An unsuccessful scientific experiment

"Dad," I called, "What in the world are you doing with an ant?"

"I am gonna do an experiment," Dad answered. "Now, I want you to be really good and quiet until I finish this." That was all he said.

I was curious to know what he was really doing, but he would not tell me anything. I went round the room and while I was peering at a large glass jar, a glass tube nearby fell with a crash. Oops, my hand had knocked it, accidentally down.

Dad looked up from his work and immediately shooed me out. The door was locked by him. I tried to look through the keyhole expecting to see something, but it was stuffed with something.

Suddenly, there was a huge bang, and crooning noises followed. They came from the study. A few minutes later, the study door opened and Dad came rushing out of the room. "It went wrong! It went wrong!" he yelled very loudly. I opened my mouth to ask what went wrong, but he grasped my hand and ran out of the house.

I looked behind me, for great stamping sounds could be heard, and huh! There was an ant; a giant ant. It came to get us, but we kept on running. Everywhere, where it settled its weight, a two-inch deep mark was left.

Soon I got tired after running so much that I began to pant. It was like being in a fairy tale. No one will believe this when I tell them, I thought.

"Couldn't you do something, Dad?" I asked, after a quarter of an hour of running. I was near tears, but tried vainly to be brave.
Dad suddenly stopped as if he remembered something. He beckoned me to go and hide behind a bush and quickly pulled out a bottle with a green liquid from his pocket. He opened it, and threw it all over the giant ant while I watched him from my hiding place. And then, before our eyes, the ant began to shrink! Finally, it got to the size of a normal ant.

Thankfully, I got up and hugged Dad. True, it was he who caused all the trouble, but he had plenty of pluck to stop that beastly ant!

Tharuka Siriwardana
(15 years)
Ecole Internationale, Digana