When Rain Met Noodles The Bat
By Steven Wolff
Author of "The Journey of Anica Storm"
The weather outside was blustery with blizzard like conditions... Snow was blowing in all directions and had already accumulated over a foot high, inching higher and higher. It's the kind of day where you want to stay indoors by the fire, enjoying a nice cup of hot coco.
Rain did just that, but she was at her friends house, spending the afternoon laughing and having fun. They had a great time talking and being silly, the kind of silliness that only two best friends can have. As with all things, it had to end and Rain had to leave to go home.
She was thankful that she didn't have too far to walk, only a few blocks from here to her house. Rain put on her warm winter coat and wrapped her fuzzy scarf around her neck, then dawned a fuzzy black stocking cap and then her mittens. Rain opened her arms wide for a good bye hug and they both hugged each other tight!
Her friend turned the handle of her door and opened it for Rain to leave. As she did you can hear the howl of the wind rushing in with several snow flurries melting almost instantly in the warm air of the house.
Rain looked out the door and said "Brrrrrrr!" as she took her first step into the deep snow. The sounds of the fire crackling in the fire place is now replaced with the howling of the wind and the sound of the snow scrunching under her feet... scrunch, scrunch, scrunch, every step she took.
It was hard for Rain to see with the wind and the snow blowing in the late afternoon. There was enough light out to make out patterns but it was difficult. Looking around, Rain realized she was the only one crazy enough to be out in this extreme weather.
Even bundled up and dressed warmly, the blowing cold winds & snow were finding spots on Rain's body to chill and make uncomfortable. Any snow that made it through melted and became cold water touching her skin and making her shiver. All Rain could think about was to keep going, one step further at a time... Scrunch... Scrunch... Scrunch.
As the winds and snow blew against her back, something in the wind bounced off of Rain's winter coat, barely enough to make her take notice. Rain stopped and turned around to see what felt like a tap on her shoulder but there was no one behind her. She looked all around and saw nothing but snow on the ground and blowing in the wind.
She was about to continue on when she heard a faint "Squeee" that made her freeze in her tracks. Rain turned her head to listen carefully but all she could hear is the sound of the blustery wind howling and the snow slapping the outside of her coat. Just as she was about to leave again...
"Squeeee" - the sound was weaker and growing faint.
Rain saw a black object embedded several inches down into the snow that stood out from the white surroundings.
Rain reached down and grabbed the small object in her hand and noticed it was a baby bat.
It was shivering & was dying from exposure. Rain cupped it in her mittens and tried to dry off any wet snow from its body. She put her hands up to her mouth and breathed several warm breaths, trying to warm the creature. It's eyes were closed as it tried flapping its wings but had no more strength left. Rain breathed warm air into her cupped mittens several times trying to warm it up.
"Don't die on me little fella." Rain said with her eyes watering up.
Rain opened her coat enough to put her hand holding the bat inside, under her arm. She could feel the little ice cold creature touching her warm skin but didn't care that it was cold. All she cared about was hoping that she could make it home in time to save this baby bat. Rain walked as fast as she could, trying not to shake the baby bat under her arm but yet determined to speed things up.
Rain had a few pounds extra on her and wasn't in the best shape of her life. Running was out of the question but she could walk pretty fast, even if it left her panting hard. She didn't care that she was having trouble catching her breath from being out of shape, she only cared about getting out of this weather which was still a few minutes away.
Soon, she could see her house and minutes later, Rain stormed through her front door to a chilly living room with an unlit fire place. Rain lived alone and there was no one to attend the fire in the fire place so it went out. This annoyed her as she grabbed a couple of wood logs and threw them in the stone fire place.
Rain took the mitten off her right hand and pointed her index finger at the two dry logs. Almost instantly lightning struck down through the chimney and lit the logs on fire! It continued striking the logs in several places as she continued to point and didn't stop until there was a roaring fire, only then did rain stop pointing and the lightning stopped.
Rain got down on her knees in front of the fire and pulled her hand out with the baby bat still in it. The warmth of the fire could be felt where she was sitting as she held it close but not too close. The baby bat was silent and not moving.
"Come on... do something."
Rain started to cry at the thought of losing this baby bat she just found.
While holding it close to the fire, she used the fire light to examine the details of the bat. It was the size of her thumb and looked like a furry black hamster but with wings tucked close to its body. It has a cute but creepy little face, a tiny little nose, cute little ears... and two little eyes that are closed.
Rain used her finger and gently petted its head and back, from the top down. Rain's legs started to get uncomfortable so she re-positioned herself lengthwise on the floor, next to the fire place. She couldn't believe she was trying to save a bat... she doesn't even like bats but for some reason, she couldn't leave this one in the snow to die.
Minutes turned to hours and soon Rain fell asleep with the motionless baby bat in her hand. Several hours later, Rain was awoken to a "POP" sound coming from a burning log in the fire place.
It took a second for her to wake up and then she shot straight up when she noticed the bat wasn't in her hand. She looked in the fire place, around it, around her, afraid that maybe she accidently rolled over on it so she stood up. The baby bat was no where on the floor!
She looked up on the ceiling, on the curtains, in her chair, behind her sofa... still nothing.
Rain began to freak!
"Where are you, you little booger?!"
