The fruit flies came in with some batch of fruit we got, probably the slightly damaged half-price fruit from the supermarket. They quickly multiplied. We had some apples from the farmers market sitting on the kitchen counter, but once they started swarming around that we had to put the apples in the refrigerator. They swarm around the bowl full of scraps destined for the compost pile, which means we have to put the compost out immediately, instead of waiting until the end of the day.

Finally I thought we had everything under control. Except now I notice that they’re swarming the pumpkins we have for decoration. Pumpkins! I thought to myself, why would fruit flies swarm around a vegetable, they’re fruit flies! But I quickly realized that pumpkins have seeds in them, which means they’re fruit. Fruit flies do not pay attention to the culinary distinctions that human beings make about certain kinds of food; they just look for fruit.