“So,” October said. “You control the bees?”

Adam shook his head. “No, Not ‘control’. We work together. I am very much a fan of teamwork.”

“What do they get out of it?”

“I care for them.” Then, after a moment, “Or at least I try. I admit this hive has been troubled. It has been both difficult and expensive to keep them healthy. I do what I can.”

October saw Adam’s eyes watering they followed a bee. “Alright. I’ll come to your team meeting, check it out. But if it starts feeling like cultish, I’m out. No arguments, right?”

“None.”

Adam stood by his hive as the bees returned home. “I lost my way for a time,” he said. “Tried solving problems with rage. Now I must undo the harm I have caused and, hopefully, go beyond to make things even better. The allies I have so far are experts at violence, but I need better this time. If you join us…”

“I get it,” October said. “Can’t say I’ve had real expectations of changing the world with my work. I just want to gather the truths of the universe.”

“I suspect one can not be done without the other.”

fish got fins
they use them to swim
they live under water
and get eaten by otters
fish don’t have hair
they don’t live in the air

(This has been a poem I found in the notebook I used in art class in grades eight and nine.)