Mortimer’s Exciting Week
I suppose this could use a bit of setup. We had a few adventures last week while at the Robertson’s Cottages up in Door County, WI, including a moth that never left the base of the toilet and an uninvited flying rodent. It also turns out that our cottage was once home to a bunch of monkeys. Just monkeys. A guy bought a cottage for his monkeys.
But that’s a different story.
This is Mortimer’s story. It’s one part events of the week, one part my over-active imagination, and the rest inspiration from one very amused family. I wrote it on our way home (between Green Bay and Milwaukee), and gave it a bit of tweaking over the past couple of days. Normally I’d sit on this until I decided it was complete crap and then not post it at all, but I’m trying new things like sharing my fiction writing. :)
Mortimer’s Exciting Week
Mortimer is a moth that lives in a cottage by a very big lake. He is a pretty big moth, as far as moths go, but since there are a lot of different bugs where he lives and some of them are even bigger than him, he doesn’t know that.
One day, a bunch of humans moved into his cottage. Mortimer was frightened because he knew from the other moths that humans liked to hurt bugs. He was so scared that when the humans came, he hid in the bathroom, on the base of the toilet. He was in plain sight, but out of the way, so he hoped the humans wouldn’t notice him.
“Watch the humans,” the other moths told him. “When the time is right, we will all come back and attack them.”
“Okay,” Mortimer said, but mostly because watching them meant that he didn’t have to leave his hiding spot.
Mortimer watched the humans squish any number of small flies, spiders, and even a few smaller moths. They were mean bugs, though, that always taunted Mortimer for hiding, so Mortimer didn’t mind. The humans were even nice enough to let a few daddy long legs go, after chiding them for being in the bathtub. It was almost like the humans knew which bugs were mean and which were friendly.
One morning, one of the humans spied Mortimer when she was getting out of the shower.
“That is a big bug!” she exclaimed. Mortimer thought for sure he was a goner, but the human did her best to not disturb him. Another human came in to see him and although she agreed that he was indeed a very big moth, the second human did not kill him either.
Other bugs came by, telling Mortimer all the terrible things they were planning to do to the humans. He was not sad to seem them go, even when they were squished by the humans, because they were so scary. Scarier than the humans ever were.
Mortimer was confused. The other moths and bugs told him the humans were bad, but they were very nice to him. The human who first found him said hello to him every time she came into the bathroom. She even defended him one morning when another of the humans (the one that did most of the bug-squishing) wanted to kill Mortimer, too.
One night, the moths came back. “It is time,” they said. “We are going to get the humans tonight!”
Mortimer didn’t know what to do. Should he try to warn the humans? He tried to stick up for the humans and tell the other bugs that the humans were only mean to the bugs that were trying to hurt them, too, but the other bugs just laughed at him. When it was clear that Mortimer wasn’t going to help the other bugs, they got mad at him. They wanted to hurt Mortimer, too.
Before it got too scary for Mortimer, one of the human men came back into the bathroom. It was the same man that had almost killed him earlier in the week.
“What are you all doing in here?” the man exclaimed when he saw the group of moths and other bugs in the bathroom. “Did we leave a window open or a light on?”
He was very cross and Mortimer knew that bugs, even military bugs, were no match for the man. He stayed very still in his hiding spot, hoping that the man would recognize him and not kill him. He closed his eyes and plugged his ears to not hear the angry screams of the other moths and bugs that the man squished.
The other humans were very concerned when the man emerged and told them what he’d found. Had he seen Mortimer? Had he killed him, too? The man couldn’t be sure, since the moths all looked alike. The women were sad, but they all agreed that those moths had been up to no good. More moths came in before the night was over, more than any other night, and the humans banded together to protect themselves from the invasion. Mortimer couldn’t fault them, even though he knew that every battle put him in danger. He couldn’t fly away, though, and abandon the humans to the moths. Not after they’d been so friendly to him.
Then next morning, one of the humans was so excited to see him that Mortimer almost flew off his post to join in her celebration. He wasn’t sure how she’d respond to that, so he chose to stay where he was and catch up on all the sleep he’d missed the night before.
Another night, he heard quite a commotion out in the living room. Mortimer stuck his head out the door.
“I smell a tasty moth!!” screeched a very large bat that was making circles around the living room. Mortimer knew the bat meant him, since the other moths had decided not to bother the humans anymore. Mortimer was very frightened until the humans managed to get the bat out of the house. Then, he was so grateful he could not contain himself! He got up and flew around the bathroom a few times, even venturing out into the kitchen to hang out on the curtains for a few minutes. He was sure to get back to his spot on the toilet, though, before too long. There was still the chance that the humans might mistake him for one of the evil moths that had attacked them earlier.
Not long after they came, the humans started packing their things and talking about leaving. Mortimer knew this was his last chance to show the humans how much he appreciated their visit. When the man, the killing man who spared Mortimer so many times, lingered in the bathroom to shave that last morning, Mortimer flew up and landed right in his hair.
“Good Bye! I’ll miss you!” Mortimer said with his wings flapping.
The man laughed as he plucked Mortimer from his hair. He set Mortimer gently on the sink and Mortimer enjoyed a great drink from the water droplets while the man finished shaving. When the man was finished, he picked Mortimer up and placed him back on the base of the toilet where he’d watched the family all week long.
“Good bye,” the man said. “We’ll be back next year.”
Mortimer wiggled his feelers in response. He would wait and keep vigil over their cottage until his humans returned.
The End
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