The Day the ants ate papa!

Grandma walked into the kitchen, and what did she see?  There on the counter sat the toaster pulled out from its compartment, crumbs from toast scattered about, and ants scurrying to gather food for their nest.  Grandma’s face began to get that mad look.  She yelled, “Papa! Papa!”
 
“What?!” shouted Papa.
 
Even though Grandma loved Papa very much, she was not happy with his messy ways.  Grandma in her angry voice, “Papa, you need to put things away after you use them.  You need to clean up your crumbs after you eat.  Look!  The ants are all over the cupboard because you didn’t clean up!”
 
Even though Papa loved Grandma very much, he was not happy with her nagging ways.  Papa smugly replied, “Well, the ants have to eat too!”  Grandma was disgusted and said, “I hope one of these days the ants eat YOU!”  Papa laughed loudly.
 
Grandma thought to herself, “I need to teach that Papa a lesson.”  But how?  She thought, and she thought, and she thought some more.  Then it came to her.
 
Grandma got a jar.  She went outside and tried to catch as many ants as she could.  She was able to trap quite a few of the pesky critters.  Then Grandma hid the jar.  Later that day the grandkids came over to play.  Papa was taking a nap.  She whispered to them the story of Papa and the ants.  Grandma told them about her plan and enlisted their help with the plot. 
 
The grandkids went to work breaking up some bread into very tiny crumbs.  Then they followed Grandma and watched as she began to lightly put crumbs all over Papa’s face and arms and legs.  Each grandchild did their part and added lots of crumbs too.    
 
You won’t believe what Grandma did next!  She took the lid off from the jar, and she let those ants loose on Papa’s face, arms, legs, and belly!  The ants were delighted, running here and there, grabbing breadcrumbs.  They had hit the jackpot!
 
All the grandkids watched with delight as Papa began to twitch.  The running of those little ant feet must have tickled.  Papa even laughed a little in his sleep.  He rubbed at his face, wiggled his arms, moved his legs about, and smacked at his belly.  The grandkids put their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing out loud.  Papa began to feel little nibbles all over his body.  His eyes opened wide.  He looked at his arms and legs.  Papa jumped up like a wild man screaming, “I’m being eaten by ants!  AAAgggghhhhhh!”  Grandma and the grandkids burst into laughter.  They laughed so hard that Grandma even had tears running down her cheeks.
 
Ohhhhh my, Papa was mad!  He yelled, “Woman, what did you do?”
 
Grandma, still laughing, said, “I taught you a lesson.” 
 
The moral of this story is – Clean up after yourself. 
 
The grandkids helped Grandma clean up the breadcrumbs that had fallen on the floor and the little insects too.  That was almost as much fun as watching Papa being eaten by ants!
 
This story was written for my grandkids during the virus,
BEcky
April 9, 2020