Ratones con alas

The title is credited to Meredith, I think, and it means "mice with wings." We use this phrase to describe two things: seagulls and bats.


Now, no one tell Grandma Doris this, because my parents aren't, but my mom and dad had a bat get into the house the other night.


Mom was downstairs on the computer. She saw the bat flying around the basement. She swore. The bat flew upstairs. My dad, sleeping in the recliner, awoke to a bat swooping over his head and my mom shouting. My dad screamed.

Now, Angie, Meredith, and Carrie remember our own bat-in-the house experience in college. Our parents were full of wise advice like "Bats won't hurt you" and comments like, "It couldn't have been the size of an eagle." And some of them laughed! Imagine this guy flapping circles over YOUR head!

The tables were turned!! Here's how it went when my parents told me the story yesterday:

Parents: It was HUGE! It's wings were THIS far apart!!!
Me: It only looks bigger inside in your environment than outside in the night sky.
Parents: It was SO scary.
Me: It was more scared of you that you were of it.

Not so helpful, huh, mom and dad?? Dad played the role of Carrie. Carrie got our bat out by steering it out the front door with a broom--Dad used a tennis racket, covered in a garbage bag, just in case he squashed the bat, he wouldn't get guts on his tennis racket. I'm not sure if my mom screamed as much as Angie and I did, though. At one point, we wondered why our upstairs neighbors didn't call the police. Our whole saga inspired the sample memoir I wrote as a model for my students when they had to write a memoir of their own. The class laughed so hard. Maybe I'll make it a picture book!