Last night, after I arrived home from looking at the meteor shower, I sat down to transfer images from my camera to my computer of the starry night sky. After the transfer was complete, I heard a noise next to me. The sheet over the window started shaking, and what looked like a grey wing flapped wildly.

At first, I thought it was a very large moth, but then it freed itself and began flying around the room. It circled around and around. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a small bat and it was in my apartment.

I immediately squealed like a little girl in shock, excitement and fright before rushing from the room to look for a weapon to defend myself. I can’t say that it was my most manly moment, but my mind was already racing wondering how I was going to get it out of my apartment.

Daisy, my cat, immediately ran into the kitchen, opened a ground level cupboard and went deep inside to hide.

Coming back into the living room, I couldn’t find the bat anywhere. It had disappeared. Could it have gotten out the same way it probably came in, via the spaces around the air conditioner in the window?

I sat back down in my computer chair and checked around the window and the sheet curtain I had up. There was no sign of the bat. I wrote an e-mail to Sabine letting her know of the craziness I had experienced, and just after I hit send, the darn bat was flying over my head again, doing circles around the room.

I grabbed the broom and swung it at the bat. I missed it a few times, but eventually, I slightly swatted it with the brush, and it landed on the counter. It quickly hid underneath the toaster oven.

Nervously, I lifted the oven, and looked underneath. The bat was very nervous. It made itself very small, and stayed very still. I was worried I had hurt it. I knew I wanted to get it outside, so I grabbed two paper plates. I moved them towards the bat, and it started to open its mouth and make a high pitch noise. It was very nervous. I started to feel bad for the poor little thing. It was kind of cute, and not as scary hanging out on my counter, as it was flying around my head.

I pushed it to walk onto the plate, and then covered it with the other. It panicked, and I started to try to sooth it with hushing noises. I quickly brought it outside and let it free.

Going back inside, it was now two in the morning, my body was just pumping adrenaline so quickly. I didn’t know if I’d ever get to sleep, but in the end, it was a fun night, and I laughed until I was calm again.