Woolthing

… Or the loft.

This week has been very hot so we’ve had the doors wide open and fans going to make it bearable.    Well last night we were sitting around simmering when a small dark shape flitted past us a couple of times and we heard an unusual sound.  We thought something had come in and gone out again.  Then we looked up to the cathedral ceiling in our space and low and behold there was a small, very silent shape circling.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen we had a bat in our apartment.

Now, I’m not one to freak out very easily, but this kind of freaked me out.  Yes, I pulled my feet up and covered my head for an instant, until common sense kicked in.

We have seen bats flitting around outside and I think it’s kind of cool.  But I didn’t want one to fly into our place.  My concern was what we would do if it couldn’t get out and it did circle for a while.  Then I thought about the nature of a bat.  We turned off the lights.  Turned off the fan and moved it away from the door and silently watched and waited.  The bat circled several times getting a little bit lower every time and then it flew out the door and did not return.  Makes sense, of course, since they do live in small tight places.  I would hope they could get out of a big cave like our apartment.  Now a bird would never have figured it out.

It makes me think of all the things that we are afraid of.  Snakes, spiders, bats … all from the stories and fairy tales of our childhood.  Those cautionary tales kept us safe in a way but they also made us fear things, perfectly innocent things, because they’re not pretty.  We put our guard down when something is pretty or cute but I suspect more people are injured from dog bites than snake bites.   Far too often we judge by appearance alone.  But I still don’t want a bat staying with me.