The City Heroes Read Online Free Page B

clouds wandered across the sky, and the stars had disappeared from their corridors. Indeed, it would be difficult to bet that it wouldn’t rain tonight!
    To say the least, it would have been better if the creatures never existed, because the forest was no bed of roses. In the midst of their frustration, some ants were having a feast on a table. The meal was good, but painfully, it was the last food in their storage. That meant that they must either go out to forage, or face untold hardship in the days to come. As they ate silently at the table, they suddenly smelled something even more scrumptious than the meal already on their table, and they could not wait to have it! There was a dead animal in the forest, and it would be a good meal for whomever found it.
    As nature sometimes favors its own, the gentle breeze carried the smell to the anthill. The ants liked it. Philip, one of the ants, stopped swallowing. He raised his head and sniffed five or six times. “Can you smell anything unusual?” he asked as he exchanged glances with the others.
    Bojo, Fred and Paul raised their heads and looked about. Bojo smiled and replied, “It smells nice. Initially, I thought it was the aroma of our meal.”
    There was a little opening in the wall. Fred, who was chewing noisily, faced the source of the aroma. “Friends, I think the smell is from there!” he told the other ants, pointing at the wall. They had no choice but to stare at the cracked wall, for no doubt the smell was from there. However, they ignored the smell for the moment and faced the meal on the table as if their very survival depended upon how much they ate at present.
    As they ate silently under the shadow of bad weather, Philip cleared his throat. He tapped Bojo on the shoulder and asked, “What do we do now?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œNothing?”
    â€œThis is not the best of times. So we should better watch and pray because the days are evil,” Bojo suggested. He lowered his head and continued to eat.
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous!” Philip retorted angrily. “I hope you know that this meal on the table is the last meal we may have for some time!”
    Bojo straightened his chin and exchanged a glance with Philip. “Don’t get me wrong, Philip. Our hands are tied. Apart from the bad weather, the humans are not helping matters,” he replied with a voice that was as soft as a whisper.
    â€œWhat do the humans have to do with this?” Philip asked and sat up.
    Bojo cleared his throat and said, “There is a constant overflow of the dam at the other side of the forest. And I think the humans channel that water to the forest to reduce the damage the flood would cause them. And if I am not mistaken, the rainy season is when the dam always overflows. So it is not safe to venture into the forest now. Though it is a beautiful thing to live in luxury and have food on your table at the snap of a finger, I cannot risk my life!” After his oratory, he coughed a bit and frowned, as if he’d fallen from a tree.
    â€œBojo, you have a point, but Philip is right,” Fred cut in. “We can take the risk if we dare. But if you are afraid of dying, then stay behind.”
    Paul, one of the ants that had been calm as the still water, now spoke: “Neither the dam nor the bad weather is an excuse for us to die of hunger! The farmer that observes the weather may never sow his seeds. How many times have we snatched victory from the obvious jaws of defeat?” He looked at everyone at the table. “As far as I’m concerned, the meal in the forest is more important than any obstacle out there. If it is God’s will, we will survive and return to the anthill safely.”
    Bojo took a deep breath. He cast a glance at Paul and they both smiled. “You have all spoken well. Preparing for a rainy day is not building castles in the air. I will die in battle. Of that I’m certain. I just