TERROR AT THE LAKE

Sharing Stories

February 2, 2023 at 5:56 p.m.

Killer Bee

...by Kay Tapia

TERROR AT THE LAKE

One summer, African killer bees were found in Arizona. A person could be attacked by a swarm (with seemingly no provocation) and get literally hundreds of stings. So, these bees were no laughing matter.

We were camping at Reservation Lake. We decided to take a drive to see some of the other lakes in the area. When we were getting in the car, some large insects started buzzing around us. We didn’t get a good look…they wouldn’t hold still…but we thought they were the bees.

They seemed to follow us. We’d go 35 mph for a while and then stop. They’d still be swarming around us. My husband thought that maybe the queen bee had been trapped in the trunk, but no one was brave enough to get out of the car to look.

We got to a meadow where there was a small herd of cattle, and those insects were all over them. We finally got a good look at them. They were large horse flies, not bees. They were just attracted to our white car.

The joke was on us. We had been terrified for nothing.

Kay Tapia is a longtime Washington resident, member of Ariele’s Thursday ZOOM group through Greenwood Senior Center. Contact ariele@comcast.net to learn more about her groups.

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