Same Bat Channel

I fill the pitcher. Kate and I sit at the top of the porch steps. I tell her the latest developments. She says there must be 1,000 ideas on the Internet that will give us some clue how to rid ourselves of this little bat problem. After the first pint, she'll get her iPad from the car and we'll Google a few ideas we can live with.

We sit. We sip. We wait for Karl.

And occasionally I panic.

What if the bat has gone into hiding? What if we can't find it ? What if Karl gets here, makes a sweep of the house, finds nothing, and decides he has more important things to do? Could we even begin to close our eyes to sleep knowing that there is a winged beast, who is very likely mad as hell and feeling vengeful, lurking in the many dark shadows of Charlotte and Jack's cottage?

So every few sips, I go on a recon mission. I creep into the house quietly, hoping to sneak up on the bat without sending it sailing all over the room in a flight of pure panic.

Each time, I find Trinket perched somewhere looking as though she is on high alert.

Trinket and I are on the same wave length. We get each other. I talk. She talks. I swear she knows what I say. What I think.

I can't see the bat when I come in and scan the room. I ask Trinket for her expert help. (After all she found it in the first place.)

"Where is it, Trink?"

Each time, she jumps down from her perch and as she lands, the bat scrambles from its hiding place. Unfortunately, it also begins to fly shortly afterwards.

Trinket is evidently tracking the little SOB. And I am apparently incapable of doing much more than run around the room shreiking with the maturity of a six year old.

I dash out another door and onto another section of the porch. I circumnavigate the house and rejoin Kate on the top step. I tell her that the good news is that as long as there is Trinket, we'll find the damn bat.

But I am a little scared for Trinket. Where the hell is Karl?

Kate goes to the car and returns with her iPad. She starts a Google search - get bat out of house- and 2 billion sites are returned.

OK. Maybe now we'll get somewhere. Karl or no Karl