I said that I wasn’t going to do this any more, but yesterday at around 3:30 PM I decided to take a look at my story idea list. In there I found a reference to John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “Telling the Bees”.

And the song she was singing ever since

In my ear sounds on: —

“Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence!

Mistress Mary is dead and gone!”

I thought that a SF version might be good where instead of bees, someone has to tell mysterious aliens about a death. It was only 1800 words, just a sketch of the idea, but I had it done by 4:45 and sent out to Ideomancer by 5PM.

I enjoyed writing it. It has romantic religious undertone to it, but I don’t think it is really saleable (except to Tyree, but I am not waiting 95 days again. I will send him a story when his response time is back under a month.)

I had not read the poem since high school so I looked it up after I sent out the story. The first line is almost word for word the way I start the story.

Here is the place; right over the hill

Runs the path I took;

You can see the gap in the old wall still,

And the stepping-stones in the shallow brook.

I suppose that nobody will figure that the title is from an old poem. I doubt if they will even get the “Take. Eat.” reference that the aliens tell the starving humans. Like the Science Fiction Godfather – I’ll make you an offer that you can’t understand.