Hick's phone rang Friday night at 10:07. For a long time. Maybe 12 rings, though I wasn't counting. Hick didn't answer. He went to bed before 9:00. I asked him Saturday morning who had called, and the concept of a call seemed foreign to him.
"Well, you might want to check who it was. Hopefully not your brother needing something in Las Vegas."
"Huh. It was just a gal from the apartments. I think I know what it's about. They might have another bat in the building."
"What does she expect you to do, run over there at 10:30 at night?"
"I don't know. Probably. We had one bat, and one of the guys stomped it."
"You can't really get rid of them, can you? They're protected. I remember my old neighbor telling us about his daughter having them in her house somewhere around Jefferson City. I guess you'd have to call an exterminator, and maybe they could trap them and let them go somewhere else?"
"All you can do is put in a barrier where they can get out, but can't get back in. You're not supposed to trap them or do anything to them. If you're in contact with them, you're supposed to notify the conservation department, because they carry rabies."
"So that guy who stomped it could be in trouble if anybody found out?"
"Probably. He just stomped it and left it there on the floor!"
"I guess he didn't want to touch it."
"I picked it up by the foot and took it outside to put in the dumpster. I don't think that was enough contact that I could get rabies. So I ain't notifyin' anybody."
"Make sure you don't go trying to catch a live one! Rabies is forever. Everybody who gets it dies, unless you get the shots."
"I don't plan on messing with them. I'll have to see where they're getting in, and put something up."
The Harem needs to realize that Hick is not their 24/7/365 bat-buster. He's not on call.
I say if a bat is close enough to stomp, all BATS are off! That's not normal behavior. For a bat to be around people, I mean. Not for a person fighting to save himself from a possibly deadly bat bite.
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