Excerpt: The Flight of the Bumblebee

At the farmer’s market, there were many booths, like a little village of tents. Tessa exhaled happily, watching her breath evaporate into the air. She walked to the tent that said ORGANIC in large, bold green letters. She examined the produce in the boxes. There were squashes and zucchinis at one end. In other box, were orange, red, and green bell peppers. Then she finally found what she was looking for—the bok choy. Tessa had eaten bok choy nearly every week since she was a child. It was a vegetable that she had grown up eating. None of her friends really liked it because it was a food that required an acquired taste to become accustomed to it. She picked up the leafy green vegetable in her hands, turning it over and over to inspect it. She saw that there were many insect bites over it, not like the smooth leaves that she had eaten as a child. She was hesitant to purchase the produce, but she figured that since organic vegetables did not use pesticides, insects would be swarming to ingest such a nutritious plant. Tessa placed the bok choy into the plastic bag and walked over the person behind the scale. He was wearing an overly large and thick coat. It became clear to her that this person had already spent several hours standing there in the blistering cold. Tessa wondered what his IQ was. Perhaps if he was smarter, he would not have to be in such a position. He could be in a warm, safe lab somewhere or a nice cubicle for a great company, but no, he was a farmer. Tessa wasn’t even sure if he was a farmer or if he was merely someone hired by that farmer to watch the market stand. Either way, Tessa felt sorry for this man, but she said nothing. Instead, she handed the bok choy over and paid her dollar to the man. She left promptly.