Insomniac Night of Gothic Terror

3:00 am: I, Mr.B, surf still the web, the good Doctor tries and pretends to sleep:

Daisy : Meow, meow, meeeow.
Dr. B : She wants to be fed.
Mr. B : Ok I'll feed her right after I finish downloading this...
10 minutes later your humble narrater goes and feeds the cat.


3:30 am:
Daisy: Meo-off-wer, mee-ough, merf
Dr. B : (mumbling) Dayz-zee, go show Mr. B whatever you've got.
Mr. B : Here Daisy.

By the pale light of the dimmed down powerbook screen held over the bed's edge, the approaching Daisy is seen to be without prey. Relief.


4:30 am:
Now it's I that tries and pretends to sleep when I feel a sudden clawed pounce at my feet. More clawing and pouncing follow as I sit upright and see the shadowy fight move to the window screen where Daisy is scrambling to catch a winged creature, a not-moth-small winged creature, a brown bat.

I shoo Daisy and the bat flies up and begins its flit flit flitting figure 8 of the bedroom. I close the closet doors one and two. Make the hall door wide open. Put on some clothes. Grab a yesterday's tee shirt from the laundry hamper and manage after several minutes to use the tee shirt as a sail-wall to re-direct the bat's flight toward the hall, closing the bedroom door. I turn on the hall light and get my first good look at the creature. I estimate an at least 10 inch wing span, as its circuit is now going from one end of the short hall to the other repeatedly. Into the good Doctor's study to remove the screen from the window. (I built custom screens last summer to prevent, among other things, bat intrusions. ) Back to the hall where Daisy is excitedly making that "it-it-it" sound cats sometime make at prey as the night flyer passes overhead. Now toro toro and the bat comes unavoidably to land on the tee shirt now quickly folded once to contain the protesting, twitching, squeak-chattering fledermaus. To the window and out with you.

Replacing the screen I realize I'm fully awake, it is closing in on 5 am, and I am sooo hungry.

There was much oversleeping and latenesses later.

The cat's going to the vet.

For your insomniac gothic horror nights, I recommend Nosferatu freely downloadable as well as much else at Internet Archive.