August 12, 1996

It was humid, the air hung around his body and pooled around his chest. 

The table was set with a plastic tablecloth and he suspected that if he were to sit up from where he pressed his cheek to it, the plastic would be adhered to his skin with sweat and sunscreen. 

He didn't have the motivation to move anyways so he resigned to watching what was going on through a sideways lens. he picked at a dried ketchup spot and flicked the flaked pieces off of the table, he saw a couple of the flakes blow away, and others just scatter onto the pavement. His aunt used her hands to talk about some thing or another, his mother smiled tiredly at her, his cousin chased his sister with a lighter, and the ketchup crumbs sat on the ground. 

An ant that had happened to be scurrying across stopped in front of it and seemed to poke it a few times. 

Gavin picked a few more clumps from the spot and sent them sailing down for the ant. It picked up one of the bits and began running back to where the stone met the grass. He'd eat well tonight with a little ketchup to go with it. He thought of an ant eating a tiny leaf burger with a tiny dot of ketchup and mirrored what must have been the tired smile his mother was giving her guests. But the ant was obstructed in his view by a lump of blue, he adjusted his eyes to focus on the Croc that had taken the space his ant previously had. His eyes followed the shoe to a leg, and a leg to a torso, to a neck, to a face. A face looking anxiously behind her. 

"Hi Gavin!" Her eyes flicked to him before she took off again, quickly followed by her lighter-wielding brother. He watched them go as far as he could without moving and looked back to the ant. Not particularly moving. He sat up and, as expected, the cloth briefly stuck to his face before falling back over the table. 

He kicked his legs around the bench and stood- still eyeing the patch of pavement. He took steps towards it and crouched to look closer. There was a spot of red among the bluish-green insides and black fragments of body. 

He instinctively dug his fingers into the ground where the patio ended. He hadn't cut his nails in a while so dirt crammed itself under them as he tore up a clump of soil and grass. He patted it down on the ant and stared at the muddled pile before standing up and rubbing his hands on his jeans. He wasn't much in a partying mood anymore.