CHAPTER XXVI: THE PAIN OF REJECTION

It was almost night time in the colony clearing of Ant Island, and the only light came from numerous fluorescent mushrooms brought outside for the night. Apart from those ants that were keeping a lookout for the grasshoppers, from all the lookout points around the edge of the island, the rest of the colony was throwing a party.

Numerous leafs were set up as barriers around the place, and ants were doing all sorts of activities.

'To the Bird!' cried one ant, slapping a water bead against another one held by a fellow ant.

'The bird!' chanted the rest of the colony. A long line of ants extended out of the anthill. They danced forwards, pausing to say "hey" every two seconds. Manny and Gypsy were also in the line, and they too danced as the line moved.

In the crowd of dancing ants, Dr. Flora was doing a roll-dance move with Tuck on top of Roll.

'Get down, roley boys,' she said as she rubbed her hips against them. They chuckled as they rebounded, almost falling off, but they kept their balance.

'How low can you go?' chanted Slim, who was being held as a limbo stick by two ants.

'How low can you go?' chanted the crowds as Atta approached to do the limbo.

'Do it Princess – how low can you go?' they said as she went under. Coming out, she laughed it off. It was almost as though she'd never laughed before.

Elsewhere, Rosie was telling one male any a tale she'd told us quite a few times.

'...And that's how my twelfth husband died,' said Rosie to the male ant. 'So now I'm a widow. I mean – I've always been a black widow. But now I'm a black widow... widow.' She then laughed, alone with the male ant, who chuckled silently.

Meanwhile, there was a small line of kid ants queuing to get on top of me. Chuckling, I opened my shell, flinging the light blue kid ant through the air. She hit the small spider net that Rosie had spun up between two insect-height grass stalks. One of the kids that was already there was just crawling off the net, as it was quite sticky.

When all the kids were gone, I came up to Francis, as all the other circus bugs did at exactly the same time.

'Blueberries dismissed!' saluted Francis to the Blueberry troupe, which included Dot again. They ran off chanting as we all crowded around Francis. 'And uh,' called Francis after them, 'quit beating the boys up.

'Those little raisins do grow on ya,' thought Francis in an almost dreaming state. Guess they had finally gotten through his tough male exterior to the girl within – If you know what I mean.

'Hey, how are you guys doing?' asked Flik, coming up to us. He was speaking a bit more loudly then was necessary. 'Some party, huh? Is that grain dip fresh or what?

'Okay,' he whispered, leaning in to us. We leaned closer so that no one else could hear. 'I've told everyone you'll be stationed deep in the command bunker. Party quiets down, I sneak you out the back way, and then you're outta here forever.' We felt a bit hurt at these words. Of course, we didn't want to fight the grasshoppers, but...

'Dim don't wanna go,' I said. That was only the third time I had ever spoken to anyone other than Rosie since... I was destroyed. Flik stared at me in a very thoughtful way, as well as the others. Luckily, attention was quickly re-diverted from me.

'Well,' stalled Rosie, 'if Dim stays, he's gonna need me here, he's not fully trained.' This sentence brought stares that suggested insanity in us.

'I mean house trained!' finished Rosie. I chuckled my characteristic chuckle at these words before Francis interrupted.

'Uh,' he mumbled, 'I kinda promised the Blueberries I'd teach 'em... canasta. Gypsy then put an arm briefly around Flik.

'It seems we've been booked for an extended engagement,' she said. Just then, Tuck and Roll came up to Flik, the former on top of the latter. Tuck grabbed Flik's cheeks with his hands and, making kissing sounds, kissed Flik briefly on both lips. They then stood back, chuckling in their gibberish Hungarian. Flik stared at them, almost as if he was mesmerized in a dream, until we were again interrupted.

'Would you look at this colony,' said Atta, coming up beside Flik, while Manny held hands with Gypsy, and then rest of us smiled, each in our own individual way. 'Would you just look at this colony? I-I do-I don't even recognize it!'

We watched, a good distance away, Cornelius doing one handed press ups in the middle of a small crowd. The Queen was nearby, watching him enthusiastically. Cornelius chuckled as he did the one-handed press ups.

'I feel seventy again!' he laughed over the noise.

'Work the hem, baby,' chuckled the Queen as she held Aphie. Both she and Aphie laughed, almost in a weird way.

