Stacy--Part Thirty-Seven

Splog # 135

Thirty-Seven

   The ants had grouped themselves to the left of her feet and were now beginning to follow the column that had turned and continued moving when it had reached the impasse. They weren't going en masse though. It seemed that only a small stream had set out, leaving a large jumble of ants moving hither and thither for small distances but remaining close to each other. They seemed to be climbing over and under and around one another, but not going anywhere. Stacy wondered whether ants ever just stood still. She couldn't find such a phenomenon in the annals of her memory. As there seemed no way across the gap, she figured she'd have to go right or left at this point. Might as well go with the ants. They seemed to be accompanying her at this stage of her journey. Maybe even leading her...They certainly weren't following. She took one look to her right. Nothing of interest in that direction. She turned to her left and started her awkward shuffle. She looked down in order to avoid trodding on her fellow travellers. She curved to her left somewhat, placing the ants between herself and the cut, for both their safety and her own. She was walking in such a clumsy manner that she didn't want to run the risk of tumbling into the crevasse. She had sustained enough injury for one day. A glance at the ants showed that they had abandoned their pile-up of a moment ago and were now filing along as usual in a black squiggly line beside her. Had they been waiting for her? Stacy shook her head, marvelling at the peculiarities of the insect life in this place. First, the butterflies and now the ants. And then there was the tiger...She looked up and across the crevasse to see if the animal had reappeared. The landscape was empty of movement. Empty of anything, actually. Then, up ahead, she noticed that there was a ledge of earth that separated from the level land all around her and led downward. With luck, it would probably lead to the floor of the valley. She sped up a little in her excitement. When she got to the place where the slope began, she found that the column of ants was travelling downward as she herself wished to. She realized that she was glad not to be going on her way alone again. Even if they were only insects and she couldn't talk to them or communicate in other ways, as she could with a dog or a horse, they were proving to be somewhat interesting companions. And possibly helpful ones, too. After all, she might have gone in the other direction if they hadn't all been going this way. And who knew if there was a way to cross the ravine in the other direction? She found herself walking close to the wall which was growing on her left, in her continual effort to avoid crushing her ant comrades. As she walked downward, she found that the lower she went the more shadowy it became. The shadows weren't dark, as there was no sun in the sky, but it was much less bright than it had been up on the plain. And the grass was becoming thinner. Soon she was travelling over a floor of sandy dirt. This had the advantage of making the ants much easier to see and, as they stayed well away from her gigantic (to them) feet, she found she didn't have to be so concerned with stepping on them. On reaching the floor of the valley, she found it deeper and wider than it had been at the point she had fiirst seen it. As they came off the ledge, the ants, in a body, headed across the valley floor to the other side and back in the direction from which they had just come. Stacy saw no reason not to follow the same route but first wanted to take a few moments to relax her legs and feet. Walking down the slanting ledge had been more demanding on her injured limbs than the even surface up above. So she leaned back against the wall of the valley and lifted each leg slightly off the ground for some moments. Once there was no weight depending on them, there was a lovely release of tension in each leg. She shook them gently, one at a time, as she watched the endless column of ants passing by her. Following progress with her eyes, she could see a darker shadow across the valley that they seemed to be headed towards. Intrigued, she stood up gently on both legs, brushed at her back with her hands to remove any debris accumulated from where she'd been leaning, and resumed accompanying the file of ants on their mysterious journey. As she approached the shadow on the opposite wall, she found it to be just what she had guessed it might be. An opening into a cave. The ants were pouring into the cave and, not far in, disappearing into the darkness. Stacy paused at the entrance. She didn't know if ants could see in the dark but she'd never be able to find her way in there, if indeed the cave went anywhere and wasn't merely a chamber surrounded by blank wall. Of course, maybe it led to an opening up to the plain above but she didn't think it would be easy to find such an opening in the pitch blackness.