Sam, The Fearless

“Sam, do you want to be the only ant who has ever been held back? You’re already small for your age,” cried Ace, leader of Troop 11, “Now stop sniffing those flowers and get back in line or you’ll never advance to the second class.” Sam grudgingly dislodged his antennae from the gigantic blue flower and moseyed back into the line with his fellow ants in Troop 11. For the rest of the march back to Arbor Anthill, he stayed in formation, controlling his impulses to wander off at the sight of every blade of grass.

Sam was a Worker Ant in the First Class, who loved to dream and explore new things as his Troop scavenged for morsels of food each day. Though he always completed his duties toward Anthill and his colony, Ace was constantly reminding Sam to get back in the line and stop getting side tracked.

Soon it was exam time. Sam passed all of his exams with flying colors, but when it came to the practical exam, the aged evaluator was exasperated. Sam merrily wandered off into another direction to talk about a flower or to slide down a blade of grass or once, to the horror of the examiner, to explain the eating habits of a spider. “You mean to tell me, young ant, that you track those Arachnids! Have you no sense? Might as well be cavorting with an Enemy!” He fell into a riotous coughing fit, so Sam reluctantly returned to tracking the hidden morsels in the obstacle course. As he walked back to the Anthill over the Gray Desert, a vast barren land that could sometimes take hours to cross, Sam looked over his evaluation.

1.      Tracking Skills: Excellent.

2.      Reflexes: Excellent.

3.      Physical Health: Excellent.

4.      Focus on Task: Poor

5.      General Comments: This Ant has an extremely low attention span and furthermore has acquired dangerous habits.

6.      Required Action: One month Probation. Sam of Troop 11 must bring in 50 morsels each day rather than the normally required 20 for a First Class Ant. Furthermore, if he is seen tracking Arachnids or any other foreign creatures, he will be suspended.

“This is so unfair! I’m only trying to understand our environment. It’s for the good of the colony.” Sam tried to reason with the examiner, but he shrugged him off. After dinner, he brooded over his punishment and grudgingly filled out his Career Survey.

His roommate, Rag swaggered in looking smug. “So… Sam,” he began, “Probation?  Of course I advanced to Second Class. But that was obvious, you know, given my muscles and hunting record and all. But let’s talk about all that stuff I heard about you,” he taunted.

“Oh, yeah? What did you hear?” Sam tried to keep his cool.

“Just rumors. That you talk to spiders and sniff at flowers—like a Bee. Is someone having an identity crisis? Let me see that!” He snatched the Career survey and laughed out loud, “You are having an identity crisis! You wanna be a Warrior?! Are you crazy?! Even I can’t be a Warrior and I’m the strongest of the whole First Class—or should I say the Second Class!  Ha, Ha, Ha! That is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!”

“Quit it! Give it back,” Sam reached for it but was too short.

“What are you gonna do? Tell on me to your little flower friends? You’re such a loser! You know Workers can’t be Warriors! Ha Ha!” Even though it was past curfew, Rag raced out to tell his friends, “Guys! Puny Sam wants to be a Warrior!”

Sam locked the door before he could hear the other Ants laughing their heads off about him. It was easier to breathe now that Rag’s enormous head wasn’t taking up all the space. He neatly folded up his survey and stuck it under his pillow.

            The next weeks passed slowly as Sam got up early and returned to Anthill just in time for supper. He had no time to socialize or explore, because Ace was conducting mandatory Second Class Training for Troop 11, “…you will have the responsibility of tracking food on your own without the troop.” Also, as part of the training, each member of Troop 11 had to bring in more morsels each day—though not as many as Sam.

            On the night before the advancement ceremony, Sam was dislodging a delicious morsel from a rose bush when he heard something rustle behind him. He turned, but saw no one. As he continued to struggle with the morsel, someone pushed him to the ground. He recognized Rag’s scent. Sam got to his feet and shouted, “Rag! Stop it! What do you want?”

            Rag threw a punch at Sam and shouted. “That’s for locking me out on Exam Day and getting me in trouble.”

            Sam ducked and exclaimed, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. You should have taken your key with you.”

            Rag threw another punch, “And that’s for beating my hunting record!”

Sam shouted with his antennae raised, “Wait! Look behind you!”

            “Nice try! But I’m not that gullible!” Rag hopped around like a tough boxer.

            “No, Rag. It’s not a joke! Look there’s no one behind you.”

            Rag looked confused. “Why would I look if there is nothing there?”

            Sam said, annoyed, “Look up.”          

Rag looked up and said, “I don’t see anything.”

“Exactly. It’s dark and our troop is gone,” Sam explained. “I can’t smell them either. We’ll have to do our best tracking them.”

“Hey, why did you go so far anyway? It took me forever to follow you.”

“I was trying to be alone, Rag."

"Why?"

"Let’s just find the Gray Desert.” But no matter how they searched, they couldn’t find it.

Rag began to panic. “What if we’re too far away from Anthill? What if we never get there? What if something attacks us? What if a giant human steps on us? They’ll kill us with their magic cylinders. Did you know they paint pictures of giant ants dying on them? Or worse, what if a little human finds us? Do you know what they do to us? They use a glass force field to burn us! They’re monsters! They’re horrible! ”

“Shut up, Rag!” Sam tried honing his antennae to discover the presence of any other Ants, but couldn’t sense anything. Strange shadows emerged from every corner. Creatures he had never seen before lurked menacingly around them.

 Suddenly he heard something in the distance. He whipped around to face it. It wasn’t the Gray Desert, it was another Ant! A Warrior!

