I did a good thing tonight, I hope

I am behind on my blogging -- you wonderful people have piled up comments to which I have not yet responded; and I have several new post ideas; as well as a couple of friends to link; and a few new links that I have found this week that pertain to the central purpose of this blog, namely, resources for that divine being who condescends to grace the Earth with Her presence, Woman.

But tonight I was busy wandering through an old building. It's a long story as to why I was there. In this somewhat neglected old building in a very bad, scary part of town, it turns out that bats have made a home for themselves. We saw guano piles here and there, and a few dead ones on the floor.

Seems a bat that lands on flat, smooth ground cannot lift itself into the air and will eventually die, a miserable death. Kind of like one of those big beetles that can't right themselves.

One of us nudged one of the dead, floor-bound bats with his boot, only to discover, by its shudder and clicks, that it was still alive.

We kept on going. But I was bothered. I wouldn't like to die of thirst and starvation, helpless upon a floor somewhere.

But bats, although they do a good job eating up pestilent bugs, are infamous for carrying rabies. Would I be a fool to try to help this one? I didn't dare pick it up by hand.

My conscience tugged at me still. Finally I found a closet with a pile of junk in it -- no dustpan as I would have liked, but a small trash can would do, and part of a vacuum cleaner assembly in lieu of a broom.

I drafted a companion to nudge the little animal with the vacuum cleaner thingee into the wastebasket, then, with the sweat of fear starting to drip down my neck, for the bat was only a few inches from my bare hand, carried the creature hastily outside and set it in a leaf pile.