You’ll Have to Get Used to Ants

One day, my son flung a glob of chicken – chicken was our best guess – on the wall. In less than ten minutes, streams of the itty-bitty ants emerged from some crevasse in the wall and began to attack. As an experiment, we left it. It took two full days for these ants to dissemble the glob and take it to their nest.

Millions, and I don’t think I am exaggerating, of itty-bitty ants have made themselves known in my house. Once content to stay in the depths of the cement walls, they now scurry up and down my walls and attack any drop of food left on the counter top, floor, or behind the baby’s highchair.

Every year, a nest would be discovered under some space like the bottom of a seldom used toy. But in the past few months, they haven’t gone away and seem to come out in every room of the house. They love my daughter’s toothpaste, and I’m not sure what they like in my bathroom (though they used to go crazy for a drop of breast milk), but they form an orderly line back and forth to some unseen sent or dribble.

As I type, one paces back and forth in front of my keyboard. These are the tiny, tiny ants. I don’t think they even bite because I’ve had hoards of them racing up and down my arms. It feels like a lone hair that’s fallen on my arm that I can’t get off.

I guess they don’t have to search for their existence, for the reason “why” they exist. They don’t have to worry about sorting out their destiny. For these ants, it’s about that little bit, that little drop, and when they find it, all falls into place. They tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on….the circle of life continues for the ant.

Really, if you think about it, these creatures are quite magnificent. Their noses search out what they need – and they find it in what would be miles and miles for us. As an experiment, I put a drop of honey on the counter. The kitchen was spotless. In the morning, it was gone – without a trace.