Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Fearful (08/23/07)
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TITLE: GONE BATTY | Previous Challenge Entry
By Debbie Thorkildsen
08/30/07 -
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“Mommy, there’s a bat in my room. Can I sleep with you?”
I struggled to open my eyelids and focus on my eight-year-old daughter. Her eyes were huge and expressed the fear and anxiety she felt. The red numbers on the clock by my bed told me it was 4:07 AM. I lifted the covers and whispered, “Hop in.”
A few hours later, I searched the house, but didn’t find a bat. Maybe Katie was only dreaming.
Before breakfast, Katie told each family member about the bat she’d seen in the night. Was it just a dream or was there really a bat hanging around somewhere?
“Mom, look.” The bite mark on Katie’s arm was infected in the centre. We thought she had been bitten by a spider as her arm had the usual redness and swelling typical of a spider bite, but she had never had an infection in the centre before. Was it a different kind of spider?
“Mom, can I sleep with you tonight? There’s bats and spiders in my bedroom.”
The pleading in my daughter’s eyes and voice couldn’t be denied. “Sure Honey, you can sleep with me.”
“I found Katie’s bat last night,” my husband informed me the next morning. “I was watching T.V. in the dark when this creature started flying around the room.”
“Did you get rid of it?” I wanted to know that this menace was gone for good.
“I turned on the lights and waited until it landed. Then I smacked it and swept it out the door.”
“You killed it right?” The only way to make sure it didn’t come back was to kill it.
“I think I broke its wings. It wasn’t going anywhere anyway.”
“You didn’t kill it?”
“No, but I’m sure it died anyway.”
“Why didn’t you put it out of its misery? What if it comes back?”
“I’m sure it’s dead.”
“Well, I want evidence. I’m sure that will help Katie to be able to sleep in her own bed again.”
The morning paper had a full-page article on bats. How timely. A huge ugly bat was pictured in one corner with its wings and fangs displayed.
The article said if you were awakened by a bat, there was a good chance you had already been bitten by it. Their teeth are so tiny, that bite marks are often undetectable. Also, a very small percentage of bats carry rabies.
I wasn’t sure if I should be reassured or not. It’s possible that Katie had been bitten by the bat since she had been awakened by it, but even if she was bitten, there was a very small chance that she could have contracted rabies. Was that really a spider bite on her arm or was it possibly a bat bite?
I researched bats and rabies on the Internet while my husband called the health inspectors for information. I learned that rabies, if contracted and left untreated, is always fatal; people die one hundred percent of the time if they do not receive injections to counteract rabies. If a person comes into contact with a bat, the best thing to do is to capture the bat and have it tested.
My husband and I searched our backyard and asked our neighbours to check theirs. No bat was found.
“Am I going to die?” Katie had overheard us talking about the bat and started asking questions.
“Well,” I hesitated, unsure of how much information I should give her. “There is a possibility that you were bitten by the bat. Sometimes bats carry a disease called rabies.”
“How soon am I going to die?” Katie’s eyes haunted me with the fear registered there.
“If the bat carried rabies you can get an injection so you won’t die.”
“I have to get a needle?” The fear in Katie’s wide eyes was overwhelming.
“Yes, Honey, I think you might have to have a needle, but you won’t die. A needle is better than dying, right?”
“I don’t want either.” Katie started heaving and retching. Her stomach constricted and convulsed for the next half hour. A cold cloth on her forehead and Mommy rubbing her back weren’t enough to distract her from her thoughts. Finally she asked, “Can I get the shot now?”
“Well, we’ll have to make arrangements with our doctor first.”
I wonder how she’ll react when she finds out she actually has to have eight injections, three the first time with single doses to follow...
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