A bone chilling breezy day, perfect to stay inside, have a nice warm drink and fill your tummy with warm home cooked meals to help end your day with lounging by the fire. Rainbow of colors all around as the leaves fall from the trees giving way to the colder weather that was soon to come. Fattening bears getting ready for the long nap that they soon will have. The forest is a home to many animals and creatures of all shapes and sizes. Most are friendly with each other. At the very bottom critters of the smallest sizes. Barely able to be seen with the naked eye, but come close to them with a magnifying glass on a sunny day don’t expect them to come out of hiding.

There was one particular critter who had a major delima bigger, than a bear getting his head stuck in a beehive with no honey. Harry the ant, who as usual on a chilly day as today was sitting in one of his many rooms connected by twists and turns leading to mostly storage areas for his food. Now see Harry was always hungry. He was a growing ant of course so why wouldn’t he be. But he hated having to ration himself so he made sure to have enough rooms and sections to separate his food in large portions for the winter. He was so busy with worry how much food he would have for the winter that he hadn’t thought about what he would do for the time before the snow hit.

Harry’s stomach let out another growl, probably the fifth or sixth time that day each one louder than the last, like a siren as it gets closer and closer to its destination. Harry, clutching his stomach, started to chuckle how it was starting to sound animalistic, and maybe even loud enough to be heard outside. Maybe even scared someone to faint of fright thinking a predator lived so close to them.

Now even with being hungry, and if he were a child he complain of starving from not eating when he wanted to, but if he touched what he has for winter he will have a lot less than the year prior. Most of the spring and a good portion of the summer was wasted away to build his new hill. With all the snow his old one flooded and collapsed leaving him no time to properly look for where all the good food is for him to gather for winter. Meaning Harry was only able to gather about half of what he usually has every winter. Even if he has extra after winter is over, it felt good to have all that extra food. Not being hungry at all.

Harry didn’t know what to do with his situation. He knew he couldn’t gather anymore food since everywhere in his area was pretty much cleared out. The nearest place would be a couple of days to travel to get there. His neighbors had food and in the summer they were always happy to give some away. But that was usually cause no one had food that time of year but they had their own personal garden that always seemed to be done before anywhere else. An idea popped into his head as he continued to think more and more. Though he had plenty of time to gather food and such, if he twisted how long it took to finish his home and start gathering food, maybe his neighbors would take pity on him and give out some of their own food. At least a day’s worth. As soon as Harry figured out what to say to his first neighbor he grabbed his blood red scarf with frills and headed outside.

The first of his neighbors was Mr. Gray the beetle. His wife and him have many children to feed and they all help collect their stash for the winter so they are never out of food. Bur some winters could be tough with less and less food, which could happen if someone were to ask for food many times, but that didn’t go through Harry’s mind as he walked up to the front door of their little hut to knock on. Shouts and clattering could be heard from the inside before finally Mr. Gray showed up at the door.

“Why hello Harry, been a long time since I seen you mate. What can I help you with young lad?” Mr Gray being the kind old man he was never turned away young folk. Always a way to spread his knowledge along the generation that is seeming to need better guidance from anyone they could get it.

“I am afraid it has been awhile. Due to the flood my old home got destroyed and with having to start from scratch, my lovely new home  is showing signs that the wet weather from the early months was the only reason it was staying together. It’s drying out and a good majority of my tunnels and sections collapsed.” The lie had come out easier than expected, though how Mr. Gray would take it was almost worthy of sweating. What broke the silence was once again Harry’s stomach voicing it’s opinion. Mr. Gray started to laugh and Harry chuckled embarrassingly along with it.

“My boy, you sound as though you haven’t eaten since before last winter! Come in, the misses and I were just about to eat, there is plenty for you to have a bite as well. With it getting dark though we should probably send you on your way with it.” And with that Mr. Gray beckoned him in, before shouting to his wife about company. She was ecstatic to give Harry some food after finding out it was him whose stomach growled causing her house to shake. After being sent on his way from the Gray’s an idea, a magnificent one at that, popped into Harry’s head. Before wasting another second he dashed home as quick as he could to eat and then put his idea into action.