The mystery of the musical moths

[ladyofastolat]

Some 15 years ago, we bought a piano. Very soon after we bought it, an blanket of caterpillars appeared on its surface, followed by battalions of moths. We reported this to the piano vendor, who denied ever having seen a caterpillar or moth in his entire life. There was no possibility that the infestation could have originated in his warehouse, and the piano was definitely caterpillar-free when we bought it. To be honest, we doubted this, but what can you do? I hate killing things just because they're inconvenient, but we really didn't want armies of moths in our house, possibly eating clothes, carpet, curtains and cat. We put moth balls inside the piano, and the armies slowly dwindled. No caterpillars or moths were seen for years, and the whole affair was almost forgotten.

But nothing is forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten. A few weeks ago, I noticed that there were a lot of small dead moths on the carpet underneath the piano. I hoovered them up, but by the next day, they were back again. They are all concentrated in a square foot of visible carpet, next to one end of the piano. A few small moths have been spotted flapping around the house, but most of them are evident only by their corpses.

Are they the same colony? 15 years ago, when we thought we'd beaten them, had we just driven them deep within the piano, where they have spent 15 years digging a vast underground metropolis and perfecting their revenge? Are there whole moth generations reared on tales of the cruelties of the two-legged masters of the plinky-plonk keys? Admittedly, it's not a particularly impressive revenge thus far, since it appears to consist of emerging from beneath the piano and keeling over within a few inches, but it's early days yet. Will their masterminds learn from the failures of the first wave, and tweak their tactics accordingly? What dread fate is being prepared for us?

I know we ought to move the piano and look beneath it, but I'm scared to.

Comments

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Gosh. Apparently pianos arriving with added wildlife is more common than I thought. It sounds like a children's book: the little mouse (let's call him Wensleydale) who lived happily in a piano, but one day the piano was moved and he found himself in a strange new place. After a few scary pages, though, he befriends the little girl who lives there, and they all live happily ever after.

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

Of course there is a mouse called Wensleydale! In fact, he also has a has whole family, all named after cheeses, and each has their own adventure in the series. Wensleydale is a rather earnest mouse, prone to worrying about what the right thing is to help other people. He has a socialist older brother, Red Leicester (somewhat based of Citizen Smith perhaps), identical twin sisters, Double and Gloucester, a rather dashing french cousin, Brie, and his more sophisticated cousin, Roquefort. He also has an adventurous younger sister called Caerphilly, a wise old grandmother called Sage Derby, parents Lancashire and Cheshire, a morose uncle called blue Stilton, a Cornish Aunt called Yarg, a Scottish cousin called Dunlop who is into Motor Racing (cue escapade with matchbox cars, or scalextrics, she's a bit of a speed addict, is Dunlop, and draws Brie and Wensleydale into her adventures). Wensleydale and the little girl often have a chat about coping with life and give each other good advice...

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Sounds like a guaranteed hit! In one book, a pair of Italian opera singers, Mozzarella and Parmesan, come visiting, and cause much consternation. The problem with living inside a piano is that your peace is periodically disturbed by an earth-shaking cacophony when the humans of the house do their piano practice, so the mice play out a polite charade of This Is Not Happening. They just drink a lot of tea, and talk very loudly and doggedly about what delightful weather they're having nowadays. The Italians, though, not only talk about the music, but insist on singing along to it, which is Not Done At All.

Even more troublesome, though, is the brash American visitor, Monterey Jack, who rides roughshod over all their customs, and briefly leads the younger mice into all sorts of dreadful scrapes - scrapes for which he then denies all responsibility.

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

Monterey Jack is an excellent character.

[songblaze.livejournal.com]

I think Brie ought to be a fetching and flirtacious female cousin, personally. With her older brother Roquefort, who is adept at the art of putting together a fine meal, a good wine, and that certain je ne sais quois that makes for a perfect evening, whether it is the brilliant jolly companionship of friends or something a bit more intimate.

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

I'm quite happy for her to be female, fun and flirtatious, so long ask she's dashing and prepared to get involved with adventures. I suspect Roquefort doesn't want to get his whiskers disarranged.

[songblaze.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me - a devious, excellent partner in crime! And she's smooth enough that she always gets them off scot free even when poor Wensleydale trips up and gets them caught.