This is the story of an ant who crossed the line.

Besides me, and an occasional visit from our pet dog, my room is mostly inhabited by ants and “the lizard”. I refer to it as “the lizard” (although I am not sure that it is always the same one) as I have rarely observed more than one lizard at a time. Perhaps, two or more lizards cannot cohabit peacefully in a single room.

Ants, as is their wont, always appear as if they are in a rush to get from one place to another. But whether they are well and truly busy, or whether this is all for the sake of appearances, I cannot hazard a guess. But, coming back to our story, I have noted a strange phenomenon : the ants seem to travel in a straight line, and deviate from their path only to avoid a head-on collision with another ant! Coincidentally, there is a small ridge just below the roof of my room, and this seems to afford the ants a perfect route along which to travel.

Now, lizards do not eat ants (just as humans do not eat lizards) for it does not seem to agree with their palate or with their constitution. If this were not the case, my room would be infested with lizards, and the ant population would soon have been decimated. As a rule, “the lizard” contents itself with observing the ants, and the ants ignore the presence of “the lizard”. But, on occasion, I have observed “the lizard” make a meal out of an ant who has strayed from the straight and narrow path.

What is the moral of the story?
Ants, being only ants, there is an invisible line that they should never cross. And did I forget to mention that the ants are creatures who inhabit a two-dimensional world, whereas “the lizard” lives in the same reality as us.