Written & Illustrated By: Laurie Trotman

Did you know that ants are very small, but when compared to other living things they are stronger than most and faster? It’s true!

My name is Timmy. I’m an ant and I am very curious. Most of my sisters, brothers, and cousins think I’m strange, but I just love adventures.

I have peeked out of my colony a few times and was amazed to see this giant creature. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to know more about it.

The other day, I asked Queen Sally what it was.

This is Queen Sally and she’s my mother. She told me that the creature was called a human and warned me to stay inside the anthill. She told me I had to learn a lot more before I could go outside the colony. Humans are good but also dangerous to ants sometimes. This made me even more curious, but I tried to be a good student and listen and learn.

I have thousands of sisters, brothers, and cousins. I also have a lot of aunts and uncles. They teach us many things like how to carry and move sand. To me, this is Very Boring!

I once heard one of my uncles talking about carrying something big and green. He called it a ‘PEA’ and it came from something he called a ‘PICNIC.’ Now, I had no idea what a ‘pea’ or a ‘picnic’ was but it sounded more interesting than sand! I asked my Uncle Jack if he would show me a ‘picnic’ someday. He told me that our colony was near to a park where humans come, sit on the ground, and bring human food which is a special treat for us.

Uncle Jack said, “The trick is being smart and brave before you visit one of these ‘picnics.’ There are a lot of yummy and amazing treats we have found. We like the fruit most, as it’s very sweet.

Since it was April, we had a lot of sand to move so that we could tunnel closer to the park where the humans would come in May, when the sun came out more. I was so excited and curious that I worked night and day. I convinced about 900 of my brothers to help us move the sand and make a tunnel to the ‘picnic’ area of the park. I was getting stronger every day.

I could just imagine what the other ants would say when they saw me come to the Queen Mother with a beautiful green ‘PEA’ on my back.

One morning, Uncle Jack quietly told me that about 50 of his brothers were heading out to explore because he had gotten the scent of a ‘picnic’ the day before. I remembered smelling something new and different yesterday too, so I was very excited to see and maybe taste a ‘picnic.’ I still didn’t know what a ‘picnic’ was, so I thought it was a thing, not an experience that humans do.

We left the tunnel and followed each other closely, one after the other. I was right behind Uncle Jack, who was the leader today.

When we got up close, I was smelling things I had never smelled before. I saw things that I had never seen before too! Humans! Lots of them. They were all different sizes too.

I wanted to break away and explore but Uncle Jack was very firm when he said, “No! Stick by me and stay close by!” We waited for a long time. It seemed like hours before the humans started moving away from us.

We had been waiting nearby and now it was clear.

We marched up onto this checkered cloth. It felt strange but very soft on my feet. We headed toward the smell. Uncle Sam found something called a strawberry.

Uncle Jack ran up on something big, red and green. He called it a watermelon.

He let me taste it! Oh my goodness was it sweet? I could have stayed there forever but Uncle Jack knew that I wanted to find a ‘PEA’ to carry to the Queen Mother so he convinced me to leave the sweet watermelon to find one.

It was getting late and the humans were coming back soon.

I saw something else, but it wasn’t a Pea! Uncle Billy said it was called ‘Peanut Butter’ which is spread onto bread. It sounded yummy!

We searched and searched for a ‘PEA’ and didn’t find one for a long time. Uncle Ralph was carrying a seed from the watermelon. Uncle Billy had some bread crumbs that had peanut butter on them, boy was that yummy. Three other uncles were carrying a whole sandwich! I told you, ants are strong! They even let me ride on the sandwich

All of my uncles were carrying some crumbs and seeds but I wanted a ‘PEA!’ Finally we saw it! There was one next to a plate.

I started towards it in a flash, but suddenly I was thrown into the air! I didn’t know what happened.

I didn’t know where I was. I got the sense that something bad had happened but I couldn’t see anything. It was like I was in a dark place, but yet it was warm and still smelled like a ‘picnic.’ Where was I?

I started crawling slowly and then I heard Uncle Jack calling for me, so I followed his voice. I guess that the humans had come back and picked up the checked cloth where we were to shake us off. I found Uncle Jack and it was then that he told me that humans didn’t like to see ants at their ‘picnics.’ He said we needed to head back to our anthill now. I was scared but I was also angry because I didn’t get the ‘PEA!’

“It’s not fair,” I said. All the other ants got special treats but I missed out. I was following Uncle Jack again, but I started going slower because I was sad.

Just then, an amazing thing happened. I saw something big and green! It was round and I was certain that it had to be a ‘PEA!’ It was beautiful. Uncle Ralph said, “Well? Go get it and stop looking at it!” I wasted no time. I ran as fast as my legs would move; burrowed under this beautiful ‘PEA’ and used all my strength to lift it onto my back. It was heavy and big. All of the uncles protected me and guided me back to our anthill.

When we got to the hill, I had to wait for them all to dig a bigger opening to the colony because my ‘BEAUTIFUL PEA’ was too large to fit down the hole. Finally, I was able to carry the ‘PEA’ to the Queen Mother. I had never seen the look on Queen Sally’s face before. It was angry, happy, scared, and relieved, all at the same time.

She scolded me for going out with my uncles without asking her for permission. She was happy, though, that I had made it home safely.

Oh, and she LOVED the ‘PEA’ and couldn’t believe that I had carried it all by myself.
That night, we had a big party and enjoyed eating all the crumbs, seeds, and the ‘PEA!’