MISSIONARY STORIES

Ants in the Cereal

As a result of a meeting between a few old missionaries and various family members, came the following story.   (Narrator is not me!!  Just told in first person for effect.  Artistic license taken by the author . . .   ME!!)

We were living in a tropical climate far from civilization and were totally grateful when a visiting American friend brought us a box of "good" cereal.   We saved it carefully for a special occasion.

The special occasion arose a few weeks later when a seasoned missionary visited us.   

 "What would you like for breakfast," I asked the night before.

 "Why don't we do something simple, like cereal?" she suggested.

Happily I answered, "Sure," remembering the cereal in the cupboard.   I would have "good" cereal to serve my guests.

Next morning, I pulled out the sealed box of cereal.  To my horror there were red ants crawling everywhere.  Yes!  INSIDE the sealed cereal package.   Totally embarrassed, I showed my guest the package.

Nonplussed, she said, "We can fix that.  Let's just have toast for breakfast.   But meantime, we'll fix the cereal.   Do you have a cookie sheet?"

Puzzled, I pulled out a cookie sheet.   She spread about half the cereal, ants and all on the cookie sheet and asked me to turn on the oven.   Obediently, I did.

"Now, do you have another cookie sheet?"  She asked.

I pulled out another on which she put the rest of the cereal.  Then she popped both cookie sheets in the oven.   (Yes!!  Ants and all.)

"Now."  She said cheerfully, "Let's fix that toast."

I did.   While we ate toast and fruit, the cereal (and ants) toasted in the oven.   Later, when the sheets had cooled, she asked for a colander.   I produced one and she poured one tray of the cereal into the colander over the sink and proceeded to gently shake the cereal.   The ants fell into the sink.   As the newbie in the tropics, I watched open-mouth as she explained.   

"Don't shake too hard or you'll break up the cereal and lose too much.   Just a gentle shake will do it."

We finished the task.   I put the cereal in a SEALED plastic container.   Next morning we had . . .  cereal, sans ants!   Good stuff.

AUTHOR:  Phylis Dunlap-Huerta

NARRATOR:  Unidentified friend/family who entertained me with the story!!!

ARTISTIC LICENSE:  Taken freely for missing details of story!!

WARNING:  “A writer is a dangerous friend. Everything you say, all of your life and experience, is fodder for our writing. We mean you no harm, but what you know and what you’ve done is unavoidably fascinating to us. Being friends with a writer is a bit like trying to keep a bear as a pet. They’re wonderful, friendly creatures, but they play rough and they don’t know their own strength or remember that they have claws. Choose the stories you tell to your writer friends carefully.”
― Randy Murray