Belinda Bee's Honey Tree

Pilot: 1974

Daniel's Chevy creaked into the gravel parking lot of the studio. Asphalt was too expensive, as they had already blown their money on the wooden studio building. Sherry, Daniel's wife, always complained that the gravel got stuck in her shoes. Dan insisted she wait a bit longer, as the show they were working on was going to make them a fortune. The show in question, was Belinda Bee's Honey Tree, an educational flick with big fuzzy puppets and creepy looking robot costumes covered in painted papier mache. Sherry had pitched the idea to Dan, and it grew and grew, like the flower character who lived under the cardboard beehive.

Dan had no clue where Sherry had gotten the idea for these odd-looking creatures. What appeared to be an ant costume always sat on a chair in the back, as if it was part of the audience. This ant tinted a deep crimson, reminding Dan of his favorite steak barbecue he'd always make for Sherry on their anniversary. The ant's mechanical eyelids drooped ajar, like it was just barely staying awake during a boring work presentation. A grin was sewn onto the center of its face, and it wore a silly top hat. What was this guy's name, Antleberg? Antelbert? Daniel could never get the names of these silly characters right.

Terry, the mechanic, gave Dan a short wave as the latter walked in through the front door. "Howdy, David!" he jarred. "Daniel." corrected Dan. "Whupsies! Didn't think you'd notice!" Terry jarred again, his thick Southern accent making him sound like a cartoon character. Terry was a bulky man, covered in hair. He wore a football team cap on his head with the state of Arkansas coloring it. "We may have to start filmin' a bit late, Antlewort back there's caught a cold!" He said, pointing a meaty finger at the ant costume with the half-open eyelids. "What exactly is wrong with him, Terry?" Dan asked, annoyed at Terry's obnoxious out-of-state dialect. "Well, for starters, the blinking feature is fried! If we use it, sparks could fly and roast the person inside like a pig in a blanket!"

Dan walked over to the goofy ant character and opened the hinged football-sized maintenance cavity on his head. "That red-colored wire is naked! It could either send a jolt of power through the metal framework or shock the wearer to death! And these suits are not easy to make!" Terry whistled out of excitement. "Well, can you fix it by two o' clock please? I have to pick up Darla from school." Darla was Daniel and Sherry's teen daughter, who like Dan, was not too happy about the show. She found it to be detrimental to her popularity. People always called her "Honeybee Kid" because that was her role on the show. A kid who played with the star, Belinda the Bee, and learned about things that lived in trees. "Well, I'll try, but Sher's gonna be hoppin' mad if we don't film today!" Dan groaned and got back in his car and got ready to drive to Darla's school.

"And this, kids is why we never, ever report rats to the janitor!" Mr. Emmett joked. He was Darla's science professor, and quite a crazy one, at least to the students. His balding hair revealed half his odd-looking head, which reminded the students of a shiny bowl. He wore black glasses, making him look like a stereotypical nerd. "Miss Geoffreys, would you do the honors?"

Darla looked up from her notes and sighed. She had just put lotion on her hands, and now she had to get blood all over them. "Yes, Mr. Emmett." Darla stood up and strolled over to the teacher's lectern. A matted gray rat lay on the surface, its eyes wide open, jaw limp. It had only been dead for a day at best. "Well, here's your scalpel! I will sing dramatically while you slice it open! Dun, dun da-dun! Dun!" Scalpel in between two tender fingers, Darla aimed for the rat's stomach. She wanted to close her eyes very badly, but Mr. Emmett always said, "Close an eye, and you might just die!"

Out of options, Darla began to slit the stomach of the rat. It took a few seconds for the blade to pierce, which worried her even more. Maybe, this rat had been in the freezer for too long? Best-case scenario. As she moved the blade through the rat's body, syrupy, recently frozen blood spilled out from the hole. Darla had seen it all a hundred times. She took the scalpel out and set it down on the tray. "Miss Geoffreys, I'm sincerely sorry, but you aren't quite finished yet!" Mr. Emmett pointed at the organs, ready to be lifted out of the rat's stomach. "Fine." Darla groaned and picked up the knife again but stopped when the rat's kidney began to shake, like something was inside it and trying to escape the watery, fleshy prison it was stuck in. "Whoa! Hold your horses there, Darla! I think something's in there!"

Darla was puzzled. How could something get inside a frozen dead rat? The kidney began to shake even more, and before Darla could even guess what it was, a small honeybee climbed out of the organs, covered in pus. It flew out of the rat quickly and disappeared into a vent in the ceiling. "Well, I'll BEE! What're the chances?" The students in the back stared on in horror, as did Darla. "Hey! Looks like the bee girl had a bee-utiful experience!" All the students laughed at the teacher's joke, while Darla groaned. Would anyone ever see her for anything more than her mother's stupid television show? Oh, right. She realized she had to start filming later. Singing the same stupid songs all afternoon while she could go to the mall, see a movie, anything but the plastic, mechanical, musical torture her mother had devised last year.

Darla strolled over through the tan-colored hallway of the school, the walls smothered in cheesy posters to "do your best" and "don't smoke". The hallways were quiet, until someone yelled out "Yoo-hoo! Ugly!". Darla looked to her side, and the four Middle School Mistresses stood in front of the backpack holder. Heather, the tallest and the ringleader, wore makeup that made her look like a cartoon fashion model. She had long blonde hair and a red headband. Dana and Sally were identical twins, both wearing cardigans and having brown bangs and pigtails. Lastly, Minette, the shortest, wore a dress that looked like a toddler would find it adorable. "Going somewhere, ugly bugly?" jeered Sally. Darla huffed, and walked faster towards the door, but Heather stopped her, and smacked her face. Her target fell over backwards and hit her head on the locker. Before she could talk, Minette's sneaker hit her nose, and a sharp pain went through her face. Darla squealed in pain, grabbed her items, and quickly ran away, her nose bleeding leaving a trail of red liquid on the floor.