The Bees and Other Wild Things

***please make sure to read [b:A Surplus of Light 50632410 A Surplus of Light Chase Connor https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579770652l/50632410.SX50.jpg 65116393] before jumping into this!***I suppose that is what we're moving toward in life—becoming a piece of the hazy collective memory of the people who knew us least and haunting the memories of those who can't forget us.Like memories of past summers in the creek.[4.4~4.5, rating in conjunction with the short story at the end of the book] a month since Ian and Mike have left Podunk, Texas, the creek has gone dry, and two boys standing on opposite sides of the dried creek bed lay eyes on each other.this is the story of Kevin and Carson's very own summer.there's something about the way Chase Connor establishes a sense of place in his books that draws me right in. the blazing heat of a nasty drought, the whispering and nodding of townspeople, the buzzing of hundreds of bees. it's been a while since i read A Surplus of Light, but once again i felt like i knew this small town, with its limited selection of stores and slew of backward-thinking residents, like the back of my hand. i would like nothing more than to sit down with Wallace Lee in his backyard and contemplate what the world has to offer.i wish i could write more, but i still haven't packed for my trip, so i'll leave you with a few of my thoughts on that ending. the last few pages were far from what i envisioned for the two of them, but even in their ambiguity, or rather my initial reluctance to accept their implication at face value, rereading the short story “A Species of Special Concern” immediately after had coated on the sugar to a decent afterglow. hopeful and lonely no more, that's enough to keep my greed at bay (for now, though more short stories and the like are always welcome