The bees on the patio must have been living there for years, I am not even sure if they were bees. Maybe they were wasps. Hiding in the right corner, chewing on wood and building up their little community. Would it have been a good idea to let them live?
They sent a bee killer over. He came to my house at 12.25, said that he will have a look at it. No name, just here to do his 'cleaning' job. A short man, mid forties, baseball hat and basketball shoes. First he took off his left shoe by pressing his right foot against the left sole. It was an effort to get his fleshy feet out of the high trainers. He picked his shoes up from the floor and held them between his two fingers for crossing the ten meters between the house door and the glass door that opens up to the patio. He set them down and slipped in half, but very carefully not to push the ends down with his heels.
We looked at the bees. He was holding a green spray can weakly in his left hand, his head collapsing between his shoulders. "Are you going to kill them?", I asked. Still starring into the corner where three bees made there way up and down over the rotten wood of the balustrade, he replied with a low voice: "What else could I do?" Silence for a minute or so before he decided that it would be best to throw some plastic over the black BMW that was parked underneath the infected corner. I observed the reversed action of his shoe ritual as he left to go outside.
Just started to cover up the front, he got interrupted by the owner of the black BMW. That man seemed to be alarmed and in his mind he was expecting the worst: Could it be, my bee killer was a painter, up to drop paint from the top. Bee killer man ensured that he was just going to poison the bee nest and pointed at the rotten corner. "You know what, I think, it is best when I just drive it to the spot over there", said the owner of that black BMW.
The bee killer came back up. I said, it would be alright if he just leaves his shoes on, feeling that a repetition of the shoe ritual would be unnecessary. On his tip toes he walked through the kitchen, out on the patio. Meanwhile, I put some paraffin free candles into a drawer. Be killer man stood in the door frame self conscious: "I don't know. They are gone." His head was collapsing deeper between his shoulders. After thirty seconds pause: "I killed them all!" He awaited an answer. I started thinking about what he was going to tell me, is there a hidden message. It is just in my mind, I ensured myself. "Maybe one or maybe two of them are coming back", he continued, covering the evolving silence. He offered me to keep that green spray can, just in case. I was not very sure. He left. I said, thank you, because that is what you should say, when someone did a cleaning job in your house. In his monotonous voice he answered: "You are welcome, have a nice day."