When Penny Hale's not-so-imaginary friend shows up in her bedroom, he pulls her into a whirlwind summer adventure of magic and bees and romance.
This short story first appeared in @RebeccaSky's Sunkissed Summer Fantasy Anthology.
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When Penny slid onto a chair at the kitchen island on Saturday morning, her mom was already at the stove flipping pancakes. The little television on the counter was tuned in to the Sugar Falls local news; her father would be on any minute now.
Mrs. Hale set a plate of pancakes in front of Penny so dark and lumpy, they resembled a plate of mud pies. "Uh, Mom?" Penny said, her voice still groggy from sleep. "What are these?"
"They're chocolate banana pancakes... but I seemed to have overcooked them," she said wearily, her eyes darting to the television screen.
"What's wrong, Mom?" Penny asked in earnest as she pushed the plate of acrid griddle cakes away. It wasn't like her mom to be down the weekend of the Brambleberry Festival.
Before she could answer, the local news anchor, Trent Beaufort's voice filled the kitchen. Mrs. Hale's head snapped towards the sound. "Next up," he said with an overly toothy smile. "We have this weekend's weather with Harold Hale."
For as far back as anyone could remember, it had never rained in Sugar Falls, Ohio on the day of the Honey Parade. Clouds as fluffy as cotton candy spun round white cones dropped the occasional spot of rain during the Brambleberry Festival, but never on the Honey Parade.
Everyone in Sugar Falls would be watching the news for the weekend forecast, so when the cameras cut to her father, Penny's stomach did a little flip. This was his most important broadcast of the year, and they all knew it. Her father shuffled nervously on his feet. "Thanks Trent," he said, an audible quaver in his voice. "I'm sure many of us were kept up by last night's thunderstorm and are eager to see what this weekend's weather has in store for us. I hate to say it, but make sure to keep an umbrella handy today, more storms are expected this afternoon. Thunderstorms can be expected at one p.m. and three p.m. but the skies will be clear by six p.m. in time for the opening of the carnival. The high will be 90 degrees fahrenheit, 32 celsius, so make sure to avoid strenuous work in direct sunlight, stay hydrated, and find someplace cool to relax during peak hours."
Penny let out a slow breath. "That's not so bad," she said.
Her mom shushed her as her father continued. "As for Sunday, a cold front is coming through tonight so we can expect more storms and prolonged bouts of rain through the morning and afternoon."
Pancakes were turning to charcoal briquettes on the stove, but neither Penny nor her mother made a move to retrieve them until the smoke detector objected to their cooking from the hall. Penny grabbed a dishtowel with a bee embroidered on it to wave under the alarm as she tried to come to grips with her father's forecast.
If it had been any other weatherperson, she would have kindled a flicker of hope that the parade wouldn't get rained out, as would the rest of the town. But Harold Hale wasn't just any meteorologist; he'd lived in Sugar Falls all his life and he knew its weather patterns better than some people knew their next door neighbors. If Harold Hale called for rain at one p.m. you could bet your last slice of blueberry cobbler it would rain at one.
