The Natural Genius of Ants by Betty Culley

Author:Betty Culley [Culley, Betty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2022-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

The first thing I do when I wake up is take the dish towel off the ant farm. My mouth opens so wide that if I was at Nevaeh’s house, a mosquito could have flown in and bit my tonsils.

One of the dead ants is being dragged and pushed out of the tunnel. Two ants are pushing the dead ant with their heads, and another ant is pulling it with its front legs. In a corner of the ant farm the other dead ant is lying on its side. The worker ants drop bits of dirt over the dead ants, and I realize I’m looking at an ant graveyard.

There’s a third ant that’s not looking so good. It’s moving very, very slowly, and sometimes it stops the way Nevaeh does when she tries to catch her breath.

I cover the ant farm and climb out the window. I need to get Nevaeh’s help before Dad finds out what’s happening.

I’m across the roof, down the arbor, up the path, and knocking on the barn house door in record time.

I was counting on talking to Nevaeh alone, but Campbell opens the door.

She isn’t bouncing a ball like last time, but she’s running in place like she’s on an imaginary treadmill. She is wearing a different striped shirt than last time—these stripes are purple and gray. The purple is the same color as her glasses.

I figure I have bigger worries than Campbell knowing about the dead ants.

I clear my throat like Dad before I speak.

“Ants are dying in the ant farm. Two already died and one looks sick. The workers are taking them to some kind of ant graveyard and covering them with dirt.”

Nevaeh and Campbell have completely different reactions. Nevaeh gets teary-eyed and sniffs like Roger before he cries. Campbell bursts out laughing like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. She stops running in place and holds both her hands over her stomach to show how funny she thinks it is.

“An ant graveyard? You gonna have an ant funeral? You gonna have an ant minister give a speech? You gonna have an ant gravestone? You gonna—”

“Campbell!” Nevaeh gently pokes her sneaker against Campbell’s. “Harvard cares about the ants, and so do I. They’re living things.”

Campbell straightens up.

“So are the mosquitoes in here, but you still kill them,” she says.

“My father cares about the ants, too,” I explain to Campbell, who does have a point about the mosquitoes. “He’ll be upset if he finds out they died.”

Campbell gives me a strange look.

“He killed a baby and he’s going to freak out about an ant?”

“Campbell!” Nevaeh raises her voice. “You don’t know the whole story.”

I’m glad Nevaeh didn’t say, Everybody makes mistakes.

“My mother says it’s true.”

“He didn’t kill anyone on purpose,” I say quickly. “He’s a good doctor. It was a mistake. And now he can’t forgive himself. If he finds out ants are dying, it’ll be another thing he blames himself for.”

Don’t make the same mistake twice.

Campbell pushes her purple glasses up on her nose.

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