The Daily Ant

Every day, I saw the ant.

Always in the same place, speeding about in its busy way, in mad circles.

I stopped to watch it; I tried to work out what it was up to.

All I could discern, as it seemed to me, the ant was busy doing nothing but looking busy.

One day when I saw the ant, it occurred to me that it might not even be the same ant.

With a sudden and overwhelming urge to find out for sure, I put a dot of acrylic paint on the ant’s back as it whizzed past.

Sure enough, next day, same place: an ant.

Stalking slowly towards it, I was thrilled to reveal a tiny white dot on its back.

This was science.

If I thought that was science, nothing could prepare me for what I was to encounter in the same place the next day.

Two ants, speeding around as if bumping into invisible walls.

And they both had a tiny white dot on their backs.

There were only two solutions upon which I could conclude: I had discovered – possibly even created – a glitch in time’s fabric; or there was someone else out there conducting the same experiment who was now missing their ant.

vss #36