Elena and the Ant

This is a short story written by 16 yr old Daryl. He has his pic on the lower right 125x125 square of four pics in my personal blog called Warm Stone. He happens to be my son. :-)

Daryl Jules is in his second year in college at the University of the Philippines. He is a man in a boy's body, so they say.

That would be enough for now. This hub will contain my stories and my children's. Bear with us.

The ants fascinated Elena. The way they moved and the way they always fall in line while doing their work kept her attention. And like many of those before her, and many of the people of her generation, she could not resist the urge to prick just one ant.. Slowly, and with precision, her finger hovered above the body of her victim and she proceeded to do the act.

And so the ant fell, and his fellow ants were startled by this. They seemed confused, and yet just after a few moments, they fell in line again and continued on their way. This puzzled Elena, for this was something she did not understand. She thought that the ants would have been confused for far longer, upon seeing the death of their friend or colleague. 'Won't they even try to avenge him?', thought Elena.

Elena's thoughts then found their way to an event that Elena tried so hard to forget. She remembered the cold, pale and masked man who stole her purse, which contained her then-recent salary, and most importantly, the pictures of her and her then-boyfriend. To top it all, this was done in front of a dozen people who just stared at her, who just stared at that man, and who did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Humans are not very much different from ants after all, she mused.

She then wondered about what life that ant lead before meeting his fate through her finger.

Elena wondered whether the ant had a family or not. She wondered if they would weep upon recieving the news of their relative's death, and she wondered whether they would want to find out who murdered their loved one. That is if the ant had a family at all. Do ants have families?, Elena thought to herself. I'll find out once I go to the library. It'll be really cool if they do.

Elena recalled the man named Mang Jose who lived by the sari-sari store in the corner. He would always just be there sitting with his back hunched, doing almost nothing. The woman attending to the sari-sari store would give him coffee and bread every morning, and that's how he lead his life. Then one sunny day, news had it that old Mang Jose died. There was no one there to weep for him. The adults even told the kids to stay away from the coffin so that they might not catch any disease. Poor man, Elena thought, he had absolutely nothing. It must be sad not to have anyone cry for you when you die. It must be.

'What if the ant was like Mang Jose, who had nothing?', Elena surmised. Well, at least the ant had his work. And I killed him, and took away his work from him. Elena trembled a little, as if realizing for the first time that she had taken the life of the ant. I should stop thinking about this . It's making my head ache. Now, where are the Biogesic tablets?

And as Elena searched for the Biogesic tablets, she noticed that the ants still continued to work, and continued to move. The body of their fallen comrade stayed where it had been since his death. 'Life goes on, I suppose,' Elena thought. That ant would have died anyway, and someone else would have pricked it. It's only natural, I guess. I mean, to take the life of other creatures. Elena said this as if trying to convince herself. Yes, life goes on, and I must find those Biogesic tablets.