Antz

I walked out like any other morning. The air was already stale with smog and microwaved by the sun. Robyn or I are usually the last person to leave the house. Since my boss has been away on vacation, it's been predictably me this whole week. Then I saw a scene that evoked so many memories from my childhood.

It reminded me of my grandmother's house. I was a wee-little (vertically and horizontally) lad. Puberty and fast food had yet to get the best of me. It's the first place my family stayed at in CA while we were trying to get establish. There was a huge avocado tree in the backyard. They were helpful in giving me cover while I shot down the enemy airplanes that camo-ed themselves as domestic pigeons. I spent many days in the musty steamy garage trying to find treasure (my aunt was a jeweler at the time). My greatest find was a battery for my casio digital watch. Dozens of water fights. My little cousin and I would of course help with domestic duties. We were more than ready to clean the kitchen floor with soap, plenty of water and we'd slip and slide that floor spotless. And incredibly, I had forgotten the summer that I spent fighting a war.

It was a war against ants. There was a huge crack in the backyard of an adjoining neighbor's backyard. The blacktop revealed a crack that was as big in my mind as the san andreas and was a mouth to the pits of hell. Red, firey ants crawled endlessly all over the place. It was our civic duty to restore order and tranquility. We used rubbing alcohol, coke, comet, shampoo, nail polish remover, even windex and anything that our little imaginations could get our hands on. Unfortunately, the ants always returned and we'd think up another secret formula to rid our neighborhood of ants. Both sides fought heroically and even winter was on my side.

It's amazing how quickly I forget. It was a nice little treat to be reminded of such a simple memory. My summers were spent on such great pursuits.