With Tutelina now regularly visiting the clamshell greenhouse, the cockroach had become less concerned about the ants and more interested in expanding his little farm. The clover had spread almost to the edges of the transparent container, and several dandelions had begun to flower. Their seeds occasionally caught in the condensation wet ground.
One morning, the cockroach noticed something moving beneath the composted chipboard. A small family of earthworms had found their way into the soil beneath the greenhouse. They had been living in the damp cardboard nearby but had discovered that the ground inside the box remained considerably warmer. Was it a miracle? It would mean healthier soil.
The cockroach was puzzled. He had spent months protecting his little garden and couldn't understand how the worms got there. Good for the soil yes, but strangers all the same, strangers.
Tutelina, who had been hiding near the entrance, was not concerned. She explained that earthworms were not going to eat the clover or dandelions.
In one week, the earthworms began working their way through the compost, breaking down the old chipboard and mixing it into the soil. The clover responded with thicker growth, and the dandelions produced larger flowers.
The cockroach was changed his mind.
But there was another development. The warmer conditions had attracted a small beetle, who arrived one evening and began feeding on the leaves around the edge of the greenhouse.
Tutelina was immediately interested in him as a potential meal. It was a dream come true. Beatles were bigger more succulent meals.
Tutelina continued to patrol the entrance, keeping the ants away. And now the odd beatle would curiously come in to look for food and end up wrapped up in a meal box.
The transparent grape box had gradually become something much more than a greenhouse. It was now a food house a place the spider Tutelina and the cockroach could dine at. Sometimes eating beside each other, attempting smiles with their strange mouths.
Outside, the temperature continued to fall towards zero.
Inside, the condensation gathered every morning, the clover flourished, and the little inhabitants went about their business.
An entire ecosystem, with its own gardeners, scavengers, predators and unexpected friendships.
Still growing inside an abandoned clamshell box.
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