I had a lovely lunch today. Lamb chops, a giant artichoke with golden melted butter for dipping, and garlic toast. After lunch I put in a movie, it is a rainy day and I have been writing all morning, I felt like a little down time and maybe even a nap. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, an often watched friend, was getting to a favorite scene and my eyelids were heavy. I was working to stay awake until after Indiana survives being at ground zero for an A bomb test when a small motion on the table beside me caught my attention.
A medium large sized black ant had just made himself comfortable on the cork coaster next to my tea cup. Settled in to watch the movie perhaps? I have had a small invasion of assorted sized ant of late. A major upheaval in the garden to replace a sixty year old septic tank may have disturbed a community of ants or the winter cold and rains may have caused ants of every size and appetite to seek warmer dryer living arrangements. They have kept me guessing for about a week now. Little bitty ants traveling in a small train of eight or nine, medium sized fellows checking out the territory in twos and threes, big carpenter ants capable of homeowner intimidation appearing in pairs or even an adventurous lone ranger on the wall in the stairwell leading down to the kitchen.
I invested in some ant traps, set them out in quiet corners, and have been feeling safe. Now, here was a good sized specimen of the species, having ignored the siren scent of the trap on the floor beneath the table, making free of the view and ignoring me completely. There are ants in this movie in later scenes, could be a family member was an extra. Could be this is research on how to attack and eliminate the two legged element? Now that I think of it there are a fair number of movies in which ants play a role, even a major role.
Wasn’t it Charlton Heston saving Ava Gardner, no make that Eleanor Parker from the ants in The Naked Jungle. Good drama. And the SciFi movie with the giant ants, Them, with James Arness. Talk about an ant problem! I think Cornel Wilde had an ant encounter at some point too, while wearing a loin cloth – The Naked Prey. Of course there is the cartoon Antz – Woody Allen did the title voice. In Honey I Shrunk The Kids an ant becomes transportation for the four microscopic children trying to get to the back door. There are also innumerable movies where the viewer finds the hero, the heroine, or some totally disposable character staked out on an ant hill. Westerns and desert movies of all genre set all over the world have employed that torture. The idea of all those ants crawling in your eyes and mouth, biting – Yipes! I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.
So, what have I done with my movie watching, uninvited companion? Scooped him up and tossed him out into the rain with sincere admonitions to tell his friends I am not open to the idea of sharing the house. As I shut the door I swear I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger - “I’ll be back.”