Hive Minded

by

thedragonaunt

Chapter One

'Come along, boys, hurry now. You know you have to be all done and dusted before Mr Soames will start the party,' called Matron, bustling into the dormitory that William shared with three other probationers of St Paul's Cathedral Choir.

They had all joined the choir the previous September, at the start of the academic year, but for the first twelve months they were learning about the routines and repertoire of the Choir and gaining a good grounding in vocal technique and sight reading. They wouldn't become full choristers until next September, after which - assuming their probation had been satisfactory - they would play a full part in the liturgical life of the Cathedral. So, like all the boarding pupils at St Paul's Cathedral School, they were packing to go home the next day, for the Easter holidays.

During this break in the school year, the boarding house which William and the other boarders called home for thirty-five weeks of the year would be occupied by visiting choirs from all over the world, who came to sing at the cathedral while the St Paul's choristers – both male and female, because St Paul's boasted a girls-only choir, too – enjoyed a well-earned break from the packed term-time schedule of academic lessons, sporting activities, vocal and instrumental coaching and choir commitments.

Matron, making her way around the room, chivvying and chiding the boys individually, came upon William sitting on his bed, reading a book.

'Are you all packed up, ready to go home tomorrow, William?' she enquired, with a slightly pinched expression which clearly anticipated a negative response, the product of years of wrangling recalcitrant children to perform the more mundane duties that boarding house life entailed.

'Yes, Matron, I am,' William replied, indicating with a tilt of his head the suitcase standing at the side of his bed and the large sports hold-all that sat next to it, packed full of his rugby and hockey gear. 'My violin is in the practice room. I'll collect it in the morning.'

Matron eyed the neatly arranged luggage with a degree of suspicion and, feeling obliged to confirm that William's packing was complete, she took it upon herself to open his wardrobe door and each one of his drawers but found them all empty apart from a set of mufti clothes, to travel home in, and his toilet bag.

'Hmmm, alright, I believe you,' she sniffed, almost disappointed. 'Well, well done, William. What a shame the other boys aren't so efficient.'

William quirked an eyebrow, a gesture frighteningly reminiscent of his father, but said nothing and returned to his book. What he was thinking – and would have liked to say had he not known for absolute certain that Mummy would not approve – was that, if Matron tried praising and rewarding those who did as they were told when they were told, rather than pestering everyone regardless, those that didn't toe the line might soon get the message that good deeds earned good outcomes and maybe come on board? That was definitely his father's voice, in his head, saying, 'Obviously.'

Mr Soames, the Housemaster, clearly had the right idea. The 'party' that Matron had referred to was the carrot to tempt the boys to get packed up speedily. Matron, William supposed, must be the 'stick'.

William was really looking forward to spending the three-week Easter break at home. Not that he hadn't seen the family recently. Freddie was a pupil in the Foundation department so they saw each other quite frequently, in passing. And the whole family came to take him out to tea once a week, usually on a Sunday afternoon. That would change, next year, if William's probation was successful. Sundays would be rather busy from then on.

But he was looking forward to having a bedroom all to himself and not having to share with three other boys who were all, at various times, noisy, untidy and seriously lacking in awareness of personal space! He was also looking forward to listening to Daddy grumbling about anything and everything that didn't quite fit his own personal view of the Universe. Daddy was a world class grumbler!

He was looking forward to hearing about Freddie's latest dancing triumph and seeing how much Violet had progressed – every time they met, it seemed she had acquired new words and new skills. He was looking forward to spending time with Nanny Marie and learning all about her new husband's adventures in the Foreign Office – those she was allowed to know about, at least. He was looking forward to seeing Redbeard, the puppy they had found in the woods last summer. Like Violet, he seemed to grow bigger and learn new things every day. And he was looking forward to being with Mummy - just being in the same house, knowing she was there.

But, most of all, he was looking forward to seeing his bees.

With the help of Mr Hedges, a member of the local beekeepers' association and William's mentor, William had closed up the hive for the season, last October. During the Winter months, the colony didn't hibernate but shrank in number to just the Queen and the Winter bees, a special kind of worker bee who lived for up to four months – unlike the Summer workers whose life span was about six to eight weeks. The male bees, or drones, having fulfilled their purpose of mating with virgin Queens, were ejected from the colony in the Autumn and quickly died off, as did all the Summer worker bees, leaving just the Winter workers to service the needs of the Queen, who stopped laying until the Spring brought warmer weather. Then the whole cycle began again.

The previous year, William's bees had performed very well, for a first season. They had produced a good crop of honey – five frames worth, in fact – but as the colony needed at least five frames for their own Winter food supply, Mr Hedges had advised William not to harvest any for his own use.

'Leave it for the bees, young fella,' he'd said. ''They need it more than you.'

All through the Winter, William had kept an eye on the activity inside the hive via the four webcams that he and Daddy had fitted the previous Autumn. They had placed the tiny, button shaped, night vision cameras at strategic points inside the brood box and the super (where the honey was stored) so that William was able to look in on the colony from time to time and observe their behaviour as they responded to the changing weather conditions – clustering together in a tight ball around the Queen when the weather was really cold and vibrating their wings to raise the temperature inside the hive; and when the weather improved, spreading out and trundling up into the super, to feed themselves or collect honey and bring it back down to the brood box to feed the Queen. And in between, the workers would busy themselves around the hive, dismantling old cells, building out new ones and generally keeping the hive clean and free from disease, in preparation for the Spring.

This would be William's third year and second season as a beekeeper and he couldn't wait to see what the new season would bring. He would have to wait for the outside temperature to get up to 12 degrees Celsius before he could open up the hive again, but he'd checked the Met Office weather app and things were looking promising.

'OK, boys! Party time!' called Mr Soames from the stair well.

William's dorm-mates all cheered and scrambled for the doorway. William marked his page, closed his book and slipped it under his pillow then followed the others downstairs.

ooOoo

A rather short opening chapter but I hope it whets your appetites for a William Special.