An Abrupt End to an Even More Abrupt Friendship

An Abrupt End to an Even More Abrupt Friendship

Gertrude was an unknown moth species that I befriended one morning before I had to go to work. I first saw this huge winged critter when it came in my living room window one late August night. Gertrude, had a wing span of about five inches and was different shades of brown. See, Gertrude was fascinated with chasing Mindy, who is my cousin around and gets totally creeped out by moths and with the lights on my ceiling fan. After about two hours of playing hide and go- find Mindy, Mindy decided it was time for Gertrude to meet the ceiling fan with a one way trip to being powderized. Instead, Mindy scared one of Gertrude’s distant cousins into the ceiling fan. The poor little moth hit the high velocity fan and a little white cloud of what used to be a moth fluttered to the floor. After seeing the horrific death of her cousin, Gertrude decided to just hang-out on the window casing away from both Mindy and the killer ceiling fan. The next day Gertrude stayed perched on the window casing and I assumed that maybe the night before was a little too gory for her poor little moth heart and she past away in her sleep. But, I was wrong. The next morning when I went to wash my hands in the sink, there, just perched at the bottom of the sink was Gertrude. So, I turned on the water and watched her surf around the sink on a plastic spoon until the spoon got stuck in the sink drain. I then realized that unless I smooshed the poor unsuspecting and nightly entertainment, Gertrude would not fit down the drain. So, I picked her up with my finger and waited for her to fly away. Instead, she stayed on my finger and I decided to name her Gertrude and she would be my funny and friendly pet moth.
I then took my newly discovered friend to my brother’s room so I could wake him up even though it was 5:30 in the morning he looked so content sleeping. But, me being a very loving brother, I decided to let Gertrude wake him up. After several attempts I finally got Gertrude off from my finger and put her on my brother’s cheek. Gertrude with her huge and heavy body started to slide off his face. She started fluttering her giant wings and vibrated her fuzzy bum up and down his cheek. Due to the abnormal feeling of insects legs and this unknown creature on his face, my brother woke from his slumber in a panic with Gertrude still attached to his face. Before my brother had the chance to smoosh Gertrude who was still on his cheek, I quickly removed her. My brother then asked in a not so pleasant choice of words, what was on his face and I told him that it was Gertrude the giant moth from the other night. He then went back to being comatosed. It was now almost time for me to leave so I brought Gertrude back into the kitchen and left her on an empty cottage cheese container and told her that I would be back later to show her to people. I then went to work. When I got back that afternoon my brother gave me this weird look with a smile. I asked him what was up and he asked me what I named the moth in a very suspicious tone. I then asked why and he told me that Gertrude had met her maker. Gertrude was DEAD! My brother then told me the story of how Gertrude met her maker. He said that my grandfather had come in the house that morning after I had left, to get the keys to the lawn mower. My brother said that he was in the kitchen making breakfast when my grandfather entered the house and he went right into the kitchen. My grandfather stood there talking to my brother and then he looked down and saw Gertrude and asked what is that? My brother replied it’s a moth and that was all it took. In a quick motion my grandfather put his colossal hand with his logging glove on and squashed Gertrude. My brother stood there staring at my grandfather in shock, until my grandfather looked up at him with a big smile and said “whatever it was, it’s now going outside where it belongs.” He then walked out on the porch and tossed Gertrude’s lifeless body in the dirt. After hearing the about the murder of my innocent flying friend, I went outside to find her remains. After about ten minutes of looking for Gertrude without finding anything, my brother began to laugh again. I asked what was so funny and he just replied “I forgot to tell you, the dog ate her.”