ONCE UPON A TIME……3 years ago on the night before Halloween I set out
to go and pick up my mail in the village at the post office. It was dusk when I left the house, the
weather cold and very windy. When I
returned home it was already dark. As I turned into the driveway
approaching the garage and the door started opening, the light came on and I
noticed that an oak leaf had gotten caught in the hood ornament of my car. Not giving it another thought, I pulled in, parked
and went into the house.
The following evening
(Halloween) when I was backing out of the garage I briefly noticed the leaf in
the hood ornament again and just figured it would blow off as I
drove. But….on second thought….just
before I backed the car completely out of the garage I decided to get out of
the car and get rid of the leaf. I left
the car running, got out and reached for the hood ornament…….at the last second
I pulled my hand back just before I grabbed the leaf. Something didn't look right! I got my glasses (since I'm
blind as a bat) out off my purse, which was in the car, to take a better
look……DOUBLE TAKE!!!!!.....I couldn't believe what I saw!
Lodged in the car's hood
ornament was a small brown bat…..in perfect flight! In disbelief, I just stood there staring at
it like a deer in head lights, as it starred back at me. Couldn't tell if it was dead or alive and I
wasn't about to do any "finger poking" to find out.
DEAD or ALIVE….. it was, as
they say, a Kodak moment! Better
yet….front page of the National Enquirer, The Globe, The Star, all the morning
talk shows, Ellen, Opera Winfrey Show, a book deal and worldwide signing tour,
a motion picture deal…..then I slapped myself and ran into the house to grab my
camera! Nobody was going to believe this
one!
After taking gaggillions of
pictures I called Mercedes Roadside Service (for the hell of it) and asked them
to send someone out to remove the bat! The operator told me that she couldn't understand what I was saying and
asked me to repeat myself several times. She finally 'got it' and said "it was a first for
Mercedes". I told her that she
really didn't have to send someone out, but that I just had to call someone and
tell them!
During the "photo
shoot' I realized that the bat was dead when it never smiled or winced at the
camera flash! A friend of mine dislodged the bat for me after I
drove around with it in the hood ornament for a few days, it hung on tight, and
its wings even flapped in the wind! Yuck!!!!
Sent the photo to Mercedes
USA and they used it in their in-house publications!
THE END
