Crab-shell, Ants, and Winner Chicken
Author Name: Minh Nguyen.
This morning, In a sudden moment, I wanted to go to the front yard of Phuong’s father’s house, where there are many flower plants tended by her parents, who love flowers dearly. I watched the fire ants as they invaded the crab shells we had left out last night for the dogs, but they hadn’t eaten them.
While waiting, after chasing all the ants out of the box so I could throw the shells in the garbage, I remembered the ruthless time of my childhood. Back then, I often watched ants moving in the dirt yard of my grandmother’s mansion. I observed them and noticed that some had bigger heads than others, which meant they could bite me harder. The more I watched, the more ways I invented to kill them. I torched, smoked, burned, and flooded them with boiling water or oil, I cut off the heads of the army ants and learn different ways to wiped out entire colonies (That’s why I relate so much to Goblin Slayer). Then, I got goosebumps thinking about my morals back then. I didn’t feel cruel or anything. Of course, I just had to eliminate them. It’s strange to think about, this was the same childhood in which I cried for three days over a cub that died in my hands. At the same time, I would torture mosquitoes without finishing them off. Even when I saw a human die before me, I felt nothing.
As I continued watching in my boredom, I saw a group of chickens, chicks. 
Suddenly, one of them charged forward and caught a lizard. Immediately, the rest of the group started chasing him, trying to steal the lizard from his mouth. Seeing that moment, I thought to myself, “Hmm, just catching prey with skill and speed isn’t enough. Even after successfully catching it, he has to run away from those who were once his friends, brothers, and cousins.”
Very interesting. I followed his run and immediately sensed the obvious outcome. The rest of the chickens couldn’t catch him. They gave up soon after, not even coming close. He had run far enough and was now enjoying his meal in peace. I concluded that he was the winner. He saw and caught the prey first, and from the moment he had the lizard in his mouth, no one else had a chance. None of the others had the consistency or determination to chase him to the very end. He was going to win.
That was an unimaginable scene. I was impressed by my own ability to see and think in the moment. It felt strange to me.
