I’m rerunning one of my favorite posts. OK, it’s not yet the time all bees must die—and are determined to take them us down with them—but the moment I see a bee in the spring, my mom’s unbridled panic at the mere suggestion of something buzzing around her immediately springs to mind.

My mom thinks that bees and wasps are more aggressive in the fall because they know they’re going to die. According to my mom, bees are on a suicide mission to get us all before they expire—which is, naturally, in autumn. She can be found reiterating this theory—nay, BELIEF—while fleeing a picnic table in late September. “They’re going to get us!” she’ll yell, as she heads for the hills. “They know they’re dying!” she’ll bellow, from behind a tree. “They have murder on their minds!” she will shriek as she leans on her horn in the parking lot. She feels VERY STRONGLY about this.

Let’s break this down.

In my mother’s mind:

1. All bees and wasps die as the cold weather strikes. (How do they come back in the spring, you ask, if they’re all dead by November? This is not a concern of hers. Shhh.)
2. Bees are keenly aware of their own mortality.
3. Any being who is aware that they’re about to die will naturally want to take others with them. They become filled with rage and want nothing more than to murder so they can—what, get revenge on those who blithely ignore the reality that their days, too, are numbered? This part is unclear.