We looked back at each other.

'And I have you bugs to thank for it,' said Atta to us, 'so, thank you!

'And, uh,' said Atta to Flik slowly, 'thank you for finding 'em, Flik.' She rested a hand on his shoulder, catching his attention.

'Me?' said Flik turning to Atta. One of his antenna accidentally got tangled up with one of Atta's.

'Whoops!'

'I-I'll get it,' stammered Flik, reaching up to them, 'I mean, if you don't mind, I'll just –'

'It's all tangled up,' laughed Atta unnecessarily as Flik successfully untangled the antenna, and they snapped back to their normal position. They both chucked, determinately looking anywhere but each other.

'Think I'll go check on the bird...' said Atta, wandering off past us in the other direction. Flik stared after her in a dreamy state, until –

'Bird's this way,' said Atta going off the other way, past Flik again.

'Yeah, the bird's that way!' said Flik, once Atta was gone. We smiled knowing smiles, and Tuck and Roll did that thing with their eyebrows again (flexing them up and down). 'She didn't even – what?'

Flik and Atta were so sweet, I thought. As long as she didn't find out we were circus bugs, everything would be fine. We just had to let nature take its course, and then...

All of a sudden, there was the sound of a blow horn. The alarm was going off! It was time!

We all looked up in worry. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Atta change course from where she had been walking. As squadrons of ants readied themselves exactly as they had in the drill, Atta buzzed over them, giving commands.

'Battle stations everyone, this is not a drill!' she yelled as the crowd of ants began running up the tree to the bird. As long as they got there in time... Flik detached himself from us and ran off into the crowd, probably to hide from Hopper.

'Come on everyone, you know your jobs,' yelled Atta, as the ants started to get to the steep part of the tree. 'Let's go, go-go, go!'

Suddenly, bright yellow lights began approaching Atta from behind. Looking behind, she jumped out of the way, just as a two-part wagon, being pulled by two centipedes, leaped into the clearing.

'Look out!' cried a few ants, running out of the way as it landed in the clearing, still going around. It slowly slowed down as the crowd stopped running. There was a wolf spider on top, playing a fanfare on a selection of bottle caps, along with two fireflies, which were shining the lights. They seemed oddly familiar...

The wagon was being controlled by a brown flea on top, who had a pair of reins attached to the centipedes.

'Whoa, whoa girls,' he said, pulling on the reins, as the wolf spider struck up a fanfare on his makeshift instruments. 'Steady girls, that's it!' I realised who that was!

'It's P.T.' squirmed Heimlich.

'P.T.' I moaned, as we scuttled away through the leaves, just as P.T. sprung to the front of the stopped wagon, as the ants that had scattered when he'd arrived approached the wagon curiously. Gypsy and Manny grabbed a huge, rusty leaf, and we squatted under it. We started to make our way around the perimeter of the colony clearing.

'Greeting and salutations!' came P.T.'s voice, as we edged our way further. 'Hoo-rumba-doo and how-do-you-do? I am the great P.T. Flea!' We heard him chuckle briefly.

'I'm in need of your assis...' His voice trailed off briefly here, and his tone reverted to his usual voice.

'Oh, let's just cut to the chase. Look, I've been going from anthill to anthill. I'm looking for a bunch of circus performers –' there was a brief pause in his voice, in which, we heard brief wing buzzing, and the sound of a paper roll being unrolled, as well as Ymri's fanfare dying away '– have you seen them?'

The colony gasped, I could tell, even though I couldn't see them. We scuttled further, eager to hide so P.T. didn't see us.

'Wait a second,' said a voice from around the direction of the wagon that I recognized as Cornelius, 'ain't that Staff Sergeant Slim?'

'No! No, no, I'm sorry, but I-I'm pretty sure we haven't seen anyone like that around here,' said Flik's voice. Clearly, he was trying to send away P.T. in a hurry. I prayed that it would work.

We bumped into something, and then regained our sense of walking.

'Be quiet!' hissed Slim. By the look of the ground, I could tell that we were almost at the grass stalks where we could hide...

'You'll-you'll probably want to get going, I guess you've got a lot of other anthills to check into, so bye,' continued Flik's voice.

A bright light suddenly shined on us, and I could tell it was the fireflies. But before I could let the others know, the leaf was pulled off us. It was P.T., and he looked really excited to see us.

