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THE THICKET

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶
©Ayr/Gray

Invisible in the temporary stillness before dawn, the trio of soldiers crept silently through the jungle. One had an injured leg as the result of a skirmish; he knew his injury would impede their progress and he pleaded with his comrades to leave him to die alone with dignity. The steadfast friends refused to abandon him in the middle of enemy territory.

Walking on, the soldiers spotted a tall thicket in the distance where they could take shelter. Painstakingly, one soldier carried his injured brother on his back into the copse while the third searched for something for them to eat. Finally for the first time in hours the exhausted trio was able to get some rest.

After a while, the wounded soldier awoke with a fever, his leg swollen and throbbing. Since it was now midday, it was too risky to leave their cover. Outside was sweltering and humid and the chance of them being caught would be great. No … they would stay where they were until it was safe to venture out.

Suddenly their wounded brother heaved a ragged breath and died. Grief-stricken, yet aware they must move on, the soldiers covered their comrade with rocks and began the slow crawl out. Without warning a long carnivorous caterpillar slithered through the brush and swallowed the startled army ants. They struggled bravely, as courageous ants are wont to do, but in the end they could not prevail. 

Poor little buggers. 

NAR © 2023

The Unicorn Challenge – 16/06/23

42 thoughts on “THE THICKET”

    1. Thanks, John!
      Army worms – sounds dreadful! We had huge caterpillars one year that devastated all my tomato plants. Even though they are very large, it’s difficult to see them because they’re green and hide on the underside of the leaves. Seemingly overnight they ate their way through all my tomato plants. Very discouraging.

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      1. In our case, our lawn suddenly looked like it had gone dormant (we have Bermuda grass), and it was in the summer, when t should have been green. We called the lawn service, they came out and explained that’s what army worms do, they eat the green off of the grass. He treated the lawn for them and it came back in a couple of weeks.

        Bummer about your tomatoes. Did you get any tomatoes off the plants?

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