Winner, Short Script Competition, 9th Annual L.A. International Short Film Festival (2005)
FADE IN:
EXT. FLOWER BED - DAY
Bees hum a cheerful symphony as they work row after row of annuals and flowering bushes, gathering nectar for the--
QUEEN BEE, who suns herself on a leaf, and waits to be fed.
The youngest worker bee, PRINCE JEFFREY, bumbles near the other workers. He sniffs bud after bud of heady fragrance, flying sillier loop-de-loops with every whiff.
JEFFREY
Oh, your Majesty, I never dreamed there would be such wonderful smells outside the hive!
QUEEN BEE
We are gathering nectar, Jeffrey. Mind your chores.
JEFFREY
Yes, ma’am!
Jeffrey burrows deep into a flower and comes out with a face full of nectar and feet laden with pollen. He buzzes with delight and washes his face. Somewhere in the distance, a door closes with a bang.
JEFFREY
What was that?
Jeffrey looks up and launches himself out of his flower.
EXT. CITY PARK - DAY
Jeffrey zig-zags through the park, searching for the source of the sound.
The bees’ flower bed is at the edge of a manicured park with paved walkways. Adjacent to the flower bed, an ICE-CREAM VENDOR rolls his cart along the walkway, jingling his bells. He sells an ice-cream cone to a PASSER-BY.
Jeffrey stops short, in mid air, when he sees--
IRIS DELOVELY (20s), a dainty, sweetheart of a girl in a soft, flowing spring frock and a wide-brimmed hat, pausing on the steps of a Victorian house to don white gloves.
Jeffrey falls, love-struck, into the grass.
Iris glides along the walkway, toward the ice-cream vendor, like an angel straight from heaven. As she approaches the flower bed, Iris hears the buzzing of many bees, and tenses. She gives the flower bed a wide berth as she passes.
EXT. FLOWER BED - DAY
Jeffrey recovers, and makes a beeline for the Queen. He lands, breathless, on her leaf.
JEFFREY
Majesty, Majesty! Isn’t she beautiful?! And she smells so good. I think I’m in love.
The queen watches Iris glide past their perch.
QUEEN BEE
You are too young to be in love.
The Queen knocks Jeffrey off her leaf and onto one a bit lower than hers.
QUEEN BEE
And bees do not fall in love with people, silly child.
JEFFREY
I do. And I’m going to tell her so.
He crawls to the edge of his leaf and gazes adoringly as--
EXT. CITY PARK - DAY
Iris buys an ice-cream cone from the vendor, and sits to eat it on a park bench.
EXT. FLOWER BED - DAY
Jeffrey takes a breath for courage, dives off his leaf, and flies away toward the love of his life.
Jeffrey circles Iris’ head a few times, humming a line from the worker-bee symphony while flying complicated patterns in the air to catch her attention.
Iris gasps and drops her ice cream cone on the ground.
Jeffrey builds speed to fly so fast that he leaves a trail behind himself, like a sky-writing aeroplane.
In the air in front of Iris’ face, he spells out: “Please bee mine!” And rings it with a heart.
Iris shrieks and swats at the air, trying to rid herself of the frightful insect. She runs for her house.
JEFFREY
Hey! Where are you going?
He flies after Iris, closing the distance between them.
He is cut off by a passing truck. Jeffrey veers sharply to avoid hitting the truck’s windshield, and almost crashes into a car, speeding in the other direction.
Iris hurries across the street and up the steps to her house.
Jeffrey races after her.
JEFFREY
I just wanted to say--
Iris vanishes inside her house and slams the door shut in Jeffrey’s face.
JEFFREY
I love you.
Jeffrey creeps along a window sill, peering into the darkened window.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
EXT. FLOWER BED - DAY
Queen Bee tends Jeffrey’s wounds while her minions hunt for nectar and pollen.
QUEEN BEE
I warned you, child. Those people will swat you, poison you, eat you alive! Stick with your own kind.
JEFFREY
But I love her.
QUEEN BEE
People don’t like flying insects. Especially when they are eating.
JEFFREY
Fine. I’ll walk.
Jeffrey pulls away from Queen Bee, washes off his face, and sets out for the park bench, on foot.
EXT. CITY PARK - DAY
A tiny dot wends its way along the sidewalk, from the flower bed toward the ice cream vendor and the park bench.
Across the street, the door to Iris’ house opens. Iris, now clothed from head to toe in mosquito netting, stands on the front steps and dons her white gloves, then strolls across the street and into the park, toward the ice-cream vendor.
Iris’ gloved hand reaches out through a flap in the netting to exchange a few coins for an ice-cream cone, which swiftly disappears under the netting.
Iris settles onto the park bench to eat.
At her feet, Jeffrey crawls along the edge of the netting, searching for an entry way.
He finds a gap by her foot, and crawls inside the netting.
INT. MOSQUITO NET SANCTUARY - DAY
Jeffrey creeps up the folds of Iris’ dress, along her sleeve, and onto her gloved hand, where he pauses to sample a drop of melted ice cream.
JEFFREY
Wow! This is better than nectar. Wonder if she’ll mind if I sneak another taste.
Jeffrey sneaks up the back of Iris’ hand and onto the dollop of ice-cream at its summit. He takes a bite of ice-cream, gazes up into Iris’ face -- now closer and more beautiful than ever before -- and begins to hum the tune to the old jazz standard, “Heaven, I’m in Heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak...”
Oblivious to his presence, Iris opens her mouth for a lick of ice-cream. Iris scoops Jeffrey into her mouth as she licks.
Jeffrey watches in terror as a gaping mouth full of pearly white, very sharp teeth closes down around him.
From somewhere inside Iris’ closed mouth, Jeffrey lets out a mournful BUZZZZZ!
Iris’ eyes widen in alarm. Her cheeks puff out in random directions, as Jeffrey flies around inside, trying to find a way to get out.
EXT. CITY PARK - DAY
Iris tears off her mosquito netting and spits.
Jeffrey, mired in a glob of half-eaten ice-cream, lands with a splat on the seat of the park bench. His arms are crossed over his eyes, and his stinger-less butt sticks straight up, in a desperate, instinctual, plea for his life.
Iris and Jeffrey stare at each other.
IRIS
You didn’t sting me?!
JEFFREY
You didn’t eat me?!
Jeffrey relaxes and cleans himself up.
IRIS
You poor thing! You look as scared as I was.
She offers Jeffrey a finger to climb on, and lifts him gingerly to eye level.
IRIS
But somehow, I get the feeling that you won’t hurt me.
Iris gazes at the little bee and smiles.
IRIS
I won’t hurt you either, little friend. Would you like to share my ice-cream cone?
She sets the bee on her ice-cream cone. The little bee eats as a lilting love ballad fills the air.
Bee Photo is by Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA - Yellow-faced Bumble Bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55628379