Larrabee wandered into a nest of bees while playing in the woods at our house earlier this month. He emerged from the brush screaming and covered in bees. Mark shooed them away as best he could, but Larrabee was stung several times, once on the right thigh and twice on the left hand.

By coincidence, later that day he and I read the following passage from The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan in which Percy Jackson and his friends face the Titan Atlas:

“Zoe shot arrows at her father, aiming for the chinks in his armor. He roared in pain each time one found its mark, but they affected him like bee stings.”

Larrabee’s reaction: “Like bee stings?!”

If the arrows affected the Titan like bee stings, he should have needed some anti-itch lotion, an ice pack, and a cuddle on the couch.

But instead, the book tells us: “He just got madder and kept fighting.”

Wow. That Atlas is one tough Titan. Bet Larrabee’s glad he doesn’t have to hold up the sky.