Thirty-six-year old Nancy Patterson reflects on an old picture entitled “Telling the Bees,” a present from an old fling, Wendell. Nancy thinks about how he never understood the title, which refers to the superstition that if anyone in the house dies, you need to tell the bees, or the bees will also die. Although Nancy doesn’t know if she believes in the superstition, she told the bees when her husband passed away, as well as when her father died. Nancy meets Wendell one summer afternoon as he drives up to her sign advertising beekeeper’s honey. He asks if she sells fresh honey and requests to be shown around the bee yard and honey house. Nancy is immediately impressed by Wendell, who is a sharply dressed college professor, and they begin a relationship; Wendell stays the night and returns every weekend. He tells Nancy about his failed marriage and job, and when she meets one of his colleagues and the colleague’s wife, Wendell drunkenly tells everyone that Nancy is the only “real” person he’s ever met. Nancy reflects on how she has been feeling like she and her life are no longer real as she spends so much time alone, but her physical relationship with Wendell makes her feel real again. When Wendell is not around, Nancy thinks of conversations she could have with him and imagines herself speaking to his colleague’s wife—she loves talking but never has the occasion to. Even when with Wendell, he often interrupts her in conversations and asks her not to ruin their moments whenever she tries to speak. To keep Wendell around, Nancy tries to keep quiet and be the woman he wants. She realizes she does not love him. One afternoon, Wendell prattles on and on, and Nancy reveals that she is tired of him. She notes that he looks angry but not hurt, and he leaves. The next day, Nancy notices dead larvae in one of her beehives and tells the bees that Wendell is gone.