formic

I prised the lid off the compost bin to see what was happening inside. There's always something weird going on: last time it was a civilization of fruit flies so complex and advanced they had already developed space travel, or at least radio broadcasts. Today the ants had taken over, and it seemed the bin was one big nest; but the odd thing was that the nursery was up on the surface of the top layer of grass clippings, the grubs all laid out in rows like patients in a sanatorium, as if to breathe better the hot foetid healthful air of the place. It must be dark in there, perhaps the ants didn't know quite where they were - or maybe they enjoy a kind of dark green twilight filtered through the plastic - and of course as soon as the lid came off all hell broke loose as the babies were whisked away to safety. Animals doing odd things always reminds me of my old zoology tutor: If we knew why they did that, he'd say with an entirely spurious air of wisdom, If we knew why they did that, we'd know an awful lot more about ants.

comment