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In July, a hurricane had blasted through Florida’s Citrus County, leaving behind twisted trees and broken houses My s to lose its roof A co with the stables, a guesthouse, and , and books, but somehow the kitchen survived intact, and none of us had been harmed

Now a blue tarpaulin shrouded what re and looked up at the wrinkled plastic overhead, my first sense was of displacee, under wraps, waiting for life to begin again

Every ht the harsh sounds of reconstruction Myaway debris andrepairs to the house’s frame To complement the machines and hammers, the workers played a portable radio; they preferred an oldies channel that mixed pop with heavy metal, so most days I awoke to the sound of Iron Maiden or Steely Dan or Led Zeppelin (eternally playing "Stairway to Heaven")

Theabout Iron Butterfly ("The soul-daddies of metalheads everywhere!") as I walked back to the house The kitchen table was streith sketches and blueprints, and a bowl of oatmeal had been set next to a note fro concrete out back!--M"

I had to tell her about the bees, but I hesitated I wasn’t ready to bring her ht, full of loops and twists and opti like the way raphy in their consistent precision Co the tas easy--a letter from him lay half-visible beneath one of the sketches The envelope had been torn open with my mother’s characteristic is, Eire

Is it wrong to read another’s mail? Yes, I’d consider it an invasion of privacy Nonetheless I felt teuese word for "mother," and the name she preferred me to call her) really ht

She kne one only ten days, but he’d taken with hi--either to hiether since I was born, and I’d ed to reunite them briefly Then came the hurricane, and the fire that nearly killed ed nowhere at all

After he recovered, my father couldn’t wait to leave the life he’d so carefully constructed, so that he could design a new one in its place

I didn’t read the letter Instead I put blueberries on froid, the freeze-dried tonic I take three times a day, saineering change I savored the brief periods when things seemed to stay the sas were evolving or devolving, the living onesinevitably toward their own extinction or rebirth

My hair, in a long braid, fell into hed and went to the sink to rinse both clean Then I went to find rove tree, talking to two of the builders Her long auburn hair trailed out of a bun she’d pushed under a canvas hat with a wide brie and dark She wore a faded blue chambray shirt and jeans with holes in both knees

For ance The men clearly were mesmerized by her

To clarify: they hadn’t literally been hypnotized Although she was quite capable of that, too Both ly

Mãe stopped talking and turned to ht you were down at the hives"

"I was," I said "But you’d better coave me a quick look of concern, then excused herself and followed me down the path that led to the hives They’d been moved to shelter before the hurricane and returned to their old site only a week ago

My lasses andout trays "Poor things," she kept saying "Poor things"

"They were all right last week" I’d helped unload the hives frolecting them" Mãe stared down at the tray in her hand Dark honey and unfertilized eggs that looked like grains of rice were scattered in the hexagonal cells, but not a single bee was there "I’ve been so busy with the house" She slid the tray gently back into the cabinet and looked up at me, her eyes the same dark blue as mine "We’ve lost bees before, but never so many"

"Maybe the hurricane made them sick?"

"Possibly" She didn’t sound convinced "I’ll ht, check in with the other beekeepers" Her jaw clenched, as it tended to do when she worried "Right now, I have to get back The builders are on a tight schedule"

"Can I do so?"

"Why don’t you see what you can find out on the Internet? Search for dead bees" Her voice sounded wry, and she tried to s elsewhere" She pushed her sunglasses back on and turned away from the hives

As alked to the house, she suddenly put an arm around me and squeezedto coain"

I like solving proble a proble it, and taking these steps again and again until the true essence of the probleed and could be addressed creatively and scientifically Often, when you considered all the possible solutions, you realized that the real probleun with The real probleht in front of you, in plain sight

But proble worked better e had Internet access On that day, as on many others, the connection failed

"I’ll do some research at the library," I told Mãe "Maybe stop for a swim on the way back" I stuffed a towel intowalk for such a hot day" She looked at h sunblock

I took the bottle out of my backpack, poured sunscreen into my palm, and for the second tis I checked the mirror As usual, my reflection wavered; with intense concentration I could make it clarify, but only for a few seconds at a ti hair, stubborn chin, and the streak of white on my nose I rubbed the sunblock into azpacho"

Grace, the blue-gray cat o, followed ate locked I let ate carefully Grace, as usual, stayed behind I blew her a kiss before I went on