Whooping with joy, Sam placed his morsel carefully on his back and followed the other Ant. Rag followed close behind, still quaking with fear. Maybe it could help him find the Gray Desert and then Anthill! It was totally dark now, and Sam couldn’t see a thing. He sniffed the air for the other Ant’s scent and barely found it. It was so far away that he could hardly recognize it, but they managed to keep up.

The Warrior Ant knew exactly where it was going and even knew which odd creatures to avoid. Sam tried calling out to it, but it was going too fast. “Typical Warrior,” Sam thought, “always showing off! Note to self: Be humble.”

As he raced down a hill behind the Warrior, Sam caught a glimpse of something flat at the bottom of the hill! It was the Gray Desert! “Don’t worry, Rag. We’re nearly home!”

“Yay,” Rag squealed breathlessly behind him.

With renewed energy, Sam raced down faster than ever before. The Warrior stopped a few feet before the Anthill. Sam slowed down and almost greeted the Warrior when he smelled something strange. He couldn’t identify it, but it seemed familiar. Sam became totally silent and tried to recall what the scent was. His mind returned to the early hours of his training with the Queen…

…As Troop 11 was caring for the Queen Cheema one evening, two Warriors strode in holding a weak, crumpled Ant between them. “Your majesty,” they said, “we found this one lurking outside.”

“Very good,” the Queen replied and turned to Troop 11, “Children, pay attention. Do you smell the strange odor coming from this Ant?” Troop 11 nodded in unison. “This is an Enemy Ant. As you all know, there are some friendly foreign Ants. But these Enemy Ants are very dangerous. They look and act like us, but they are here to harm us. If you see one, move away as fast as you can and find a Warrior, because they can emit harmful venom. Memorize this scent. If you can recognize it when you are gathering morsels, it may save your life." Sam and his troop mates shuddered at the sight of the crumpled Enemy Ant being taken away to the prison by the Warriors...

…Now, as Sam looked at the Ant before him, he realized that it was the same scent! So that must mean—

—Suddenly , the Ant leapt toward Anthill!

This was no Warrior! This was an Enemy! A spy! He was attacking Sam’s beloved Anthill!

“Oh, no you don’t! Not my Colony!” He charged at the Enemy with all his might. Sam put the Enemy in a headlock and tried to yank out his pincers. Rag caught up and tried to punch it in the face, but the Enemy spurted venom all over. Within second, Rag was badly hurt and Sam could feel his own legs stinging. Rag shouted for help and Sam made such a racket tackling the Enemy that a Warrior dashed out to investigate. The Enemy swung around and violently hurled Sam onto the ground. As the Warrior raced to rescue Sam, the Enemy weakened him with a stream of venom and then turned to face Sam with a vengeful sneer.

Sam looked around for a weapon, but his vision was clouding. He saw only a Spider gazing curiously at the scene with her babies as if the fight was especially for her entertainment. Sam had an idea. He lay still and pretended to be broken as the Enemy raced toward him at top speed. Just as the Enemy leapt forward, Sam rolled away to the side using up the last bit of his strength. The Enemy fell, head first, into the spider web. The mother Spider leapt with joy and began mummifying the Enemy.

***

Over the next few days, Sam’s wounds healed quickly, but he missed the Advancement Ceremony. The day after the ceremony, the Healer Ant who was taking care of him told him that he could leave the infirmary. Trying to stay positive, he went down to Troop 11’s station, to meet Ace. But when he arrived there, only the Warrior from the fight was there. “Sam, I have the honor of escorting you to the Assembly Hall. My name is Gab, by the way.”

“Ok,” Sam said wondering where everyone else was, “Why are we going to the Assembly Hall? I thought the Advancement Ceremony was yesterday”

 “You’ll see,” Gab replied cryptically. When they reached the massive circular Hall, Sam saw Queen Cheema standing upon a pedestal five stories above the ground level looking proudly down upon every Ant of every rank in the Colony. Sam wondered why everyone was present in the Assembly Hall since it was only used for special occasions. Instead of leading Sam into the crowd, Gab took him up a steep and narrow path on the side of the Hall all the way up to the stage.

The Chief Warrior, Ace, and Rag were standing beside the Queen. As he joined them, the Queen bowed her head slightly toward him. He froze in astonishment. She called to the crowd, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Warriors and Workers, we have with us today the worker ants who saved the Colony, Sam and his best friend Rag.”

Sam shot an incredulous look at Rag and mouthed, “Best friend?” Rag shrugged innocently.

The Queen continued. “All of you already know that last week we captured an Enemy Ant that was the center of a conspiracy to invade our beloved Arbor Anthill. If it wasn’t for Sam and Rag, we would all be dead."

"Let us now move on to the honors. First, it takes a good leader to make a dedicated member of the community. For that, I award Ace, leader of Troop 11, and Rag, a Second Class Ant, the honor of Colony Guardian. There were cheers below as The Chief Warrior presented the medals.

The Queen then turned to Sam. He was feeling very embarrassed in front of all his Colony’s Ants, but remained steady. “Now for our Guest of Honor. Sam is an individual so committed to his Colony that he risks his own life to protect his fellow ants. Even when his companions were incapacitated—even when he himself was incapacitated, Sam did not give up. He put his Colony before his own life. I have been informed by his best friend, Rag, that Sam’s deepest wish is to become a warrior.” The crowd murmured in confusion. “Therefore, I now promote him to the rank of Warrior.” There was a second of stunned silence below, and then every Ant below was clapping and cheering wildly. “It takes more than muscles and physical strength to be a good warrior and both the Chief Warrior and I agree that Sam is more than qualified.

Sam steadied himself again, bowed to the Queen and said, “Thank you, your Majesty. I accept my duties with absolute joy!” His heart swelled as he bowed to the Chief Warrior, the Queen and all of his fellow Ants. From then on, he was forever known as Sam, the Fearless.