Thomas Becker

Raining Bats and Dogs
My partner wakes up at 4:30 AM to prepare for work and to let our four-legged kids outside where they take advantage of their fenced-in yard.
Colleen is the middle child. She is a beautiful rescue dog, a Husky, German shepherd mix. She is white as snow. Colleen is nine years old but acts like a puppy half her age.
Bella is the oldest, a black and white, 12-year-old Shi Tzu, with an enormous chip on her shoulder. A shoulder that is only nine inches off the ground.
Bella does not bark, but she growls a lot.
She growls lightly when she wants outside, a little louder if she wants food and very loud when she meets a new dog. I think she growls so no one will think she only weighs eleven pounds.
The last puppy out the door is Samantha.
Samantha is three years old
She is a tan and white Shi Tzu and is very smart.
A few months ago, Samantha fell down the steps and tore a nail off her front paw while trying to break her fall.
Now, she is very careful when she traverses the stairs.
She will not begin coming down the steps until the front door is unlocked and she knows she is going to go outside.
They usually run out, take care of business and run back in. This morning something came in with them.
This is where I come into the story.
I wake up at 5:00 AM to use the bathroom and usually go straight back to bed.
I have retired after all!
This morning, everything changed. As I was heading back to bed I heard my partner scream, and Samantha yipping and yapping at something.
Shi Tzus are noted for being very quiet. Samantha doesn’t usually bark
My partner never screams.
We once had a large bird fly down the chimney into our bedroom.
I screamed!
My partner pulled the bird out of the air with her bare hands and petted it until it calmed down and she was able to let it out the front door.
My partner never panics.
Hearing Samantha barking, followed closely by my partner screaming, led me to believe there was something wrong going on downstairs.
Brilliant deduction!
I rushed down the steps in my pajamas to help. (I was unarmed because you don’t think at 5:00 AM.)
My partner told me a bat was flying around inside our house.
She had one of her Witch’s brooms ln her hand, trying to coax the bat out the back door.
Colleen was jumping up on the couch to try to catch it.
Samantha continued barking.
Bella looked the situation over, huffed in annoyance, and headed upstairs to go back to bed.
I am terrified of anything with wings, especially if it’s in the house, but I thought I would act like a knight in shining armor and coax the thing out the door.
I must have still been asleep.
Fortunately for me, the bat shied away from the kitchen lights and headed towards the dark basement.
As the flying rodent made its way into the basement, I turned on the lights and waved my arms to chase it into the laundry room.
Once we were in the laundry room, I fought to control my fear and closed the door behind me.
I was now trapped in a small dark room with an angry animal flying around the room diving and swooping maddeningly at my head while I continued to swing my arms like I was herding cattle.
Keeping my eyes glued to the dark silhouette of the flying creature, I quickly opened the basement door to provide the bat with an escape route.
Confused and angry, the bat swooped ever closer toward my head. I squeezed past the washer and dryer to reach the light switch and turn on the overhead lights.
Now the bat was really pi**ed off
He swooped at my head, missing me by inches.
Then he miraculously noticed the basement door open to the darkness outside, and he escaped.
I practically ran to the basement door, slamming it shut and locking it before the bat returned.
(Probably with reinforcements!)
I took a moment to catch my breath, (And to stop shaking), before going upstairs and acting all brave.
Colleen and Samantha had calmed down, the threat was gone.
I thanked them for protecting me and gave them big hugs.
After a few minutes, I went back to bed, but I did not go back to sleep
Every time I closed my eyes dozens of bats with long teeth and wild eyes would attack me.
I hope they are gone by tonight.

Hello
I want everyone to know that I didn't forget about you. I had plenty to say but was afraid of offending some people so I didn’t say anything. I realize now how stupid that was and would like to rectify the situation right now.
Please do not think I am writing this to offend people. I am not like that. I am just very suspicious about everything going on in the world today.
I would like to start with global warming. In case you wondered, I think global warming activists are all full of it. How can the Disney channel possibly say that a certain type of ship was undiscovered for centuries because of climate issues then turn around and say that we’re all going to die because of climate change? This was done several times during Disney’s production of the series “Rolling Back The waves”.
At the same time, Fox news refuses to air any news article that does not agree with its agenda. A case in point is the recent interviews with Ms. Cheney, but they will always lambaste any global warming activist who owns his or her jet. Regardless of the use, they make of it you can always read how much jet fuel is used by the vehicle.
I am not finished yet. I think we should talk about gender selection. I cannot think of anyone in their right mind who feels they have the right to make such an important decision as the gender of a child when the child is an infant. Yet I watched a television special on this issue just recently. Granted, there was much discussion on how the child will be treated and or mistreated if he or she has or does not have the reconstruction surgery.
One side felt it was the parent's duty to decide for the child while the other side felt there was enough science to dictate that a person born female remain female and vice versa. I feel strongly that both decisions would harm a sentient being.
Enough time on this. My final point is on the school discussions going on about various topics being taught in our classrooms. While I do not feel that I am well enough educated on the pros and cons of critical race theory, I am well enough educated to know that wrong to teach our children that certain people in history were bad, some were good, and we need to destroy every reminder of the bad history.
At the same time, I feel it is wrong to compare the destruction of 17th-century stone carvings by religious groups with which we don’t agree, with the destruction of an obscure statue of a Confederate general.
I am no longer young. I had the distinct pleasure of living through busing scandals, Jim Crow laws, and various other black/white atrocities that are too many to mention at this time.
One thing I feel they had in common was the fact that the problems have morphed into other problems. I felt then and I feel now that as soon as the truth is known, the problems will shrink dramatically.
I doubt if I agreed with anyone on these topics. I hope I have offended everyone equally.
Until the next time. Tom Becker