An uninvited dinner guest...

11/9/09

Before dinner tonight I went to my room to wash my hands, and as I'm walking through the dark hallway towards the illuminated dining room, I see something black dart through the bright light of the dining room. I'm like "please tell me that was just a weird shadow…" with an uneasy feeling in my gut. So I warily emerge into the dinning room, and yep, sure enough, its not a shadow, it’s a bat. And Sr. Charlotte and Sr. Candide are just sitting at the table eating and talking as if it’s a normal occasion.
"Is there a bat flying around?!" I say, kind of stammeringly because I'm freaked out.
"Yes, just come sit down." Replies Sr. Charlotte with perfect calmness.
What?! How can I sit down? There is a nocturnal flying creature disturbing my meal! You told me I didn't need the rabies vaccine! I quickly run to my spot at the table while the bat continues to circle, and all the while I'm squirming and laughing and screaming a little bit. Aaaaah what if it flies under the table into my legs?! Sr. Charlotte says to me "You're really afraid aren't you?" And I explain my fear of close-flying things, birds and bats included. They're really surprised at my reaction, probably just as surprised as I am at their lack thereof. We shut off the lights and turn on the hallway lights to try to get it to fly out, but that doesn't really work. But just after we had turned them back on, it flew into the hallway and I gave this huuuuge sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it flew into the hallway, not outside. It probably came from the ceiling, where we had 2 workers remove a ceiling tile to fix our roof. So yeah, it lives with us I guess.
I asked them if that happens a lot, and they both kind of shrugged and were like, "Yeah." And I said, "Oh good." This will be a fun adventure. Maybe when I come back I will have been desensitized to my irrational fear…