| One of the earliest memories I have as a child is when | | | | giving my shoulders as a place for him to step. Well, as |
| I was playing with one of my first childhood friends, | | | | I stood there I noticed a small group of red ants. I don't |
| Jason Vanzant. We had to be around 5 or 6 years | | | | remember why I had the idea that red ants were "killer |
| old. Anyway, we were in the backyard of our house | | | | ants," but for some reason I was afraid of the red |
| down at the end of Mahogeny Circle by the freeway | | | | ones and thought that they could eat through your |
| in the old part of town. Our backyard was shaped like | | | | flesh. I'm sure one of my older brothers talked me into |
| a giant wedge where the tip of the wedge was the | | | | that. |
| furthest part of the yard away from our house, and | | | | Anyway, Jason is dangling from this branch and is |
| was the only part of the yard that wasn't landscaped, | | | | almost secure when all of the sudden I scream like a |
| or set aside as a play area. | | | | little girl "RED ANTS!!!" and I jumped back from the |
| Well, Jason and I were climbing one of the large trees | | | | tree. This spooked Jason and he lost his hold on the |
| in the far back. Jason and I were basically joined at the | | | | branch and came falling down. He jumped up and was |
| hip. We did everything together. Jason was older than | | | | startled. "WHAT DID YOU SEE?" he asked, thinking |
| me by a year, but I was a little more "in charge" of | | | | that I had seen a large spider or a snake. I pointed at |
| things as far as taking the lead on what we did and | | | | the tree and showed him the small group of red ants. |
| stuff like that. | | | | Needless to say, he wasn't very happy that I had just |
| Well, we were going through a stage where we liked | | | | made him fall from the tree over a couple of harmless |
| to climb trees. Jason decided to give it a try first. So, | | | | red ants. Not only that but I think he ended up chipping |
| he started shimmying up the tree to the first branch, | | | | a piece of his tooth off. I sure felt dumb and learned |
| which was a good 5 or 6 feet above the ground. This | | | | quickly that those red ants really were harmless. |
| took some effort and I stood at the base of the tree | | | | |