Misadventures in the Land of Fables #78

We had an ant infestation this summer. My mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s and advanced dementia, is a very untidy eater. The floor beneath her seat at table is littered with debris, mostly breadcrumbs and grape skins. Rising in the heatwave, the ants must have caught the scent and found the ‘mother’ lode. I came down one morning and discovered an ant highway had been routed across the kitchen floor. Traffic wasn’t travelling in the regimented lines you saw in Tom & Jerry cartoons, but the direction was clear: the kitchen table. ‘This way, chaps!’

I discouraged them by masking the scent trail. They began to wander and eventually to retreat. A week later, their annual rapture came upon them and they were transported to territories new. But they left behind this little fable on the theme of cooperation, common purpose, and individualism (which, after all, is not something ants exemplify).

You can read it here: ‘The Ants‘