Chiti’s Bobbing Antennas

Part 2 of 3

“Antennas Up!”
“Ants March.”
“Left, Right, Left.”

It was the same drill every morning, wake up long before sunshine, line up in team Bravo, gawk at all other ants who leave for the greener pastures to forage food and then march. March aimlessly around the nest, around the stones, the sandy knolls, the dry bushes and the tedious terrain. It had been four days now and Chiti was bored. Her antennas lightly drummed a few times in the day from distant smells of sugary, juicy fruits in the dry air. But all the perfumes and flavours lay in the forest, on the wet trails, on tall trees, near the sprouting mushrooms and rotting leaves. Even the butterflies did not flutter here. All other teams went into the forest except for team Bravo.

Team Bravo was the muscle of the ant colony. Only the big and brawny ants were recruited in it. They patrolled the flatlands around the nest, guarded sensitive positions and pathways of entry and exit into the forest and stood guard at the watchtowers, on top of the thorny bushes to look out for any approaching enemy.

Since Chiti was new in the team and looked puny, when compared to other ants of team Bravo, the Captain instructed her to follow the marching parties. Again, she was supposed to keep her head down and do exactly what the ant before her would do. But how could she?

The first three days she marched in the hot sun, carried heavy loads of supply, food and water for ants who stood guarding the pathways and the watchtowers and climbed up and down the thorny bushes numerous times to refill reinforcements. But she also stopped and gossiped. The old, buff, brown ant who stood on the eastern tower, who had marks on her arms and legs, told her about the glorious battles she had fought with spiders, flies and grasshoppers. The one on the other western tower told her about the deadly clashes with big bombardier beetles and the ant mugging fly who was spotted stealing food from a team of ants returning home.

“We knocked them all down. They don’t stand a chance when team Bravo attacks,” said the chatty ant who marched in front of her. “But things have changed this summer.”
“Why is that?” Chiti asked curiously
“Chief has told the Captain to retreat, as soon as we spot any danger. She said that we have to save lives. If we die in battles, then this harsh sun will kill us.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, orders from the Chief. I just follow.”
She added, “You know, a few days ago when the scaly lizard attacked, we could have fought that creature. But orders are orders. So we shouted, warned and gathered everyone, foraging ants, battle ants, anyone who was outside and rushed into the nest. Some even hid in the bushes and under the stones. But no one engaged in a battle. Who knows, we could have slain that reptile! But like I said, orders are orders.”

Chiti rolled her eyes in spite. The chief is not doing this only to me, curbing the powers of my antennas, she is doing the same thing to the whole of team Bravo. Why wouldn’t she let anyone do their job? Enraged, she stomped all six of her feet and marched along.

The scorching midday sun was burning her thorax. The strong dusty winds swayed the entire row of ants towards the left and then to the right. It was difficult to transport rations like this all the way up to the watchtowers and Chiti’s tiny frame wasn’t made for this. When others took few firm steps battling the winds, she took twenty, running, wobbling and crouching to keep her balance. When others ducked their heads, she curled up like a ball behind a fallen leaf or a broken bush.

I need to take a break, I can let them go at their speeds and I’ll catch up later. They do too much work up here. They need to relax a little.

She stayed hidden under a leaf, stretched her legs and settled in for an afternoon nap. Only a few minutes had passed when suddenly out of nowhere, her antennas started to rattle. Zzzz, zzzz they went. What could it be? She sniffed to her right and then to the left.

Certainly not any juicy fruits, no it’s not the water falling from the skies, not even other ants returning home. Maybe foul woody mushrooms? No, it’s something hairy. Something wet.

She ran towards the dry path leading into the forest. The rattling grew stronger. From far she could see large, pointed legs, a massive head, two shiny eyes and two sharp pincers, bigger than the thorns in the bushes. A SPIDER!

She turned and ran. It’s a spider. A spider. Must find the patrolling party. Must sound an alarm. Huffing and puffing she raced until she stopped.

If I warn everyone about the spider, they’ll all run into the nest. No one will fight it. We need to teach these spiders a lesson. They can’t bully us. And so she turned around, thumping her feet ready to take on a creature, twenty-five times her size.

The spider was still sniffing bushes on the dry trail. Chiti was already on the tallest branch of the Ber tree. The last voluptuous, brown, dry Ber dangled in the wind. She moved slowly now. No, I am not scared of heights. No, I will NOT fall. No, I can not go back now. Long sighs and watery eyes. What do I do now? It’s too late to warn anyone now. I have to do this.

Holding tight with all her legs, she moved swiftly. And so did the spider. She could see him on the trail. Not much time left. Hold the fruit and bite the stalk. Hold tight. Yes. Now bite. Bite. There is no other way. You have to do it. The stalk is hard. No, it is not. You can do it. Bite. Bite.

Dhummmm.. A loud thud echoed in the air. The Ber lay on top of the Spider squashing its body and Chiti lay on the Ber, unconscious, still clutching on to the stalk, or whatever was left of it.

Marching parties had rushed to see what had caused the noise. Never in their lives had they seen an ant single-handedly take down an enemy so huge. They jumped and roared and carried Chiti back to the nest on their backs.

The corridors were again filled with gossip.

“Chiti the little one, she took down the spider. She is definitely a wizkid.”
“Chiti’s antennas must have smelled the spider from far away.”
“Chiti’s antennas must have buzzed like a bee.”
“Chiti can create battle plans in her head.”

And on and on they went. She was popular, again. Her chest filled with pride, her antennas sparkled like dewdrops and she walked with her head held high, again. And like the last time she was again invited to the Chief’s chambers.

“I heard what you did today..” The Chief said in a tough, loud voice.
“Thank you Ma’am.” she replied, interrupting her.
“I am not praising you, you ignorant antbrain!”
“This time you risked the lives of every single ant in the nest and not just one team. What were the orders that you were given?”
“T..t..to warn everyone about the approaching enemy and run to the nest.”
“And what did you do?”
“N.. n..neutralised the enemy.”
“Ha, You’ve got some cheek to answer that. And what if you hadn’t? Then the enemy would have neutralised hundreds of us, only because YOU could not warn us in time.
We retreat to save our lives. This summer is harsh enough already and losing any ants in battles could be fatal for the entire nest. Things will get worse when the sun climbs higher in a few days and our strength lies in our numbers.
But you little one, you won’t understand any of it. Your antennas work but your brain doesn’t.
You are stationed to work in the egg-laying chambers until you learn to follow orders.
Dismissed.”

Chiti walked out in tears. I can not go back to tending to the eggs. I have to work outside. The chief is so whimsical and she thinks that she can push me around? She should have praised me. I don’t deserve this. Bubbling with anger and still not understanding the gravity of her actions, she walked out of the corridors, the upper chambers and finally the mud door, towards the wet trails and into the forest. Chiti had left the nest.