'Ah guys, I've being looking all over for you,' he began really fast, despite Francis, Slim and Rosie telling him repeatedly to be quiet. 'Flaming Death is a huge hit!'

'P.T., Shh!' hissed Francis, to no avail.

'I'm serious! Word of mouth got around – the next day, there was a huge line of flies outside the tent, going on forever. It must have been a foot long!' We then noticed Atta, the council ants, and numerous other ants approaching also. This was bad.

'Shh, P.T.' hissed Rosie, also to no avail, as the ants drew closer to the light that enveloped us, now within hearing range.

'So, I figured it out,' yelled P.T. hopping every so often in excitement, 'you guys burn me twice a night, I take a day off to heal, and then we do it all over again! We'll be the top circus act in the business!' He laughed it off, at the ants watching us looked very shocked.

'You mean,' said Atta slowly, clearly hoping that P.T. was wrong, 'you're not warriors?'

'Are you kidding?' said P.T. in disbelief, turning to the ants. 'These guys are the lousiest circus bugs you've ever seen!' The colony gasped in shock.

'And they're gonna make me rich!' chuckled P.T. clasping Tuck and Roll on either side of him, who grinned nervously. He laughed in delight, but all wasn't ruined yet. As long as they still thought the bird was our idea...

'You mean to tell me,' shouted Thorny over P.T., 'that our entire defensive strategy was CONCUTED by CLOWNS?'

'Hey-hey-hey,' stammered Francis, trying to fix the situation, 'we really thought Flik's idea was gonna work!'

The colony gasped again at these words, and turned their attention to Flik at the back of the crowd, who had been hiding by the circus wagon. One of the fireflies shined a light on him, making his unnerved state even more obvious. As though on cue, a cricket chirped out in the background.

'Oops...' stuttered Francis, letting his antenna fall. Before we could say anything – not that I would have – Atta had broken through the crowd to Flik.

'Tell me this isn't true,' she said to him definitely.

'No, no, you don't, you don't,' he stammered, but it was pointless. His expression was a good as a confession.

'This couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time,' fretted Mr. Soil over Flik and Atta, 'the last leaf is about to fall!'

'We haven't collected any food for the grasshoppers,' squealed Dr. Flora, as Flik looked down, than up again.

'If Hopper finds out what we almost did –' worried Thorny.

'Hopper is not going to find out!' said a voice in the crowd. The crowd parted, leaving a small line of ground between us and the council ants, as well as Flik and Atta. It was the Queen, who clutched an aggravated-looking Aphie. 'We're going to hide all this, and pretend it never happened.

'You bugs were never here,' she said to us, pointing a shaking finger at us, 'so I suggest you all leave –'

'Bu-But the bird,' interjected Flik in a worried voice, running in front of us, 'the bird will work!'

'I NEVER thought I'd see the day,' said the Queen to Flik in an ashamed voice, 'when an ant would put himself before the rest of his colony.'

'What?' said Flik, looking very shocked. I could tell bad things were coming for him, and sure enough...

'The point is Flik,' said the Queen, partially looking as though she regretted what she was doing, 'you lied to us.'

'No, no-no,' stammered Flik in fruitless desperation, while we watched with sad expressions, 'I-I –'

'You lied, Flik!' said Atta, walking towards him again, anger written all over her body, even in her wings. 'You lied to her, you lied to the colony, you lied to me!' She clutched her hands close to her chest at these last words.

'And like an... Idiot, I believed you,' she said, looking on the verge of both crying and attacking Flik. But I'm sure she knew better than that.

'But I-, stammered Flik again. Somehow, this was even worse than when Cora had discovered I'd betrayed the colony, even though it had nothing to do with me. 'I was just afraid that, if you knew I'd gotten circus bugs...' He noticed that Atta was shaking with anger. He sighed and looked down in rejection.

'I just wanted to make a... difference...' he finally said.

'I want you to leave Flik,' said Atta from above him, still shaking with anger that we could understand, even if we didn't like it. 'And this time... don't come back.'

Flik looked up at these words, his eyes glowing with tears. He then looked down again, as the crowd of ants murmured among themselves. I saw Dot let out a small gasp from where she was with several other Blueberries. I also noticed Aphie squirm from where the Queen was still holding him. I could almost feel the emotional pain radiating from Atta, and especially from Flik. I knew what he was feeling. I knew what it was like to be rejected when you were just trying to help...

