Just as Frank always finds ways to blame things on me that I had nothing to do with, so too did Eric’s wife find ways to blame the party’s late st...rt on Eric. Eric and his wife fought during the whole drive home. She insisted he drop her home and then go see Mark, but by then Eric’s heart really wasn’t in seeing his friend any more. Finally, Eric decided that an hour with his friend was better than nothing. And so he had gotten to visit with Mark from 7 to 8 PM, when he had to drive home. They had managed to find a small ridge of lightly forested hills to make their new home in. It was just west of the shield, had good water and the area was not populated by any other ants. They had a good variety of food sources, as several of the trees bore fruit and the grasses were of the high seed baring varieties that they favoured.Stix was rather shocked when the new Queen asked if she could also mate with her. At this point, Stix was not aware that she could change to male even though. Bugs shook his head and groaned. “Y’all are liable to end up on one of them TV exposés like 60 Minutes.” “Hell, if they do I’ll get a fresh haircut for the TV,” quipped Petey, “make my old lady proud.” Nodding at Doreen, Sarge waved his ticket. “C’mon, Bugs, let’s pay up and go make this town safe.” As the sergeant and Bugs stepped over to the cash register to pay, Petey exclaimed, “Hey! The county high cheerleaders got ‘em a fundraiser goin’ after school over at Burton’s Corner.” “Yeah,” Sarge. Now with reality settling in, she wondered if she was just going to be hurting herself. Her teeth dug into the soft, yielding flesh of her cheek, giving just enough pain to focus. To ignore the tight squeeze in her core, the iron grip on her lungs and heart. She deliberately relived the painful images of that day that should have been her best, when she was betrayed by the man who had promised to forsake all others just hours before. She might never have known of his dalliance if she hadn't.