A Little Comedy

“I just don’t get it. Why do you spend so much time trying to sound like these humans?” Lily watches her friend quizzically as she practices her act.

“I’ve told you a million times; it’s funny! If I get the voice right, they really think that one of the other humans is talking! It’s comedy gold!” Agatha may not be understood even by her closest friend, but she won’t let that stop her from doing what she does best to bring herself a good laugh.

Most of the ladybugs around this house do their best to act as though the humans aren’t even there. They do this in hopes that they will get the same in return - harmless indifference rather than ill will aimed their way.

There are the few, however, that choose interaction with their giant housemates over living their separate lives. You know the kind. You’ve probably had a run in or two (or a thousand if you live in a home populous with ladybugs) with these guys. Some of them will fly directly at your head nonstop for a whole minute without regard to your thrashing and the dangers that could mean for them. They may be living on the edge, but that edge sure can get annoying when it happens to be so close to your ears. You may not see it this way in the moment, but these little rascals deserve a hefty amount of respect for the audacity of their stunts.

One such rebellious beetle is Agatha who has taken her feats to a more creative height than any of her peers. This ladybug does impressions of people around her to make them think they are hearing things from the mouths of their family members. She thinks she is very funny. A true comedienne - she does her act not for an audience, but for her own enjoyment.

Luck is on her side, as she has the pleasure of sharing a home with a large family. There are eight regular voices for her to master (plus a seemingly never-ending cast of extras), but so far she has been learning to refine her craft with just three voices in her arsenal - those of a mother, a father, and a young daughter. She doesn’t really know their names, so why should you? As Agatha always says, “what you don’t know, you can use against anyone - as long as you say it well.” Keep that in mind.

Kicking around a tiny dust ball, Lily asks, “So are you glad you got in a house with people who speak the same language as you? You know, so you can do your inpressions.”

“Impressions,” Agatha corrected quickly - inciting an eye roll from Lily. She then continued, “I could do them anyway if I just said the exact same thing as I heard. The only problem is I wouldn’t necessarily know what it meant. So yeah. I guess so. I like knowing what they say in confusion.” Laughing, Agatha added, “my favorite is when they start talking to themselves and saying things like “great, I must be hearing things.” It gets me every time!”

Although Lily is still trying to wrap her head around the why, she has to admit, she loves to watch her friend at work. It’s incredibly strange to hear these voices she hears coming from the loud humans instead bursting forth from Agatha’s tiny frame. It’s also very impressive how she has figured out the best places to stand in order to project her voice to a level at which the humans will not only notice it, but also be able to distinguish some of the words. After much trial and error, Agatha has discovered that she can most effectively get the job done from a spot she likes to call “Brass City” - it’s where the shiny rings and strings reside. Lily loves to come along to watch and to crawl down the shining strings - what a rush!

Getting into position, Agatha coughs slightly to clear her throat, then waits. When the mother has entered the room and started opening a box, Agatha opens her mouth and, in the voice of a middle-aged white man, says, “Can you come in here for a minute?”

The mother walks back to the door and yells out, “Honey, what did you say?”

To which, the father replies, “What do you mean? I didn’t say anything.”

Looking just as confused as she feels, the mother walks back across the room, mumbling to herself about how she must be “losing it” - whatever that means.

Agatha can barely contain herself. She is rolling in Brass City, laughing quietly, as happy as a ladybug can be.