Bat Cave

When I was a junior in college, I lived in the basement of an old three story building. It was creaky, dark and damp. It really didn't have any redeeming qualities except that it was cheap and had a washing machine in the adjoining building. As part of the retro-fitting to make the basement livable, they had put in a drop ceiling to cover all the ugly pipping. Late one night I woke up to the sound of a "thump!" I bolted up, but being nearly blind without my glasses, I couldn't see much. Then, all of sudden, I caught a quick, blurry movement from the window well. As I was tired and my mind was still waking up, my first thought was "that is the blackest mouse I have ever seen. I didn't realize they came in that color." It didn't really faze me and I was about to go back to sleep when it took flight! I screamed and dove under the covers. The mouse/bat started circling the room.

Since I was living alone at the time, I had barricaded myself in my room to keep out potential burglers. Instead, I had managed to trap myself in my room with a bat. (of which I was sure was rabid). Thinking relatively quickly (after I got tired of screaming and realized I was on my own to solve this issue), I covered my head with my comforter and inched my way to the door. With shaking hands, I finally got the door open. Amazingly, I found the phone and somehow called the landlord - all while under the blanket. It was about four in the morning, but I felt it completely within my rights to insist that he come over RIGHT NOW and take care of this situation. He must have been in bed, because I could hear his wife in the background taking my side, despite the fact he really saw no point in driving over. Yay for wives, because he finally showed up. Unfortunately it was a very sad end for the bat. We deduced that the bat had fallen into an open pipe and slide down to the drop ceiling. From there, it fell into the window well and my room. After seeing the bat's misfortune, I decided I was going to handle the situation from now on. I learned that if you wait until daylight, they are pretty easy to trap (and then set free). This was a good tip, because after bat #1, several more made their way into my room. It was not at all uncommon or unexpected to wake up and see one circling my bed. I decided to embrace the situation and renamed the apartment "Bat Cave."