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I heard a loud, wooden knock. That’s strange, I thought, Wasn’t the Amazon order coming tomorrow?

I opened the door and found not an Amazon delivery person but a man in a brown suit and tie. He wore square glasses and black shoes, and was opening a suitcase that was probably designed in the 1940s.

“Why hello there,” said the salesman, “would you be interested in some mothballs?”

“Mothballs?” I asked, “why would I need those?”

“Don’t you have a moth problem?” He asked.

“No, I do not have a moth problem, I haven’t seen a single moth in the past 5 years except in the Montreal Insectarium,” I said.

“But you never know when one might show up,” said the salesman.

“You cannot be serious, there’s no way this is an effective business model in the year 2023 common era.”

“You could have twenty mothballs made from the finest naphtha, all for just $10.99,” he said.

“What even IS naphtha?” I asked.

“It’s what mothballs are made of!” He said.

Notes

This was written in 7 minutes during a Joy of Writing meetup.

Feedback from The Joy of Writing group

• there is (or was?) a moth spray that smells like bubblegum
• expected the suitcase to be full of moths: now you have a moth problem!