With the prolonged drought, a lot of creatures are turning up inside buildings where they try to find shade and water.  Over the weekend we had a bat in the library.  It flew around creating much excitement.  “Bat!” “Bat!” “Where?!” “Over Current Periodicals!”  “There’s a bat!!!”

I’ve never gotten such a good look at a bat in flight. It was pointier than a bird, and absolutely silent in flight.  “Very good Library conduct to be that quiet,” my colleague observed.  We called Facilities, which said they’d send somebody over, whether with a net or not and whether to evict the bat or kill it they did not say.  As it turned out, a tall Library patron solved the problem with a borrowed sweater.  He swept the bat out of the air with the sweater, carried the bundled bat out the West door and unfolded the sweater on the sidewalk.  The poor frazzled bat lay there for a minute, panting and blinking in the sunlight.  Then it  levered up and flew off into the trees. I didn’t know bats could launch from flat on the ground. Way to go, bat!