Global Worming

My adventures as an apprentice Worm Man (2)

Journey to the centre of a clod of earth

by David Jockel

It’s interesting to think that as I sit here in my little shack at the South Coast typing, some worms that I have never met are eating food that I helped carefully gather for them yesterday in Canberra. I hope they are enjoying it. Oddly enough, I enjoyed gathering it for them.

Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps the worms are not eating at the moment. Maybe they are doing something else. It’s Saturday night. I doubt it being Saturday has any particular significance for the worms - although you never know, it is a strange and wonderful world that we live in - but the fact that it is night-time, and therefore dark, might really be significant. I learnt yesterday that worms have something in common with vampires: they can’t stand the light of day. This, according to my new employer, Cid, is because a worm’s entire outer body is an eye.  

I didn’t question Cid further about this. I think we became distracted by the vampire concept, and to what extent this could be used in educating children about worms. As the father of a 12 year old boy living in a society that is becoming increasingly estranged from nature, I was very excited to hear about Cid’s efforts to introduce worm farming  into schools. We discussed this at some length as we drove along Canberra’s roads through the rain and snow, towing our cargo of worm food.

But it is quite a thought – a living being entirely encased within an eye. I was surprised by this. I had assumed worms didn’t have eyes at all.  I wonder if they actually ‘see’ things? And if so, what? Can they see the millions of micro-organisms that they share the soil with? Can they see each other?

Which reminds me, I should probably also ask Cid about the ‘Dune’ science fiction novels. I read them a long time ago, but remember that worms were very significant. Giant worms.  My memory is vague, but I think these worms were powerful, god-like beings with mystical powers.

Which is an unusual way to think of worms. Arrogant and proud creatures that we humans have become, we tend to see worms as insignificant. Not in the least god-like.

It’s all a matter of perspective, I suppose.

Anyway, for now I remain ignorant about what worms get up to on a Saturday night. I am about to watch a vampire show on TV though, which may prove informative. There is also another book, which  I also read a long time ago, called Supernature. It caused a big stir when it was published, but seems to have fallen out of favour, and perhaps was discredited in some way. But it was a very interesting book that might be worth revisiting, with the worms in mind.