Human vs Ants

The army stands in a single file. Fierce, determined, strong. In all their dark glory, the tiny black ants march into the battlefield. My kitchen floor.  

An evil giant awaits them. Waiting to quell the army.
Little do they know that the giant has horror in her eyes and fear in her heart. But enough with the drama, already.

Flashback to two weeks ago.

A young lady stands outside my door.

“Due to the construction up the hill, there has been insect and mice infestation in the neighborhood. Luckily we’re here in the neighborhood today.”

She looks at me closely. She realizes she has repeated the same lines to me before. Quickly she changes tactic.

“There’s a wasp’s nest above your garage.”

The tactic works. She notices the alarm, probably apparent in my eyes. In my defense -- our friends in the neighborhood recently had a hive of twenty thousand bees. Yes. Twenty thousand.

I follow her. She points to an itty bitty hive. I seem disinterested.

“There are more, you know.” She points to others – equally itty bitty. She works her fear-inducing-spiel on me.

I ponder. It’s a busy day. There are other things I’d rather be doing. I decide she is using fear tactics she has been trained in. Considering that politicians do the same… but I digress.

I decide I spend far too much time being scared of impending doom/s and just generally being scared. Even if I’ve had reason to be scared, even if I may have always been somewhat of a scaredy cat, (no matter how well I hid it,) I decide that I am tired of being scared, of what may happen, fearful of that which has not even happened yet. Even if there are times, that my mind doesn’t want to be scared, my body goes into a guarded space…

I decide this time, however trivial, to not succumb to the fear. 

*****
Today, I decide it is an unwise choice as I look down upon the army heading in a thin trail towards the pantry counter. It’s so hot outside, they must know I have the air on.

Last week, I notice a few squirmies near the pantry and feel the made-a-wrong-choice pang. I refuse to feel bad, stay strong and sprinkle dried neem leaf powder. That seems to do the trick.

I figure they will either stay away from the bitterness or develop fantastic immune systems. For you see, an Ayurvedic doctor has suggested the neem powder (ahem.. for me). I use it in my vegetable garden instead, and now to keep away ants.
My mother would buy a year’s worth of rice, storing it in bins, crushing and sprinkling dried neem leaves to keep away bugs. I remember running my fingers through the rice, pulling out the delicate, shriveled leaves, carefully, so they wouldn’t crumble into a thousand bits, before rinsing the rice.

Today, as I kneel down and watch the army attempt to capture new lands – the counter, I stand armed with neem leaf powder.

I sprinkle some on the counter and the floor following their trail. I see the ants squirm about. I swear I see an ant conferring face to face with another ant. They’ve got to be discussing, one ant debriefing the other of the danger and the giant ahead. I swear they turn around and change course. Their system seems intelligent and very evolved. And yes, I seem to have far too much time on my hands.  

I return, a while later, to find a few more on the counter. Tenacious, refusing to retreat, they’ve found a path to circumvent the neem powder. I watch them climb the more difficult path. They know it is going to take a lot more, they refuse to give up. They remind me of me. I wonder who the giant is, in my case. But I digress.

I follow the trail, stuffing neem powder in the crevice of the wood floor, till I get to their point of entry. I seal the tiny crevice between the wood floor and floor molding, and all the way across with more neem.

Hopefully there will be no part deux of humans vs ants. If there is, I should probably look into ant baits or perhaps call the insect lady and ignore her smug look and the “I told you so” song that she will be singing in her head. Sigh…

For in the end, even if I do call her, I will have decided to use her services based on need and not fear.