Walking home from school, two sisters walked through the mountain path towards their home. The older girl, in a scolding tone, reached out to tell lil' sister to stop playing. "We have chores and homework waiting for us, let's go,"Bree warned.
"You're not a grown-up Bree, why don't you know how to play?" Dani whined.
"Just come down off that rock. Mama will be so mad at me if you fall off there. It's always your fault and I get in trouble," Bree scowled.
"Let's pretend we're pollen princesses, floating around the world," Dani said as she began twirling around on the large boulder.
"Be careful!"Bree warned.
"Owwww" Dani yelled, "there's something flying around my head flicking me."
"Get down now!" Bree said sternly.
"Owwww my eye! It stung my eye!" Dani cried.
Bree clamored up the rock and over to Dani, like she always did when Dani cried. No matter how much her sister annoyed her, how mad she was, she couldn't bear to have Dani sick or hurt. "What's wrong?" a frantic Bree asked.
"Nothing, really. My eye's ok, I just didn't think you'd come up here if I didn't say that."
Now Bree was so angry she could push Dani off that rock. But just then, small insects or something began pelting her face.
"She just wanted you to see us," the BioBeaNs shouted.
"What are you?" Bree asked shocked.
"We're Pollen-BeaNs. We were just playing around moving the pine pollen from tree to tree. If you come to the fray with us, we might be able to make you small enough to play with us and help push the pollen to other trees," the pollen-BeaNs replied.
Bree hesitated, but Dani said, "Yes, I'm in". The Pollen-BeaNs jumped in Dani's ears and off she went. Bree shouted, "Where'd she go? I have follow my sister," and the BeaNs jumped in her ears and she took off too. In the fray, the pollen-BeaNs had discovered a way to make humans shrink, just like they could do. It was called linkage. The BeaNs could link up, one bean to one human and just like that the human could take any form they imagined, just like the BeaNs did. Once they were small, they set out into the world with the BeaNs. They saw thousands of male cones on a large pine tree. The dry flaky pollen began to disperse.
Soon the sky was filled with pine pollen. Each pollen grain had two air bladders. "These air bladders help the grains fly on the breeze," Bree explained to Dani.
"You're so smart Bree! Let's go check out the pollen on those flowers over there," Dani sang out as she impulsively flew toward a large rosemary bush.
"Don't go there," Bree said as Dani flew toward a flowery bush filled with bees. They were so small and the bees were twice the size of Dani and Bree. "Stay calm. If you thrash around the bees may feel threatened and attack," Bree told Dani as they backed away. A giant bee flew by them just as the pollen-BeaNs reached the girls and guided them back to the pine tree.
"It's safe here since pine pollen doesn't attract insect vectors. A pine tree is a conifer or cone bearing plant so there's no flowers on it. Sometimes bees may build a hive on a tree branch but these don't have a hive on them," a small Pollen-BeaN explained.
"So why aren't there bees here?" Dani asked, still confused.
"I learned in class that flowers are what attract insects and bird pollinators. The pollen is on the anthers, which is the top part of the male organ of the flower, called the stamen. White flowers usually have more scent. The scent or the bright colors is what the bees, butterflies and birds use to attract them to the flower. I noticed bees were always on the rosemary flowers. These bees are picking up pollen and taking them from flower to flower. This pollinates them bringing the pollen to the female organ of the flower called the pistil. Once pollination occurs you can get seeds forming." Bree was sharing the information she learned in class the day before.
"Wow," said Dani, "I'm so glad you know so much. You saved me," Dani smiled at her big sister.
The two girls played on the pine pollen grains for a little while longer but then Dani decided they should head on home. Bree had a wonderful time playing with the pollen-BeaNs and Dani realized how important it can be to study and know things like her big sister. The pollen-Beans agreed, "Finding a balance between play and work is the best thing to do."
BeaNspiration: Make time for work and play!
