Last summer we were delighted to have friends visit from out of state. I was a bit worried about how they would enjoy life in rural Maine, and I looked askance around my home at the chipped paint, uneven floors, and dog nose smudged windows. My guests ignored the flaws of our house and embraced our lifestyle, slurping lobster and steamed clams at the picnic table and watching the stars and fireflies try to out twinkle each other at night.
On the morning they were to leave we all sat out on the porch for a final chat after breakfast. Something caught my eye. Something by the ceiling over my guests head. A dead leaf? No, I was not to be that lucky. It was ... a bat!
Now, it is one thing to have friends ignore yard sale furniture and bathrooms in need of an update... but a BAT in the house? I mean really, isn't that a bit much?
I wonder if they'll ever come back?
The bat hung out (pun intended) just like this all day. At dusk we had a glass of wine and watched the little thing wake up. (Who needs TV with entertainmet like THAT?) Twitch a foot, stretch out one leathery wing, rest. Open eyes, yawn deeply, stretch other wing. Rearrange feet. Rest. Then, it was off... silently swooping up and down the long porch. We flung the front door open wide and held up fabric baffles to steer it outside where the stars and fireflies waited.
1 comment:
Your bat was better mannered than mine. Mine last summer attached himself to the upstairs smoke detector. If it weren't for rabies I'd have just left him there, but I wrapped him and the smoke detector (which was hung on a nail so changing the battery was easy) in a very thick towel, carried it outdoors and shook him out onto the door mat and retrieved the smoke detector. He twitched a little, and tucked his wings in closer, and lay there in the shade of the porch all day. I didn't manage to spot him leaving.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
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