Show Time

Bo has a beer. Karl has a beer. Kate and I each have a beer.  And Kate and I set about examining all the gear Bo has brought with him for his premeditated rodent murder.

A gun. A real gun. It is heavy. Like a brick.

A flashlight. Will we be shooting long?  Will it be dark by the time we hunt it down?

As mason jar full of little round coppery pellets.  A whole mason jar. There must be 5,000 pellets. How lousy a shot is he?

Karl takes Bo to look for the bat. Thankfully it is still clinging to the stone corner of the fireplace, though Trinket is long gone, having grown bored with the lack of chase.

They return to the table to prepare for battle.

While they are deeply engrossed in planning the attack, Kate and I duck into the kitchen and text Charlotte.

"This is becoming quite a production."

"Did he bring Becky?"

He'd bring a Becky to kill a bat? She must be a beauty.

"No he brought someone named Bo. Who brought a gun."

"Oh."

And then "Let me know what happens with that."  As if to say, let me know if my house is still standing or looks like war-torn Berlin when it's over.  I am tempted to go pound the For Sale sign into the lawn now.

According to Karl and Bo we need to turn off the lights.

Oh do we now?

I'd turned on only one. I turn it off.

"How about the candles?" I ask.

"No!" they reply. They evidently like the mood lighting.

Figures.

They walk into the living room. They are wearing goggles. They look ridiculous.

Karl has the flashlight. It is a green light. The bat can't see the light but we can.

Hello, the bat can't see his own feet.  Kate and I keep going into the kitchen to giggle about how serious an undertaking this has become. But we go along with the high drama of it all.

Karl shines the light. Bo takes aim.

He fires off 7, 8, 9 shots. I am cowering in the kitchen with Kate, certain that the stuffing from the sofa is floating gently to the ground after the shoot out.

Then Karl says, "I think you got him. Let me get a towel." 

And with that, Kate and I are shreiking again.