An article I wrote from our newspaper from a few years back.

Things that go bump in the night!

My daughter, Jayme, lives with four cats, one dog, and 2 parakeets. Most of the time, they are one happy family, although she has found that the cats give the birds certain looks from time to time, but rarely do they come to blows. The birds have escaped from cage from time to time, but the cats seem to understand that family members are not to be had for dinner... at least not as the main course. The birds have shown little fear to the cats that they have known since they were only kittens. However, Jayme was awakened the other night by the sounds of crashing and banging in the other room.  The cats were bouncing off walls and she could see clearly the outline of a small distraught creature flying blindly in the dark. Greatly alarmed and fearing for her darling parakeets safety, she jumped out of the bed and went dashing to the middle of the room. she stood with her arm extended above her head, her finger outstretched in order to form a perch for the wayward bird. Usually, the birds will light on her finger, or, on her head if she pats it. But this time, the animal was evidently so alarmed, and rightly so, considering it was under assault by four wildly animated kitties, that it failed to light. She chased it about the darkened apartment patting her head repeatedly while entreating it with sweet talk and whistling, but it was to no avail. She finally decided to turn on the light and to trap it in a pillow case. She turned on the light, dashing by the bouncing kitties, and stuck her finger up for one last try only to find a BAT flying straight for her head. Suddenly, catching it on her finger did not seem like a great idea and alarmed she began to run around the apartment with the bat in pursuit of her, and the cats in pursuit of it. She hid behind a drape and quickly devised an alternative plan. She made a mad dash out of the apartment, grabbing four highly agitated cats, and raced out the door. Once she had the cats secure, she sneaked back inside, edging carefully along the wall and opened a couple of windows. Having done that, she locked herself in her room. She realized that the door needn't be locked, but felt safer doing that anyway. Meanwhile, the bat freed it's self via the open window, and the birds, well, they slept thru the whole ordeal.