Flik sighed silently, and then he turned and walked away. We did the same, and followed suit, all of us letting our arms droop by our side.

'Tough crowd...' murmured P.T. from on top of the wagon. He then whipped his centipedes, and they pulled the wagon alongside us, with P.T., Ymri, and Blip and Flash on top. As we walked alongside the wagon as it passed under the tree root, we all felt too depressed to even speak. The only good news was that this depression, while of rejection, had nothing to do with my past, and wasn't as painful for me. But the fact that we all felt depressed was worse than that.

Only a bit later, as we were making our way across the uncracked part of the riverbed, just after the giant boulders, with I walking beside the wagon, with Tuck and Roll on top of me, and the others in the open back compartment, and Blip and Flash lighting the way with their luminous abdomens, I happened to glance up at Ant Island.

With a pang, I saw the only leaf left on the twig-less tree flutter in the breeze, and then fall off, and float down. The grasshoppers would arrive at Ant Island soon, but there was nothing we could do to stop them.

It was daytime, and P.T. was leading the circus wagon through a path in a forest of grass stalks that would take us back to the city. I walked beside, with Tuck and Roll on me, and the others in the open back, except for Flik, who was sitting on the back flap of the wagon, just staring at the ground. The only sound to be heard was P.T. singing to himself as we made our way back to the city.

'Oh, I'm gonna be rich, rich, rich; you're gonna be rich, rich, rich, you're gonna be the richest flea in the land – kching! The streets, will be paved, with golden retrievers. I'm rich, rich, rich, that's who I am! I'm gonna be rich, rich, rich; you're gonna be rich, rich, rich...'

I noticed the other circus bugs, in the back of the wagon, stare at Flik at he looked down, not making a sound. I said nothing. I knew the best way to let someone who was like this recover was to give them time, at least a little...

'Poor fellow,' said Slim, resting his top hands together.

'Hey,' said Francis to Slim and Heimlich, 'maybe we can cheer him up a bit.'

The three of them approached Flik as he sat there.

'Don't worry, Flik,' began Heimlich sweetly in his German accent. 'De circus life isn't so bad...'

'Yes,' said Slim enthusiastically, catching Flik attention, you can be part of our act!'

'Here, like this!' said Francis, buzzing above the ground, and beating Slim senseless with one of his wings. Slim looped around, and then fell in Francis' grasp.

'Slapstick!' he said, while the other two struck poses of waiting for applause. He chuckled as Flik looked away. 'Get it? I-I'm a walking stick, heh heh... He then relented. 'Oh never mind...'

Flik had just looked down again, when a voice from far off said his name, and I recognized it.

'Dot?' he said looking up, his antenna twitching. Sure enough, buzzing past me, Dot came into view, huffing and puffing, but she was actually flying!

'Flik, wait, wait!' she cried, as she came closer.

'Dot?' said Flik again, scrambling to his feet, while the other circus bugs watched curiously. 'You're flying!' he exclaimed as he caught her.

'What are you doing here?' he asked, as he but her down inside the wagon, and she breathed air back into her lungs.

'You...' she said, still gasping for air, 'have to come back.' She then spoke to all of us at large.

'Hopper moved into the anthill, and his gang's eating everything!' Flik stood up, as all the others exclaimed in surprise as well.

'Good heavens,' remarked Manny.

'And I heard a grasshopper say,' continued Flik, 'that when they're finished, Hopper's gonna squish my mom!'

'Oh, oh not ze Queen!' fretted Heimlich as the circus bugs stepped closer, and Flik was hidden from view. Francis stroked his chin in thought, while the others continued to fret.

'We gotta do something!' said Rosie.

'How?' asked Francis, while Dot watched them with an open mouth.

'Come on, you guys, think!'

'I know,' said Gypsy thoughtfully, 'the bird!'

'Yes, of course!' said Manny.

'The bird, that's brilliant!' said Slim happily.

'Ya, ya –' said Heimlich.

'The bird won't work,' said a voice. As the circus bugs parted I saw, to my surprise, that it was Flik. He was sitting on the big pencil, next to the upturned wastepaper basket, and he looked a little agitated.

