A buzz can be heard throughout the royal living quarters. The court bees chat quietly among themselves. Dalton laughs at a quip the Queen has just made about teatime in the beehive. They have another hour before the next interview begins. No one notices when a teenage girl with a basket on her arm sticks her head inside the chamber.
Girl: Excuse me! Am I in the right place? This card says I am invited to have tea with the queen.
Drucilla is so surprised, she forgets all forms of etiquette.
Drucilla: Are you Dorothy?
The girl curtseys to the queen.
Dorothy: Yes, I am, Ma’am. Then I’m in the right place? I had a little trouble getting here. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because I landed in the nursery. But one of the caretakers there has been kind enough to bring me to you.
A very small bee pokes her head in the entryway and waves to the queen and her court. Drucilla smiles back at her in that friendly way, which lets everyone know she is satisfied with the caretaker but that the bee who is responsible for this faux pas will sorely regret it.
Drucilla: Thank you, Bunny! You may go back to the nursery now. And you, Dorothy, you come right up here and have a seat on this … Dalton, there’s no chair.
Dalton (still looking at Dorothy): What’s that, my Queen?
Drucilla: Get a chair for her, Dalton! We can hardly allow our guest to sit on the floor.
Dalton: Oh, heavens, no! I shall return in a moment.
Dalton hurries out of the chamber. Dorothy comes forward.
Drucilla: I apologize for your inconvenience, my dear Dorothy. Normally, a guard meets our guests at the door.
Dorothy: I didn’t see one, ma’am. Perhaps he … or she … needed a short break.
Drucilla: There are always two guards posted at the main gate.
Dorothy: Oh, then maybe they’re both on the roof.
Drucilla: On the roof?!
Dorothy: Yes, Ma’am.
Drucilla: Why on earth would they be standing on the roof?
Dorothy: To watch the tornado, I suppose.
Drucilla: Oh, well, in that case, I guess they’d better … Excuse me …What are they watching?!
Dorothy: The tornado.
Drucilla: Dorothy, we don’t have any tornados here.
Dorothy: I don’t wish to contradict you, your Majesty, but today you do.
Fear flashes in the queen’s face.
Drucilla: Dora! Lilly! Go to the roof and see if … oh, never mind! I’ll do it myself.
Drucilla hurries out of the royal living quarters, nearly colliding with Dalton, who is bringing in a chair. While running past him, she orders him to join her. He drops the chair and rushes to catch up with her. To see the queen marching with Dalton through the corridors of the beehive is an unprecedented event. Worker bees leap out of their way, but Drucilla is too worried about the tornado to notice them. Without slowing her pace at the main gate, she exits the hive and hoists herself up onto the roof. Several bees have gathered there to stare as if mesmerized at a clearly defined funnel of wind heading straight for them. Drucilla squeezes in next to one of her guards and punches him on the back.
Drucilla: Would you like to explain to me what you are doing here when a complete stranger has put herself through our shrinking machine and found her own way to the royal living quarters … after a little detour to the nursery, of course?
Guard (eyes fixed on the cloud): That can’t be her. She’s not due here for another an hour.
Drucilla (frowns): I think I know my own guest when I see her!
The guard freezes. Only his eyes turn slowly toward the queen.
Drucilla: Ah, I see I’ve finally gotten your attention. Here’s what we’re going to do. EVACUATE!! Everybody out! Get in the grass!
In panic, the bees run and fly in all directions.
Guard: I’ll get Dorothy.
Drucilla: I will get Dorothy! You make sure all the worker bees get out of the hive! And keep them together on the ground! We don’t want to lose anyone!
The guard nods. Drucilla races back to her living quarters with Dalton in tow.
Drucilla (shouting to her bees of court): All of you! Out of here! Right now! Don’t ask any questions! Meet up with the worker bees on the lawn!
The court bees obey the queen implicitly. The guards scour the hive for any bees still left inside. Then they hurry away to hide themselves in the grass with the others. Dalton and the queen herself each grab one of Dorothy’s arms and carry her to their meeting point in the grass. Almost immediately, the wind picks up and blows too hard to have a conversation. The bees hold onto blades of grass as tightly as they can to avoid being blown away. They shut their eyes and lower their heads. The tornado passes over them with the force of a freight train. Drucilla thinks she hears someone screaming, then realizes the screams are coming from her own lungs. As suddenly as it started, the tornado shifts away from them and moves off to the south. The bees slowly raise their heads.
Bunny: (shouts hysterically): Our beehive is destroyed!
All heads turn to look at the empty space where the beehive was. Their home is now lying at the foot of a tree – smashed to pieces.
Behind Drucilla, a voice mutters: I never thought she would actually do it.
Drucilla (turning around): Helen! What are you doing here? What do you know about this?
Helen: I’m not sure, but I have my suspicions.
Drucilla: And they are?
Helen: Well, Glinda was very angry when she heard you’d invited Dorothy to tea.
Drucilla: What business is that of hers?
Helen (adjusts her hat): She is afraid you’ll find out the truth. I came to warn you, but I was too late. Look! Here she comes!
They look up to see a blonde witch on a white broomstick descending rapidly on the crowd. It seems as if she wants to run them over. At the last possible moment, she pulls the broom up hard and gracefully hops down onto a clover leaf despite her petticoated, white ball gown. Drucilla marches over to her. Her queenly dignity barely covers her queenly fury. Dorothy and Helen follow close on her heels. Dalton appears out of the grass and resumes his place by her side.