She said looking around her house.
After looking for a good half hour, Rain finally gave up. She had looked everywhere and was frustrated that the baby bat she had just rescued was gone.
She raised her hands in the air and said "I give up." As she put her arms down to her side, she felt a little lump that went "Squeee!"
Rain quickly lifted her arm up and hanging upside down by a little hole in her shirt was the baby bat awake and looking at her. Its eyes almost smiled back at her.
It stretched its wings out and flapped it like it was fanning her but wasn't trying to fly.
"There you are!" Rain said as she grabbed the baby bat and looked at it face to face.
"Squeee" said the baby bat.
"Don't you give me any excuses Mister! You had me worried to death! I looked all over this house for you!" Rain said in an annoyed voice like a concerned parent.
Rain couldn't be mad long as the baby bat had the cutest eyes and knew how to work them. It melted Rain's heart when her eyes connected with his, almost instantly making her fall in love with this creepy little creature.
"You've got the cutest eyes" She said.
The bat closed them and went "Squeee"
"And the cutest sound! I love it when you do that." Rain said with a happy smile.
Her stress had gone away now that she can see that the baby bat is going to be okay.
"You must be hungry right?"
"Squeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"I'll take that as a Yes!" Rain said.
"Wait a sec... what do you eat? I have no clue."
She looks at the bat and looks around the house.
"Hmmmm. I know what to do."
Rain walks over to her mirror on the wall.
"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall..."
Suddenly the reflection in the mirror starts to liquefy and change into a face of a young female operator wearing a phone headset.
"Thank you for calling Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Inc., how may I help you?" the operator asked from the other side of the mirror.
"What do bats eat?" Rain asked.
"Hold on, let me look that up for you. One moment please."
The mirror went blurry and swirled different magical colors.
Rain couldn't see but could hear other operators in the call center talking to other folks in the background. The operator came back and asked "What kind of bat do you have?"
Rain had no clue and the question caught her off guard.
"Um... I don't know. She lifts him up and he hangs upside down from Rain's finger. This is what he looks like. I have no idea, I just found him."
"I'm going to put you on hold, one moment please."
The mirror makes a clicking sound and the mirror swirls again but this time there's on-hold music playing "Hey there little red riding hood" in the background.
"Screw this" Rain said not wanting to wait any longer.
"Mirror - end call."
The music stops abruptly with a click and goes back to being a regular mirror. Rain looks at the baby bat that's looking back at her while hanging upside down by her finger.
"Hmmm... let's see if I can figure something out. You've got wings, so you're in the bird family... Then what do birds eat? I don't think you like bird seed and I don't have any bird seeds so we can't do that." said Rain, trying to figure out what to give the baby bat to eat.
"The early bird always gets its worm!... but it's freezing cold outside and the ground's frozen, darn it." Rain's excitment faded quickly.
"I know!!!"
You could almost see the light bulb shining above her head as she rushes to the kitchen.
Rain gets excited and grabs a pot and fills it with water from the sink.
She then puts it on her stove top and heats up the water.
"Squeee Squeee!!!"
The baby bat flies away quickly and hides in the curtains.
Rain walks over to the curtain and looks at the frightened bat with a smile.
"You silly, I'm not going to cook you! I'm just heating up water to boil some noodles. I promise I wont hurt you, okay?"
She reaches up and gently grabs the baby bat and lets it hang under her arm.
After several minutes of cooking the spaghetti, she grabbed one limp strand and blew on it to cool it off. After it was cool, she said
"Hey you... what ever your name is."
"What IS your name?!?... We're going to have to work on that."
Anyhoo... here, try this."
Rain dangled the noodle by the bat and he grabbed it quickly and started to slurp it. In less than 5 seconds, the baby bat slurped the long strand of spaghetti completely!
Then the bat started to flap its wings in excitement... it wanted more!
"Squeeee!"
"hahaha... that was too cute! You like it? Hold on, let me get you another one."
Again, Rain dangled the noodle by its face and it quickly slurped it up joyfully.
"That's too precious! I think that's what I'm going to call you from now on... Noodles!"
"Squee!!!" said Noodles as it suddenly let go and started flying around the room in circles several times before landing back on Rain's shoulder. Noodles then crawled down Rain's shirt to hang in its favorite spot... underneath her arm, waiting to eat some more.
Rain laughed the rest of the evening as she fed Noodles spaghetti and he slurped it up like there was no tomorrow. After a while, his little belly was full and so was Rain's.
Rain decided to go lay down and made a little bed with some tissue in a box for Noodles to sleep in. She carefully kissed his little head and he squeed a content sound, wiggling happily.
"good night little fella." Rain said. "Thanks for not dying on me."
"Squeeee" said Noodles which Rain took as "Thank you for saving me momma."
That night, as Rain was sound asleep, Noodles climbed out of his box and got into bed with her, in his favorite spot tucked nicely in the groove of her arm where he closed his eyes and slept peacefully... in the spot where Rain warmed him up and saved his life.
The End.
:-)
(Comments Welcomed & Appreciated)
Copyright 2011-By Steven Wolff - This work is protected by Copyright law both in the U.S. & Internationally. No parts of this story can be used without written permission by me - Steven Wolff. All Rights Reserved.
