The Grotesques are the narrator's downstairs neighbors when she lives in the apartment. The father is a Peruvian businessman who wears pinstripe suits, and he is married to an ancient, invalid woman who suffers epileptic seizures. Their very fat daughter also lives with them; she teaches piano lessons every afternoon and calls the narrator every evening to ask if she is disturbed by the noise. When the Grotesques invite her to tea, the narrator must accept.