'What are you talking about?' questioned Francis in surprise. 'It was your idea –'

'But,' said Dot, pushing past Francis, 'you said that everything –'

'Forget EVERYTHING I ever told you,' said Flik, gesturing a bit viciously with his hands, 'all right, Dot?' Dot looked down before Flik spoke up again.

'Let's face it,' he mumbled, 'the colony is right, I just make things worse. That bird is a guaranteed failure...' He then sighed in defeat again. 'Just like me...' There was a brief pause.

'You listen to me, my boy,' said Manny, stepping forwards. 'I've made a living out of being a failure, and you, sir, are not a failure!' This caught Flik's attention enough to make him look up at us.

'Oh, but Flik, you've done so many good things,' said Rosie sweetly to the little ant.

'Oh, yeah?' he questioned her, a little sarcastically 'Okay, show me one thing I've done right.'

'Um...' said Rosie, while all the others thought hard. However, I had the answer.

'Us,' I simply said. All the others agreed on this, while Dot looked around curiously. Flik looked up at us again, the faintest glow of an impossible hope in his eyes.

'Dim is right, my boy,' said Manny. He and Gypsy slowly put their hands together and smiled, while Heimlich looked so sweet next to them. 'You have rekindled then long-dormant embers of purpose in our lives.'

'And if it wasn't for you,' said Slim, his arms creaking as he moved them, 'Francis would have never got in touch with his sensitive side.'

'Oh, yeah?' said Francis angrily, buzzing in the air next to Slim, and shaking a fist at him. 'Well...' But then Francis relaxed, and let out a small chuckle. 'You know what? He's right!' Gypsy then stepped forward to Flik.

'Lieutenant Gypsy reporting for duty,' she said, raising an arm in a military salute.

'Kid, say the word, and we'll follow you into battle!' sad Francis, looking very manly.

'We believe in you, my boy!' said Manny happily. It was then that Dot spoke up again.

'Flik?' she said slowly, putting out both of her hands in desperation. 'Please?'

Flik stared at us all, before he turned away. I could understand and sympathize why. What were we to do now...? He didn't seem likely to get up with us again.

Dot seemed to accept his decision. She then turned around and buzzed out past me, but I kept walking regardless. I watched the other look past me as the buzzing grew fainter.

But then it grew louder again, and she flew in past me, and landed back down between Francis and Manny. She was holding a small rock. She looked at it briefly before walking forwards and putting it on the pencil Flik was sitting on. Hearing the "thunk", he looked around at the rock curiously, still looking a bit depressed.

'Pretend it's a seed, OK?' she said in her sweet kiddie voice. I was totally befuddled by the little rock, as were the others, but Dot clearly understood.

Flik stared at the rock, until understanding and happiness trickled over his face, as sunlight seemed to shine in upon them. Letting out a small chuckle, he looked up at Dot again, now smiling.

'Thanks Dot,' he smiled.

Dot also smiled, and then opened her arms, and ran into Flik. He embraced her, and then hugged. They were as close as family, I could tell.

'Hey, what's with the rock?' whispered Francis to Slim.

'Must be an ant thing...' Slim whispered back. Francis nodded to his wooden buddy, while Heimlich looked confused.

Flik finally put Dot down, and then looked up at us.

'All right,' he said to us, 'let's do it!'

We all cheered at these words, looking very happy as his agreement.

'That's the Flik we know and love,' remarked Gypsy, while Tuck and Roll slapped hands together on top of me.

'We're on!' cheered Manny.

'So,' said Rosie, drawing closer to Flik, her hands balled into fists, 'what do we do first?'

He smiled in a mischievous way, as though he knew, and it was bad...

I walked alongside the wagon, as P.T. kept singing to himself. Any second now...

'Bugs will pay big bucks to see,' he sang, 'a bonfire that is starring me!' He laughed just as Francis buzzed up in front up of him.

'P.T., look,' said Francis, pointing behind P.T., 'money!'

'Where, where?' the brown flea said, looking behind him. Rosie was there, ready to fire.

'What the?' he said, as she shot the web at him.

'Aaahhh!' he yelled, but the web easily muffled his cries, as Flik grinned behind Rosie.

Approximate Movie Running Time: 54:15-59:50; 64:00-67:09