A laughingthrush jumped down to snatch a snack from some red ants. The bird hopped and shook off the ants that got on its head. I woke up today from a bad dream of being suffocated by a bedsheet. I have been waking up from bad dreams daily, since last Friday. They are not terrifying as today’s. They are mostly work related and gave off a bad taste to one’s morning. I watched the birds for a while more and continued the slope upwards. At the top, I recognised the uncle who goes up and down the slopes repeatedly and we smiled hello. He is incredibly fit and looks like he’s 80. There was a bunch of elderly today whom I don’t recognise – I think they don’t live here. I reached the top leisurely without panting. Someone stopped to do sit ups. I am inspired to do another squat but the ants are everywhere. They are antsy from the rain. It was close to 8am. I decided that was enough and walked down.

My thoughts turned to the birds. They hopped about rather loudly on the branches. If a tree fell in the forest and nobody heard it, did the tree fall? Could birds cause rotten trees to fall in the forest just by landing on the branches? Possibly so – I thought, given a butterfly could cause a tornado elsewhere. Birds will know enough to pick those that are rotten yet continue to still stand. Could the ants have known this in advance – sufficiently advanced to move themselves out of harm’s way? We can’t hear doesn’t mean the creatures that live in that ecosystem doesn’t notice the tree falling. It just means a human did not notice. If a human didn’t notice a sound, the human could possibly also fail to notice the tree or the forest. But even if a tree made no sound, creatures living near the tree would know there was a tree. They would be surprised that it fell. The birds might murmur, ah yes, a long time coming. The ants vexed, throw up their antenna, crossed that they now need to rebuild paths. The dead tree might throw up some tasty morsel. It could also create new opportunities for others looking for a home.