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Friday, February 18, 2011

Bat Daze

When I was about three or four years old, I remember this time when my brother and I were playing in the nursery at church. The nursery was in the basement at the end of a long hall. As I was looking through the toys, deciding what to play with, I saw a toy that I thought was a stuffed mouse. This next part of the story I remember very vividly, as if it happened in slow motion. I reached out to touch the fur on the back of the toy mouse, when suddenly its wings spread out and it took flight. It was a bat. My next memories of what happened involve running down the hallway screaming, mostly.

I'm thinking about that today because of something that happened at work this afternoon. It was around 1:30 and we were all dragging - you know how Friday afternoon in an office is. Suddenly I heard screaming behind me. I turned my head around and there was a huge bat, circling the room over and over again, sometimes dipping dangerously close to us. You can imagine the chaos that ensued. I immediately put the hood of my jacket up so the bat wouldn't get in my hair or bite my neck and turn me into a vampire.

I mostly stayed hidden under my hood for the entirety of the time the bat was in the office, though I peeked out from time to time to see if it was gone yet. And discovering it wasn't gone but was instead flying at me then away, then at me then away, I couldn't help but join in the squealing a little bit. Just as I was considering hiding under my desk, the bat flew out of the office, saving me from that embarrassment.

At that point, some brave coworkers figured out a way to get the bat out of the building. Now I'm scared to go outside, but I feel safe in the office at least.

In the aftermath of Bat Attack 2011, we all reflected on what had just happened. Some people had been brave, some (not naming any names) not so much. Some were embarrassed by how much they had screamed, some were proud of their heroic efforts to get it out. Some recounted how they'd tried to get away, but the bat had blocked their paths. Justin said he thought he made eye contact with it as it flew over our partition wall.

Not saying I'm grateful a bat got in the office, but it was certainly one of the most interesting things that's happened at work in awhile and it got us through the afternoon. Even if I do have to spend the evening researching rabies symptoms (just in case my hood wasn't as impenetrable as I hoped).

8 comments:

Unknown said...

OMG! You need to write Steve Carrell and the other writers of "The Office" so that they can have that happen there. So glad you are OK and are not a vampire. Did anyone try to use a tennis racket to get it out? My roommate once called my dad b/c there was a bat in our apt while I was at work, and all our onsite manager had done was give her a tennis racket. I can't remember what my dad did to get it out, but it was there for at least the half hour drive he had. Glad I missed it! I got a bird in my car in the Somerset parking structure last summer, and that was pretty scary, and birds aren't even something scary when you see them outside like bats are scary, even when outside!

Elizabeth Downie said...

Melissa, it did happen on the Office! Here's a clip.

http://vimeo.com/1064841

Katherine said...

Man, that's a good story! I like to picture it all in my head as I read it. Ha! I'm just really glad that I wasn't there, or I'd be researching rabies symptoms right with you!! I love the reflections in the second to last paragraph!! HA!

Anonymous said...

I consider you all really fortunate!

Heidi said...

That Office episode is I think my favorite of all time hahaha and I love that you put your hood up!!

On another note, bats make me justalittlebit nervous when they're flying around, but when they're sleeping all cured up in a little ball I think they are about the cutest things every. Haha prob because you can't see their teeth.

Erin Harris said...

A similar thing happened to Bruce Wayne once...

karajean said...

Love it! And I can totally relate to how even the MOST ridiculous things suddenly become **amazing** events when they happen in the office- especially on a Friday. Usually my department just leaves at 3 pm on Friday afternoons, to avoid all of that work we wouldn't do anyway even if we stayed.

Mark said...

There was a bat that lived in the crawl space under the institute. When my band practiced in the basement, it wouldn't come out because we were so loud. When music/noise quieted down, it would swoop around the room to see what was going on and terrorize our drummer. He kept a racquet next to his stool for self-defense.