The Birds

Today is Bring-Your-Favorite-Stuffed-Animal-to-Daycare for my daughter. Early this morning , right before I was ready to leave for work, and everyone else was still sleeping, I went in search of her blue bear, which we hadn't seen in a couple of days, but is her favorite, nonetheless. I thought I was so clever when I thought, "It could be in the basement! Let me look downstairs." Excitedly, I went downstairs to look for the bear, when suddenly AN ANIMAL WITH WINGS came swooping across the room. I let out the biggest scream I have ever screamed (leaving no further doubt in my mind that I truly am capable of screaming if necessary, rather than freezing up silently, like I had previously worried about), and ran back up stairs. Needless to say, my husband woke up and ran down to the first floor. I explained what I had seen. Was it a bat? Bird? Plane? Superhero? Are there more? How did it get in? Is there an intruder that let it in? I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOW, I replied. I ran out of there so fast, I didn't take notes. He went downstairs to check things out, and yes, there is something flying around down there. He said that he would take care of it, and I left for work.

During my drive to work I thought about how deathly afraid I am of birds -ever since I watched Alfred Hitchcock' The Birds about 20 years ago. I wasn't sure if I hoped it would be a bird or a bat that was flying around our basement. Well, I got to work and did a couple of cases. During a break, I called home. My husband had gone down to the basement again and determined that the critter was actually a bat. He had called a batman. They couldn't find the critter, but the batman did a thorough inspection and determined that there was no family of bats residing with us, and the bat hadn't been there very long (lack of bat droppings). He did find some places through which the critter may have entered our abode, and they are now plugged. We don't know if the bat is still with us or if it has made its way back out, so we are sleeping with the lights on for now.