The Pilgrimage: Part 1

Dr. Grimble walked down the lake path, grumbling and sniffling, and wishing he had remembered his handkerchief.
“Winter always makes me sniffle. Where is that handkerchief? I know I had it this morning.”
Dr. Grimble often spoke to himself just this way, because he was the only person who listened just the way he liked.
“And really,” he continued, in the same grumbly voice, “I wouldn't be sneezing and dripping at all if the clouds would go away.” He glared out at the lake, and saw some geese leading their young goslings out for snack time. “Oh, and if horrible, little children wouldn't keep coming to my office with their horrible colds and making me catch them.”
Which was quite unfair of Dr. Grimble, after all, because he was a doctor, and where else should little children go when they have horrible colds?
And then something amazing and important happened, only Dr. Grimble never knew it, because he never really paid attention. A breeze lifted off the field nearby, tumbled over and over through the trees until it was quite dizzy, and then pelted right on down the lake path, and into Dr. Grimble's big, white umbrella.
And since Dr. Grimble was being very naughty, and wiping his big doctor's nose on his overcoat sleeve (just like your mommy says you shouldn't, and she is right) he was not holding tightly to his umbrella, and the wind stole it right away from him, and tossed it out onto the lake.
Now, if Dr. Grimble had been a big ,strong fellow, like your daddy, he would have kicked off his shoes, and splashed out after it, because it hadn't gone very far, and the water was clear as glass, and the rocks were very smooth and round.
But Dr. Grimble was not a big, strong fellow, or at least he didn't think he was, which is the same thing. Do you know what he did? He grumbled again.
He said to himself, “Typical. Typical. It's just that kind of day. The whole universe has it in for me, that's what. I forgot my handkerchief, and now my umbrella is gone forever.”
And he left the umbrella, and walked on home. And that is all we need to know about him, because now is when the real story starts.

This is a story about ants.

This is obviously not the whole story. It just couldn't be, and that's all there is to it. I will finish it when given another appropriate picture. The picture here is by Nilgunkara and is our Thursday Tales prompt from Leo.