When Mom was younger and still lived in California, she used to catch all sorts of critters and hang onto them as pets, or "babies." She mainly caught lady bugs and white moths. The lady bug would be kept in her top dresser drawer until her mm found them. The white moths would be kept in the pockets of her dress. She'd claim that they were her friends and would hold onto them until she had to go inside, in which she would then let the moths go.
One day she got distracted and forgot that she had them in her pockets. Her mother washed the dress. The next time she wore her dress and reached into her pockets, her hands were filled with fine, white, powder-ized moth bodies.
She told me this when I was five.
I still haven't forgiven her.
