Attack of the red ants

I have these cool pillows for kids to sit on, which I inherited from another teacher. (See the Classroom Pics entry for evidence of their coolness). During our first read aloud on Wednesday, kids reclined on the cushions like so many very small Buddhas until one girl gasped and started sucking on her finger. She'd been bitten by a red ant. Soon, kids were seeing red ants everywhere, and there was a very controlled killing spree on the carpet before we retreated to our seats.

That night I bought the biggest can of Raid I could find at the supermarket in the mall at the end of 9th Street.

After the kids left on Thursday (which is like Friday) I sprayed the bejesus out of the cushions. I expected red ant corpses to come flying out, but there was a decided lack of carnage. Then I pulled back the cushions where they met at the corner of the wall. And came across an ant hangout, fast becoming a colony. Jackpot.

They'd arrived at their new home (ie: behind my cushions) through a hole at the base of the corner where the two walls met. They were streaming in and looping round just below the cushion line. It was a miracle that I didn't see them before. I let them have it with the Raid, great, billowing clouds of the stuff. At the end of the frenzy there were hundreds of ant bodies, inexplicable little piles of sand (had they brought it with them?) and one lone, very large cockroach scurrying for cover. After dispatching it, I went off in search of the Magician's Assistants to help me patch the hole and stop the madness once and for all.

The Magician himself would have patched the hole. The Assistant I found was more concerned with the piles of sand and mass of insect bodies. Despite several attempts (using universal hand signs) to communicate my distress over the ant access point, he left in search of a vacuum. While he was vacuuming, I dashed up to K's classroom and got some of that sticky stuff you put on the back of posters instead of tape. I used that to plug the hole. We'll see if it works. I left my classroom smelling like poison, but cleaner than it'd been since I moved in.