Drucilla: Good day! Would you please state your name and what business you have here?
Witch (with a shrill laugh): Why don’t you start by telling me who you are?
Dalton swallows hard at this insufferable arrogance. The court bees all stare at the ground. The rest of the bees stare at the witch. Drucilla remains unnaturally calm. As she continues to approach her, the smile vanishes from the witch’s face.
“I’m the good witch of the North.”
Glinda, Wizard of Oz
Drucilla: I’ll tell you who I am. I am Queen Drucilla V. and you have just destroyed my beehive. Now, tell me who you are or you will be stung by about thirty bees before you even have the chance to unshrink yourself and fly away.
Witch (smiles again uncertainly): I’m Glinda, the good witch of the …
Drucilla: Whether you’re good or bad has yet to be decided. I’m tending toward the latter.
Glinda (points at Helen): I suppose you have been listening to that piece of trash.
Helen: Yeah, she’s a lot more intelligent than your stupid munchkins who wouldn’t recognize a dog if it stood up and barked at them.
Drucilla: That’s enough, both of you! I will not hear any more insults in this beehive! She looks around. Or in this colony, I should say.
Helen: That’s telling her!
Drucilla (turning to her): You are not off the hook yet, either. Now, out with it, both of you! Who sent this tornado down on our heads?
Silence.
Drucilla: There are no tornados in this part of the country. Someone had to conjure it up.
Glinda: Well, it wasn’t me.
Helen: But the one with the ruby slippers had the power to stop it.
Drucilla (looks at Glinda’s feet and then to Dorothy): Is that true?
Dorothy: Yes, I’m sure it is.
Glinda: What does she know? They don’t have ruby slippers in Kansas.
Drucilla: Then why didn’t you give her some.
Glinda (sneers): That naïve, little child would have no idea how to use these slippers.
Drucilla: Then they are powerful.
Glinda: You bet they are.
Drucilla: So, you could have stopped the tornado with them.
Now Glinda knew she’d been caught in a trap.
Drucilla: Even if you were the one who started it. You could have changed your mind and stopped it before it was too late.
Glinda glanced over at the demolished hive.
Glinda: Look … uh … I’m sorry about your beehive.
Drucilla: Then fix it!
Glinda: I can’t.
Drucilla: What do you mean, you can’t?
Glinda: When the ruby slippers have caused something to happen, it can’t be reversed.
Drucilla: Well, that’s stupid!
Glinda stares at the ground, looking mighty uncomfortable.
Helen: That’s what happens when you’re too full of yourself.
Drucilla: And you, young lady, have nothing to say about it, either!
Helen: But I didn’t do anything! Why are you mad at me?
Drucilla: So, you didn’t do anything, did you? I recall that I explicitly invited Dorothy to tea. Not you. Not your sister. You both decided to come here anyway – uninvited. And why was that? She came to stop the interview. That’s clear to me now. But you came to get your revenge on her. She was angry that Dorothy was invited here because you told her about it. She might have never known it otherwise. By the way, how did you find out about it?
Dorothy: That was my fault. I told her.
Drucilla: When?
Dorothy: Back on the farm. Theodora, I mean Helen … (Turning to the witch) … why does she call you Helen?
Helen: It’s a long story.
Dorothy: Anyway, Helen was flying over Kansas one day. She happened to see me working in the field, so she stopped by for a little visit.
Drucilla (rolls her eyes): Oh, she just happened to be in Kansas, so she stopped by for a little visit, did she? Is that common?
Dorothy: No. In fact, it’s the first time she’s ever done that.
Drucilla: Yes, it is the first time … the only time. (Turns to Helen.) So, let me sum this up. You were only friendly to Dorothy to pump information out of her. Then you used that information to lay a trap for your sister (Glanced at Glinda.), who fell for it hook, line and sinker. You drove her into a fit of rage, knowing she would act out, just to prove to me that she’s not as good as people think. That hardly makes you the better witch. You, dear Helen, are the real cause of that!
Drucilla points to the beehive. Helen stares at the ground in silence. Under her green skin, a reddish tint spreads over her face.
Drucilla (looking from one to the other): Well, aren’t we a powerful pair now, hmm? Since neither one of you is able to help us, I suggest you both go home – together – and think about what you have done.
Glinda (mumbles): I’m really sorry.
Helen: I am too.
Drucilla: That’s not enough. Now go. It’s going to get dark soon, and we have nowhere to spend the night.
Glinda: You can stay here.
Glinda shakes her finger and clacks her ruby slippers together. A few yards away, a kind of box with holes in it appears on a pole.
Drucilla: What’s that?
Glinda: It’s an insect hotel.
Drucilla: I think we’ll use that until we can rebuild our hive. Thank you. … Now go!
Without another word, the two witches mount their broomsticks and fly away.
Dorothy: I should go home too. I’m very sorry about this whole mess.
Drucilla (laughs): You stay, my dear. You are the only one who’s been invited. By the way, what do you have in that basket?
Dorothy: Tea cakes. I wanted to bring you a little present, and I thought they would go well with tea.
Drucilla (smiles): You know, you are the first guest ever to bring something for me. I’m sure a little sweet would make everyone feel better right now. Why don’t you pass them around?
Glad to be of assistance, Dorothy divides up the tea cakes in such a way that everyone gets at least a small piece. They eat their picnic supper on the grass before moving into the hotel for the night.
But that’s another story.
