http://life-in-general-india.blogspot.com/2010/05/ayem-back-back.html...
Aye looked down a again to see how YooHoo was faring.
Uh Oh.
A spoon now descended into the soup; scooping soup, laced with pepper, herbs and a tiny YooHoo, and carrying it into the giant’s mouth.
A strain of regret of entered Aye’s mind. Poor YooHoo. A tragic end to his first day. Oh well, what could he have done anyway? The kid was dumb as a fire fly. He would have killed himself before reaching maturity one way or the other. Too bad though. Aye shook his head from side to side; “tch , tch” , and then walked back into the girl’s head, thinking.
He was not sure how long he’d last this way. Hunger was spinning his head. He imagined great volcanoes of acid bursting inside his tummy. Tired, he leaned against a strand and closed his eyes.
He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep, but Aye woke up to find water all around him. He jumped up in panic. There was water flowing down through the hair canopy above him; waterfalls breaking out all around. Aye clambered up through the wetness and reached the surface. He poked his head out through the tangles (which were all the more tangled now for the wetness) and tried to breathe. But as soon as his head was out, a torrent of water hit him on the face and he lost his balance. “Help!” Aye slipped over the slick surface of the giant’s hair and flowed down in a stream.
“Nooo…!”, he screamed into his own head, too tired to shout out anymore. What was the point? He was screwed. The day just kept getting worse every second and no one would help him. Here he was now, upside down and free flowing down on a water ride from hell. The day’s events flashed through his head. A small misstep had landed him in the state he was in, now. Then ahain, what was there to live for anyway. He’d been missing for hours and he was sure no one at the colony had even noticed. It’s not like he brought back a dead butterfly every day or was even on the queen’s good books.
Aye sniffed sadly and indifferently gulped down some of the water which filled his mouth. He then looked down to see where he was headed to. A cold hard floor faced him. He almost fainted in terror. “I am going to die!” Aye tried to crawl up but was pushed down by the water .In a desperate attempt he plunged his jaws down on the hair strands only to find himself biting down on sheets of water which now carried him down with even more force.
Oh no…Help!... somebody!
Just then the giant shook her head, throwing off drops of water, inside one of which Aye was caught. He flew for a split second and fell hard against a furry surface.
Aye now bit down on it with all the strength that was left in him.
Where was he? And what now? The way the day had progressed so far, he was sure a lizard was going to swoop down to eat him up right then. He opened his eyes slowly and tried to find out what he was biting on to. He hoped with all his heart that it was nothing alive. “No god, no.”
Aye sighed in relief to find that he hadn’t plunged his mouth onto a squirrel or dog (as much of it as he could fit in his little jaw). Phew! It was only a piece of furry cloth that he had been thrown on. He loosened his jaw grip and spit out the cotton he had chewed up, and then straightened his head to look around.
“Ouch”
His neck hurt. All of his body hurt. The bubble flight and the water ride that went before it had twisted every joint of his out of shape. He rubbed the water out of his eyes and tried to focus. Nothing. Everything was a haze. He couldn’t make out where the hell he was. The room was too bright and cloudy. He squinted and tried to feel his way around. Thankfully furry hairs of the cloth he was on were nice and grippy and he was sure to not fall off. He had to decide what to do next.“Do I go up or down from here?”
It was all the same effort whether he went up or down but if he went down he probably would have to jump on to the the floor to escape, and if he jumped down to the floor, there was a high chance the giant would plod him to pulp or send him off to some strange lands with the water that was falling all over the place. Water. "No water, please thank you". He hated water. On top of everything else, it messed with his antennae. Soggy antennae made him see ant trails where there was none. This one time when they got wet as he was trying to carry a piece of carrot off the kitchen sink, he actually went and bumped into a measly black ant and said hello to him thinking it was an ant from his own colony. The embarrassment. Oh but what he would do for a piece of carrot now. Sigh.
Aye realised that his mind was wandering again. This was no time for indecision. The last time he waited too long he ended up on a hairy head. It was time to get moving and upwards he would go.
He used all his strength and climbed up through the furry green cloth. It smelt weird and reminded him of the giants head. He realised suddenly that he had finally escaped from her head. Oh thank you gods! He did not know how long he had been stuck there. It felt good to be free. As he walked upwards, he wondered what the troopers were up to right then. He even thought about the queen. God save her big fat belly.
He found himself standing on a bridge-like thing on which the furry cloth was hanging. There was steam everywhere around, clouding his eyes. Through all the mistiness, he could vaguely make out some landing at the other end of the bridge.
“It is a longish way off,” he thought to himself and considered what to do. Going down was out of the question he thought, but looked down for a second just to be sure. A few drops of water jumped at him. Definitely not a good idea, this going down. The only option was to walk straight across and reach the landing.
Aye swallowed his fear of things he couldn't see clearly and slowly walked along the pole to the other end.Breathe. Breathe. It is not that bad, he told himself. You can do it. Just keep going. That's right.
He was soon almost at the end of the bridge. All he needed to do now was walk the last little bit and then climb on to the wall there and walk a little more. Then he could walk along the landing there which all the bottles and stuff and climb out through the window behind it or go up to the ceiling. Yes. It was all going to be alright again.
Aye quickened his pace in eagerness. But suddenly there was silence all around him. The water had stopped. Uh oh.
Before Aye could figure out what his next step should be, a hand (the giant's of course) reached for the furry cloth. Aye tried to scamper off the furry cloth. But the hand had already gripped it.
“Oh no!.. Get away from me you big bully, you. No!” he shouted loud enough to scare even himself.
The furry cloth was jerked off from under his feet in a swift moment. Aye flew into the air, screaming. He went up in lightning speed and came crashing even faster. He looked down even as he tried to fly back up. It was no use. Aye sighed. There was no escape now. He was done. Here he was to meet death; drowned in a pool of smelly water, squished by a giant, no one to mourn him.
Aye closed his eyes in fright and gave up. He soon hit some surface with a thud, butt-first. Ouch. That hurt. He closed his eyes and waited to see if he would die. Was he dead? He had no idea what it was like to be dead. Was it just keeping your eyes shut and staring into black? It was not even black what he was staring at, he was seeing all kinds of crap. Should he take the risk and open his eyes? What if he was lying in pieces on the floor? That won't be such a pleasant thing to wake up to, would it?
Before Aye could answer himself, a strong butt-kick put him feet up on the ground again.
“Get on with it, you lazy ass, what the hell do you think you are doing?” a familiar voice shouted. Aye opened his eyes.
It was a supervisor ant. His head was still wobbly from his fall and Aye could barely make out the what was a happening. "Where am I?" The beefy supervisor ant answered with another swift kick on the butt and Aye found himself among a line of troopers, all going into a hole in a corner of the room.
From behind him, the supervisor yelled. His ears were still ringing but Aye could very well imagine the profanities that a supervisor would heap on a trooper he found 'napping' wrong side up near the trail. But he didn't care. He had found his way back to the colony!
