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"At the Mouth of the River of Bees" by Kij Johnson, contributed by Wency Suo (2025)

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Some of the lectures that have made the biggest impact on my perception of loss have been the lectures on animal loss. Maybe it’s because I have my own dog that I think of when I read about pet loss or the compassion from Livingstone as he gentles the wildcat that moves me greatly. I recently came across Kij Johnson’s At the Mouth of the River of Bees which recounts Linna’s final roadtrip with her pet dog Sam along a river of bees in the pacific northwest. I find the magical elements within the story to have a calmness that dampens the anxiety and frustration that surrounds death. The fact that there exists a queen bee at the end of the river that can give pets a better life for some time, away from their owners, softens the harshness of pet death in the real world. A key detail of the story is that Linna is actually not the first one to make this journey. Belle is the beloved cat of a man who made the same journey along the river of bees almost a decade prior. The parallel structure of the narrative emphasizes the fact that Linna is not alone in her grief. Her utter grief comes across on the page so vividly here: 
        The queen of the bees looks down at them both, stroking Belle absently. The cat purrs and presses against her black-velvet thorax. Faceted eyes reflect a thousand images back to Linna, her arms around a thousand Sams. 

        “He's mine. I love him, and he’s mine.” Linna’s chest hurts. 
        “He’s Death’s now,” the woman says. “Unless he stays with me.” 

         Linna bends her face to his ruff, smells the warm living scent of him. “Let me stay with him then. With you.” She looks up at the queen of the bees. “You miss company. You said so.” 
        The black heart-shaped head tips back. “No. To be with me is to have no one.” (pg 127)
I recommend that you read the story in full and experience the journey from end to end on the river of bees with Linna and Sam. 

 

This page has paths:

  1. Acknowledging Loss: Poetry and Prose Louis Zweig