Bats

"I worry about you, Mikey.” My sister said. “Maybe, someday there
will be a cure.”

“When are you coming to visit me?” I asked

“Very Soon,” she replied. “Bye for now.”

I sat for a minute listening through the device as the dial tone
faded.

My wife and I bought the house a month before we married. It is an
old house but it has been fully restored. The smell of new paint and
carpet is strong. My wife lovingly decorated the walls with
pictures of Jesus and ceramic plaques of floral entwined crosses.

The evening before, my wife and I were outside cooking on the grill;
I looked up and noticed a black form disappeared into the side of the
house. Several more birdlike forms went into the hole and they were
followed by several more. With each group of the flying black
torpedoes I grew more uneasy. Today, I was going to go into the
attic and find out how bad the situation was.

The steps to the attic were gone. A swinging door had been rigged
so that the door still swung open and shut with the use of a spring
system. I got a flashlight. Then I retrieved a ladder from the
garage. As I walked through the house with it I almost knocked one
of my wife’s cute little porcelain angel knick-knacks off a book
case.

I had to struggle to maintain my balance on the ladder as I pried
open the attic door. I swung my body into the attic entrance.
Instantly I choked on a foul odor my eyes stung. I immediately
retreated, but when I reached my leg out to place my foot
on the ladder, the ladder fell away. I pulled my leg back into the
opening and as I did the attic door slammed shut.

I sat just inside the attic space balanced precariously on a thin
plank of pine wood. It was pitch dark except for dim lights
streaming through a vented screen window 24 feet away. I could see a
stream of light escaping from the outside into the attic from a small
hole. I sat for a minute to catch my breath and wait for my eyes to
adjust to the dark surroundings. I turned on the flash light. I
swung the light beams up left and right, my breath left me. The
attic ceiling was a bat cave; hundreds of bats were hanging from
middle of it. I flashed the light down and directly under the bats was a large
pile of dung. Quickly I turned off the flash light. I didn’t want to
chance disturbing them with light. Petrified I held my breath, I
struggled to think. What can I do, I wondered. How am I going to
get out of this attic!

My wife was at work. And it would be hours before she would be
returning home. There was no way I could survive the stench for that
long a time. I would have to figure something out on my own. I
cautiously guided the beam of the flash light around the attic.
There was no solid flooring beyond a small piece of ply wood right
next to the attic entrance. I cautiously slid my body onto the
wooden plank. I felt faint. The stink was intolerable. I could
feel sweat entering my eyes stinging me blind. Within seconds my
cloths were soaking wet.

I looked towards the vent it seemed so far away. If I could get to
it I could open it, I would at least be able to breath and maybe I
could even shout out and get someone’s attention. Unfortunately, I
would have to go directly under the bats and traverse an area slimy
with bat shit. I pulled myself up. I balanced my weight on the attic
rafters carefully and began to step my way towards the vented
window. As I got closer to the area the bats inhabited I
could feel my body trembling, I could feel the knots in my stomach.
I had no choice but to keep going. The light from the small hole in
the wall blinded me for a second. I grabbed a rafter it felt
wet and slimy and I felt my hands slide off. I tittered heavily
striking some of the rafters. I regained my balance, but I could feel
vibrations and I could feel the board I was standing on jump up and
down. Suddenly I could hear a flapping noise and I could tell the
bats were flying all around my head. I flung my arms around to
defend myself from the on slot. I could feel pain as my hair was
pulled; one little beast was entangled, and it struggled to
escape. I felt stings on my arm an neck. I felt another prick at
my ear lobe and I felt a gushing stream of liquid going down my
neck. Blindly I floundered and I lost my footing. I felt myself
falling. There was crushing pain as my body went through the ceiling
tiles and a thud as I landed on the living room floor. I could see
bottom rim of the sofa’s plaid upholstery pattern as I blacked out.

When I opened my eyes I had no sense of time. I couldn’t move. My
brain slowly began to function and I remembered. In pain and anquish
I screamed out, loud and long. Finally, I was able to get the
release that I denied myself when I feared I would disturb hells
demons.

From my vantage point on the floor of the living room I could see and
hear as the key turned in the door knob. My wife rushed in and knelt
at my side.

“What happened?” She asked as she looked round at the debris on the
floor and glanced up at the ceiling.

“I went into the attic to check and see if we have bats.”

“Can you move?” she asked.

“Only my head” I told her.

“Well, stay still,” I’ll call an ambulance.

My hospital stay turned into weeks then into months. I had a lot of
broken bones and was in rehab for a long time. Finally my wife
brought me home.

“Dear, would you like more green peas?” My wife asked, as she
spooned a heaping pile of green mush into my mouth.

“No,” I said as I spit out the mush and turned my head to avoid the
assaulting utensil.

She stuck a straw into my mouth. I swallowed the cold sweet ice tea.

"Do you think they will ever develop a cure for paralysis,” I asked
my wife.

“Yes, honey they sure will and you'll be up and walking again one of
these days real soon. Don’t you forget now, with God all things are
possible. In fact Preacher Taber is having a healing tent meeting
tonight. Wanna go?”