Mayor Bumblebee

Clément La Croix is the mayor of a small town. For many years, everyone loved him for his warm character. However, as the years went by, he became increasingly grumpier. He really just wanted to improve his little town and did not ask for much from his citizens in return.

They should just put in a little more effort. Plant the gardens more neatly, clean the windows so they are streak-free, and mow the front yard every once in a while.

But clearly, some of his citizens were not able to meet these standards. This took a toll on the mood of Mayor La Croix. Even toward those closest to him, he became more and more of a grouch, so much so that some people almost turned away from him.

Little Julie could not stand to see this. In the past, he used to push her on the swing whenever she was sitting on the playground and did not yet know how to make the swinging work. It became almost a routine for La Croix to visit little Julie on the playground on his way home and spend a few minutes giving her a push. This continued even when she had known how to do it herself for a long time. It was a nice time and even the mayor seemed to enjoy this break.

But the grumpier he became, the less he noticed the people around him. It even went so far that he no longer paid attention to little Julie on the swing and stomped right past her with his head down. Julie was deeply upset. She did not recognize her mayor like this.

She asked around the neighborhood and found that every citizen had noticed this change. It seemed as if Clément La Croix had lost his old self, the good-natured man who only wanted to help, and traded him in for a real miser.

Julie wanted to do something about it.

She picked a bouquet of flowers. Just like that, right by the side of the road. Then she took a few more plants from the wild garden at Mrs. Meldig’s place and tied everything together neatly. While doing this, she noticed that a bumblebee was sleeping on the sunflower she had in her bouquet. At first, she wanted to wake it up and shoo it away, but she decided against it. The bumblebee was sleeping so soundly and besides, bumblebees are decent creatures.

When she arrived at City Hall, Julie wanted to hand the flowers to the mayor. Since he was not in, however, she decided to just put the bouquet in a vase on his desk.

When La Croix returned to his office, he was already catching his breath to complain to his secretary, who was supposed to remove the weeds from his desk. But before he could get a word out, he heard a buzzing.

A deep, soothing buzzing.

It came from the little bumblebee, which had woken up by now and was flying around the room.

Clément followed its circling flight with his eyes for a while until the bumblebee settled back down on the sunflower. It sat there buzzing quietly and somehow Clément had the feeling that it was watching him.

It calmed him down. The buzzing of the bumblebee took his mind off things and suddenly he realized that this very bumblebee was sitting on a sunflower from the garden of Mrs. Meldig. The very garden whose condition had made him lose his cool time and time again. Now, that exact place was the reason he had found this bumblebee. This bumblebee that soothed him so much and reminded him of the important things in life through its buzzing.

He took the sunflower out of the bouquet and pinned it to the lapel of his jacket. Humming happily, he walked out of his office and onto the street.

His secretary was not the only one who turned around to look at him because he was strolling through the streets whistling cheerfully. Everyone in town noticed the change.

When he reached the garden of Mrs. Meldig, he knocked on the door to tell her that she owned the most beautiful sunflowers he had ever seen.

He continued on his way, whistling, and stopped at the entrance to the playground. To the sound of the buzzing bumblebee, he looked around. When his eyes fell on little Julie, she grinned and said:

„Mr. La Croix, long time no see.“

„Julie, it is time that you call me Clément. I want to introduce you to someone,“ he said, taking the sunflower from his lapel and showing Julie the little bumblebee that was buzzing away in the middle of the flower.

Since that day, the small village has been just as it was known to people from out of town. Everyone is friendly and makes the best of every situation.

Actually, not much has changed. Except for the fact that for some time now, Mrs. Meldig brings a new sunflower to the office of Clément La Croix every week, which the mayor then pins to his lapel.

Some people claim that the mayor seems so happy that they have the impression he is humming from the inside.

Only Julie knew better. Clément La Croix found what reminds him of the important things in life. His bumblebee.