At once, she abandoned the idea. Lexi held out her arm and said, ‘I’ll take a look at the cardboard.’ Precious frowned. ‘What? Why?’ But she handed it over anyway. Lexi didn’t answer. Instead, she scanned it with her life-logger. Troy asked, ‘What’s it for?’ ‘It’s fuel for my smoker.’ ‘Pardon?’ ‘You must have seen a bee smoker. It burns things like this type of rolled-up cardboard. It smoulders nicely, making smoke that calms the bees down. Right now, the hives are expanding, almost fully operational. I need to inspect them.’ She took the cardboard back from Lexi and said, ‘Do outers like you ever eat bees?’ The question was almost an accusation. ‘Ugh. No. They don’t look appetizing at all. We do everyone a favour by stuffing ourselves with maggots, cockroaches, ants and spiders. There are plenty of them and they’re usually a nuisance. Flies, grasshoppers and crickets as well.’ Troy sprung an unexpected question on Precious.
