The Day of the Bat

Here I am, just chilling in our home cave, hanging upside down with my brothers and sisters and other relatives. All bearing the mark of our clan – a white spot on the head. Life is good. Plenty of insects from the surrounding lakes to feed on. Distant sounds of heavy machinery working in the forest yonder are echoing in the cave, untouched by humans otherwise.

– Timber, ragazzi, move!, – shouted the man in a yellow helmet. A huge sequoia fell down. He’s been working non-stop 18 hours a day since he and his wife arrived in the Northern Lake province. He sorely missed Italian coffee and Lola, his wife, was sorely missing him. Alone in a foreign land, without speaking the language, she was wandering the streets and markets of the metropolis.

– “Miss, are you lost?”, – she heard after staring at her phone for about 10 minutes and almost panicking. Tim-Yan smiled with a row of uneven teeth and fixed his glasses.

She smiled back and pointed at the tourist flyer. “Oh, you’re headed to the food market? My lab is in the same direction. Just follow me.”

– “I can recommend our local speciality, the grilled bat with honey”, said Tim-Yan.

On the way, Tim-Yan went on and on about the specifics of the ecology of bats, how they live and interact with the environment affected by the activities of humans. “Wow, you know so much about bats”, gasped Lola as she looked up to the mountains.

The night was bright. The air was crisp.

I was flying high above the lake, catching small beetles. Mountains around the lake were still higher.

Ah, it’s so cold in December. The moon is so full. For a second there, I didn’t pay attention and flew straight into a net. Damn it.

Next thing I remember, I’m caged and taken somewhere in a van.

– “Hmm. I’d like that one, with the white spot on the head, please” – Lola pointed at a young bat in the cage.

– “你應該帶她去山洞”, said the vendor after they finished munching on the bat skewers.

The old lady giggled like a wrinkled hunched teenager. She pointed to the mountains and said in broken English: “Mountain very good, missus.”

– “I can take you, if you’re interested”, – suggested Tim-Yan.

Lola didn’t know what to say. After three weeks in the city, she felt lonely and bored. “Sure” – she said, although this wasn’t like her at all. A strange longing for these mountains overwhelmed her.

She paid 120 yuan for the ticket which included a boat ride. The cave was 11 km long and 2 km deep. The temperature inside, according to Tim-Yan, was a constant 15º throughout the year.

They went down and down, until they reached a little underground lake. A boat was waiting for them.

Just as they were about to step onto the boat, what seemed like thousands of bats descended on them and flew right through them. Lola felt their soft wings touching her face.

Shaken, she hurried back to the sunlight forgetting all about Tim-Yan and their tour.

– “I’m buying a ticket home”, – texted Lola to her husband. She could still feel the soft velvet on her face and an itching in her throat. She dreamt of flying above a lake surrounded by mountains that night.