Since last night, the world's missing bee population somersaulted in my gut. I had been waiting for this day most of my life, and now that it was finally here, it didn't seem like it was really happening. My body felt separated from my mind somehow, as if I were living inside a happy dream.

By the time I arrived at the Library of Congress, the pinks and oranges stitched into the sky by the rising sun had faded into a clear blue. Only a few cars specked the otherwise empty ...