I once swallowed a yellow-striped bee. A yellow-jacket. Well, I didn’t swallow it—I let it circumvent the interior of my mouth. Like a fuzzy doctor’s swab. Well, I didn’t let it—she just did it. She was, no doubt, looking for an exit. She must have wondered how she ended up here when she had been enjoying the sugar in my Coke. In response I opened my mouth. She flew straight out. Did you see that? I said to my son. Did you see that? I said to my husband. No. They were too busy watching fly balls.
Annemarie Whilton is a Massachusetts-based writer recently published in The North American Review and Cognoscenti. “Thirsty Bee” is the winner of our STING contest, part of our 2026 Micromemoir Marathon.