
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: Another Roadside Attraction
Source: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
“Butterflies and snow angels As the sun shines through the grey Rainbows and snowdrifts”
Source: The Gentlemen's Club
“The good butterflies started to beat the shit out of the bad butterflies.”
Source: Rock Chick Renegade
Source: White Hart
Source: Maestro
“My thoughts are like butterflies. They are beautiful, but they fly away.”
