The Lonely Ant

When I am bored or trying to sleep, sometimes I like to imagine ants.

Not real ants, I should hasten to add. I get enough of those in real life from country living. No, these imaginary ants are anthropomorphic ants. They live in anthills that approximate cities. Their lives have a lot more in common with humans than ants. But, they're still ants.

More specifically, my ant scenario usually focuses on one ant in particular. He doesn't have a name; he's an Everyant (I hope I just coined that term). Sometimes, he is stationed all alone at an outpost on the far perimeter of my ant civilization. More often, he runs a small little shop/bar in a largely-abandoned anthill city. The common denominator in both is that my ant surrogate is almost totally isolated from his fellow ants.

If you've ever seen an anthill, you realize how strange an idea this is. Those places are teeming with ants. And yet, I've somehow developed this plot thread of a lonely ant. It allows me to relax my overactive imagination, and either get some sleep or move on from a topic that has been preoccupying me.

I can't remember when this all started. I have a dim memory of once owning a religious comic book that featured anthropomorphic blue ants and orange ants fighting a war. I think that may have been the beginning. However, I don't even know if I own that book anymore. If I do, it is buried in a forgotten box.

Yeah, this is pretty weird, I know. I don't know why it holds some fascination to my half-awake mind, but it does.