It's been three years since the ants in my backyard started to act weird. Well, correction—Former backyard. These ants had the audacity to buy a tiny portion of my backyard in exchange for gold. Raw-bleeping-gold. Well, as it turned out, they'd occasionally pick up tiny bits of gold when digging tunnels for the colony. At first, they thought it was worthless. But after learning (from me) that gold is a valuable commodity, they had it stockpiled in a large safehouse underneath the queen's chamber.

After a few thoughtful discussions (mainly by gestures and a lot of pointing and whispers), the contract was finally done. Stated in the agreement was that a part of my backyard would be bought by them, in exchange for gold nuggets that they've amassed in digging, collecting food, and regularly loitering around the backyard. The land that they'd bought would be equal to fourteen square meters and would be marked with a distinct red line so that I'd be cautious when treading around their backyard. 

They asked me where to deposit the gold. I casually pointed to my closet and said, "There. Inside." I didn't know that they were frightened of my voice. Some ants trembled in fear. After our discussion, I noticed some ants beginning to carry tiny gold dust to my closet. They lined up perfectly, each of them radiating a pale yellow shine. 

It was bedtime when I noticed that the gold specks of dust were beginning to become larger. They weren't just tiny little dust anymore, they're large nuggets that some ants were struggling to carry. I should've picked a better place, I thought. I closed my eyes and went to sleep. When I woke up, the ants were finished with their work. 

I opened the closet to see an astounding amount of gold. They piled it nicely on a folded shirt, with the larger chunks on the base and the smaller, finer gold on top. I immediately took a tupperware to have a 'safer' container for the gold. I took a scale and I was astonished by how much the gold weighed. It totaled about 2 kilograms, with the tupperware's weight subtracted (of course).

I opened my laptop and hurriedly googled the exact words "gold 2kg how much". As the results flooded in, my eyes sparkled as I saw the numbers with seven digits and two commas displayed in my own currency. I screamed in glee and jumped. "I SHOULD MELT THIS!", I screamed repeatedly. 

I asked the ants to have my gold melted into two gold bars. Of course, communicating with them was hard. I had to explain it to them with gestures while I patiently observe their reactions. They asked me how they would do it and I showed them a video of a goldsmith pouring molten gold into a mold. Some ants lingered on my laptop for a while and left. They told me that they could finish it in 3 days, pointing to the sun while placing three small pebbles on my desk. I asked if they would charge me, but they only want me to teach them how language works. Of course, I politely agreed.

The ants had a hard time learning the English alphabet. But somehow, after three weeks, they have constructed basic sentences by writing on leaves. I have learned during these lessons that they don't need a language that much because they mainly communicate with chemicals and their receptors. However, they have soon realized that they would eventually need to learn it to effectively communicate with humans. 

They delivered the gold bars in my closet once again, thinking that it might be where I store my precious belongings. After three months, they were quiet. They would occasionally visit me and ask me something, but aside from that, they wouldn't bother me anymore. After going out one sunny weekend, I soon realized they were waging war against the other ant species. A thick mass of black ants circled the 14x14 meter red line, trapping the red ants inside. As I peered through the grass, I noticed two tall towers which were made up of cement and clay. On top of it was a tiny wooden contraption that I couldn't recognize.