April is always an amazing month. The weather alternates between rain, wind and warm sunshine. People love to gather in the parks to enjoy the new blossoms and party under the trees. Lanterns light up the branches at night so people can enjoy picnics under the moon and stars. Unfortunately, they often leave their uneaten food and rubbish behind, where it sits ready for collection early the following morning. But before that happens, the ant army moves in to do their thing.

Ant Queen Adelaide had decided to move her army to Blossom Park. Everyone marched south; all the ants dutifully followed her. Queen Adelaide had selected a comfortable, spacious place for a nest to be built under a large apple tree. She chose the northern side of the tree to make the most of the sun and the windy breeze. “This is it!” Queen Adelaide cried. She was very satisfied with her selection. All the army ants understood their roles and went about their jobs to build an amazing nest.

The nest area was close to a picnic bench. A party had taken place the night before, so there were lots of things the ants could use to make Queen Adelaide happy. Soldier ants climbed the picnic table from the east side, looking for items to defend the queen. They also used their immense strength to carry materials from the table to the nest area. People had left behind paper plates, napkins, empty water bottles and plastic glasses. The soldier ants inspected everything and took whatever they thought would be useful.

The infantry ants climbed the picnic table from the west side and immediately saw all the food scraps left behind. The air had a very strange smell—a rich mixture of spice, sweet honey, sour lemon, salt, bitter coffee and savoury umami. Different ants were attracted to different scents. Some headed for the avocado, apricots and asparagus. Ani the ant preferred umami—the rich, savoury smell—and straight away spotted the arancini, aged cheese, mushrooms and leftover grilled meats. She thought she would stop a while and taste-check each food item before taking anything back to the queen. “After all, I would not want Queen Adelaide to get sick from bad food!” she said out loud.

Ani took small bites, but then the bites became larger and larger and larger! One of her fellow ants looked at her and said, “Whoa, are you okay?” Ani just smiled and grinned from ear to ear. Of course she was okay! She was eating her favourite food. Just then, a trumpet-like chirp sounded from the soldiers—the signal to return to the nest because rain was coming. Ani took one last large bite of tasty cheese and carried the chunk back to the colony. All the other ants grabbed an item and rushed back.

Within no time, the rain began to fall, bucketing down over the park. The ants tried to take shelter under the discarded paper plates and napkins. The wind started to blow, and the ants watched a mini-tornado hit the picnic table, blowing away any remaining food items. Everything spiralled into the air and flew over the nearby river. Ani was so full of food that she cuddled up to her ant family and fell fast asleep.

When Ani woke the next morning, she looked all around her. Her ant family was nowhere to be seen! It turned out that once the storm had cleared in the night, Queen Adelaide had decided to move the colony to a new place. No one could wake the deep-sleeping Ani, so they had simply left her behind. Ani was very surprised to find herself all alone. She thought to herself that she would now need to think carefully about what to do next.

Ani was always hungry. She looked at the ground around her and could find nothing. She looked at the bushes and flowers but still found nothing. Then, she looked up and saw a big, red, juicy apple hanging from a branch. Ani made it her goal to climb the tree and get to that apple.

It was a real struggle for Ani to climb. The bark was slippery from the rain, and within a second, she slid down a branch onto a twig. She was inches from the red, juicy apple, but when she tried to move, she found that her arm and ankle had become tangled in the twisting wood. She felt angry at herself for not taking care, and the anger quickly turned to agony. “Ouch!” she cried. She lay in the tree and wondered what she would do next.

Down below, an alligator had decided to belly-crawl from the river into the park. Ani shouted, “Hello! Can you help me?” The alligator just flicked his massive tail and walked right on by.

Next, Ani saw an anteater. She had heard terrifying stories about them from Queen Adelaide and knew not to draw attention to herself. She stayed very still and very quiet. The anteater looked all around the base of the tree and even glanced up toward Ani. Ani pretended to be a statue and did not blink. Fortunately, the anteater moved on through the park, and Ani let out a massive sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Ani heard a lot of noise. There were big people and lots of smaller people. She watched in amazement as a group walked over to the picnic table right nearby. Thoughts of climbing that same table to eat delicious arancini and aged cheeses rushed through her mind, but she shook her head to remind herself that she needed to be rescued first.

Everyone at the picnic table was eating, drinking and singing. Ani spotted a birthday cake with glowing candles. She knew that once the candles were blown out, everyone would eat cake, sing Happy Birthday, and then it would be time for games.

Ani waited and waited. Soon, she saw three children playing nearby. One was dressed as an astronaut, another as an acrobat, and the third looked like an angel. Ani noticed a loose acorn resting in the twigs next to her. Using her free arms, she managed to rattle the twig until the acorn dropped to the ground.