Say It Ant So!

2010-09-26

The fruit loop fell from a pudgy hand like a hoop of manna from heaven. It bounced between a gauntlet of legs and feet and began to roll down the sidewalk of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s cohorts remained ensconced within a small Tupperware bowl jammed into a nearby coat pocket.

Rants and chants filled the air while the sugar-encrusted loop rolled straight and true, miraculously avoiding the marching shoes, flip-flops, and occasional bare foot. It eventually wobbled and fell, lying just at the edge of tramping oblivion.

She came quietly, unnoticed by the riotous crowds, wandering in apparent blindness, yet seeking with intense determination. Much like the picket signs waving fervently far above her, she waived her antennae to and fro, smelling the faint traces of sugar in the air. Oblivious to her danger, she marched back and forth, back and forth. She would not be denied!

After miles of inches, she found the sugary path. Her six legs churned, carrying her millimeter-long body swiftly over the weathered boulders of lime and sand. She could taste her salvation! Its sweet, tantalizing tang powered her forward. “Food! Food! Food!”

An unfathomable distance away, the pudgy hand reached for a skirt and pulled. A woman turned, recognized the pained hunger and loss in the girl’s eyes, and lowered her sign with a frown. It read, “Feed the Needy, not the Greedy!”

“What happened?” She asked her daughter.

“I loosed one!” a round, tear-streaked face cried over the chants. “It went that way!”

Glancing a few feet away, the mother saw the little, red loop appear briefly between the marching legs of fellow protestors.

“Well, let it go. I’ve got more.” She replied as she turned away, hoisted her sign high and resumed chanting, “Feed the hungry!”

Tears welled up again as the child turned to look longingly towards the wayward loop.

The sun shone bright and hot for an early spring day and reflected off the carapace of the hungry ant, only inches from the coveted loop. The FD&C Red 40 glowed with promise, but the color was lost in her compound eye as she hurried up at full speed. “Food. Hunger. Queen. Eggs. Need….”

At first touch, she halted immediately with two legs suspended. She felt quickly and thoroughly, feeling overpowered by flavor. Her feelers padded gently across the sharp crystals of pure sugar embedded within waves of oat flour mortar. It arched up and out of sight, like a giant candy castle. “Perfect!”

The ant paused to sample a delectable crumb. Then she began to climb. She needed to know how large this treasure was before reporting back.

The child looked on, measuring the distance to her lost morsel and gauging her chances in the unruly crowd. Suddenly, she bolted.

The ant climbed carefully. Grasping the sugar crystals like a pro rock climber, she ascended the overhanging curve with ease, feeling no vertigo. She reached the top and began to walk the circumference. A shadow fell upon her and she paused in mid-stride. Her compound eyes sensed danger as the air stilled.

A small hand reached down.

All at once, the air rushed. The old ant felt the vibrations of the slap. The girl flinched and rubbed her stinging hand. The mother looked angrily down and exclaimed, “Don’t run away! I could lose you in this crowd. Didn’t I tell you that over and over on the bus?”

The girl scowled and looked back at her lost loop as she was dragged back into the marching crowd by her coat sleeve.

“Help the Helpless!” shouted the mob.

The child turned, looked up sweetly and said, "May I have s'more?"

"No." the mother replied without looking. "It needs to last." She fumbled one-handedly with her over-sized sign, still clinging to the daughter.

"Why?" the little one asked.

"Because it's all we brought for the march!" She looked down scornfully.

"No! Why we here?" Her exasperated voice rankled the mother.

"I told you that already!" the mother exclaimed, grabbing the sticky, little hand and resuming her march in double-time.

Struggling to keep up, the little girl panted, "But...we...don'...know...needy...."

"Yes, we do!" interrupted the mother, "They're all around us. Now keep up!" She raised her voice to join the new chant beginning around them.

"Share food, not war!"

Swept in a small circle, the pair soon approached the fence again and the girl began to watch the ground forlornly.

A few squares of sidewalk ahead, the ant finished her review of the sugar coated castle. It dwarfed her minuscule body, but that didn't daunt her in the least. She knew just how her nest would disassemble this feast! It was time to return for help.

Heady with the overpowering scent of artificial cherry flavor, she decided to take just one more taste. Her old body could use the sweet sustenance for the return trip.

She located a smallish morsel. Leaning down, she bit and the sun went dark. She felt tremendous force lift her skyward and the brilliant sun returned.

Speeding away from the earth, her minimal depth perception was soon gone leaving her in a world consisting only of the sugar-studded loop and two pudgy mounds pressing in.

Despite the strange situation, she felt calm from her sweet intoxication. She was now much higher above earth than ever before in her short life, but she couldn't see to feel fear. She raised her antennae into the rushing air, tasting a breadth of sensations and aromas that overwhelmed her, knocking her from her sugary bliss.

She made her way to the nearest pudgy mound and tasted carefully. However impossible it seemed, she tasted a cornucopia of food! Her discovery had gone from wonderful to unbelievable!

And then the sun went out again and her world collapsed.

The mother looked down at the smiling face of her daughter, tugging on her coat.

"I found it mommy!" she exclaimed, beginning to skip along side.

"Good! Now keep up”, said the mother.

They marched on.