“Are we going in the car?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“Okay.”
Idgie had failed to mention that she had sneaked into Julian’s room at 5 A.M. and had stolen the keys to his Model T out of his pants pockets, and it was extremely important to get going before he woke up.
They drove way out to this place that Idgie had found years ago, by Double Springs Lake, where there was a waterfall that flowed into this crystal clear stream that was filled with beautiful brown and gray stones, as round and smooth as eggs.
Idgie spread the blanket out and got the basket out of the car. She was being very mysterious.
Finally, she said, “Ruth, if I show you something, do you swear that you will never tell another living soul?”
“Show me what? What is it?”
“Do you swear? You won’t tell?”
“I swear. What is it?”
“I’ll show you.”
Idgie reached into the picnic basket and got out an empty glass jar, said, “Let’s go,” and they walked about a mile back up into the woods.
Idgie pointed to a tree and said, “There it is!”
“There is what?”
“That big oak tree over there.”
“Oh.”
She took Ruth by the hand and walked her over to the left, about one hundred feet away, behind a tree, and said, “Now, Ruth, you stay right here, and no matter what happens, don’t move.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Never mind, you just watch me, all right? And be quiet. Don’t make any noise, whatever you do.”
Idgie, who was barefoot, started walking over to the big oak tree and about halfway there, turned to see if Ruth was watching. When she got about ten feet from the tree, she made sure again that Ruth was still watching. Then she did the most amazing thing. She very slowly tiptoed up to it, humming very softly, and stuck her hand with the jar in it, right in the hole in the middle of the oak.
All of a sudden, Ruth heard a sound like a buzz saw, and the sky went black as hordes of angry bees swarmed out of the hole.
In seconds, Idgie was covered from head to foot with thousands of bees. Idgie just stood there, and in a minute, carefully pulled her hand out of the tree and started walking slowly back toward Ruth, still humming. By the time she had gotten back, almost all the bees had flown away and what had been a completely black figure was now Idgie, standing there, grinning from ear to ear, with a jar of wild honey.
She held it up, offering the jar to Ruth. “Here you are, madame, this is for you.”
Ruth, who had been scared out of her wits, slid down the tree onto the ground, and burst into tears. “I thought you were dead! Why did you do that? You could have been killed!”
Idgie said, “Oh, don’t cry. I’m sorry. Here, don’t you want the honey? I got it just for you … please don’t cry. It’s all right, I do it all the time. I never get stung. Honest. Here, let me help you up, you’re getting yourself all dirty.”
She handed Ruth the old blue bandanna she had in her overalls pocket. Ruth was still shaky, but she got up and blew her nose and wiped off her dress.
Idgie tried to cheer her up. “Just think, Ruth, I never did it for anybody else before. Now nobody in the whole world knows I can do that but you. I just wanted for us to have a secret together, that’s all.”
Ruth didn’t respond.
“I’m sorry, Ruth, please don’t be mad at me.”
“Mad?” Ruth put her arms around Idgie and said, “Oh Idgie, I’m not mad at you. It’s just that I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you. I really don’t.”
Idgie’s heart started pounding so hard it almost knocked her over.
After they had eaten the chicken and potato salad and all the biscuits and most of the honey, Ruth leaned back against the tree and Idgie put her head in her lap. “You know, Ruth, I’d kill for you. Anybody that would ever hurt you, I’d kill them in a minute and never think twice about it.”
“Oh Idgie, that’s a terrible thing to say.”
“No it isn’t. I’d rather kill for love than kill for hate. Wouldn’t you?”
“Well, I don’t think we should ever kill for any reason.”
“All right, then, I’d die for you. How about that? Don’t you think somebody could die for love?”
“No.”
“The Bible says Jesus Christ did.”
“That’s different.”
“No it isn’t. I could die right now, and I wouldn’t mind. I’d be the only corpse with a smile on my face.”
“Don’t be silly.”
“I could have been killed today, couldn’t I have?”
Ruth took her hand and smiled down at her. “My Idgie’s a bee charmer.”
“Is that what I am?”
“That’s what you are. I’ve heard there were people who could do it, but I’d never seen one before today.”
“Is it bad?”
“Nooo. It’s wonderful. Don’t you know that?”
“Naw, I thought it was crazy or something.”
“No—it’s a wonderful thing to be.”
Ruth leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You’re an old bee charmer, Idgie Threadgoode, that’s what you are …”
Idgie smiled back at her and looked up into the clear blue sky that reflected in her eyes, and she was as happy as anybody who is in love in the summertime can be.
AUGUST 29, 1924
It’s funny, most people can be around someone and then gradually begin to love them and never know exactly when it happened; but Ruth knew the very second it happened to her. When Idgie had grinned at her and tried to hand her that jar of honey, all these feelings that she had been trying to hold back came flooding through her, and it was at that second in time that she knew she loved Idgie with all her heart. That’s why she had been crying, that day. She had never felt that way before and she knew she probably would never feel that way again.
And now, a month later, it was because she loved her so much that she had to leave. Idgie was a sixteen-year-old kid with a crush and couldn’t possibly understand what she was saying. She had no idea when she was begging Ruth to stay and live with them what she was asking; but Ruth knew, and she realized she had to get away.
She had no idea why she wanted to be with Idgie more than anybody else on this earth, but she did. She had prayed about it, she had cried about it; but there was no answer except to go back home and marry Frank Bennett, the young man she was engaged to marry, and to try to be a good wife and mother. Ruth was sure that no matter what Idgie said, she would get over her crush and get on with her life. Ruth was doing the only thing she could do.
When she told Idgie she was leaving for home the next morning, Idgie had gone completely crazy. She was in her room breaking things and carrying on so loud that you could hear her all over the house.
Ruth was sitting on her bed, wringing her hands, when Momma came in.
“Ruth, please go in there and talk to her. She won’t let me or her daddy in the room, and everyone else is afraid to go in there. Please, honey, I’m scared she’s gonna hurt herself.”
They heard another crash.
Momma looked at Ruth and pleaded, “Oh Ruth, she’s just like a wounded animal, down there. Won’t you please go and see if you can calm her down a little?”
Ninny came to the door. “Momma, Essie Rue says that now she’s broken the lamp,” and then she looked at Ruth apologetically. “I think she’s upset because you’re leaving.”
Ruth took the long walk down the hall. Julian, Mildred, Patsy Ruth, and Essie Rue were all hiding behind their bedroom doors, with nothing but their heads poked out, staring bug-eyed at her as she passed them by.
Momma and Ninny stood way down at the end of the hall. Ninny had her fingers in her ears.