It happened to me

A bat was trapped in my house

Luckily for me, when I noticed something dark and squeaky fluttering along the living-room ceiling, I was not home alone. My übercompetent roommate got the lil’ flapper out of the house while I cowered under a parka on the couch. She fetched a stepladder, an empty garbage can and a cutting board and waited for Bitey McBattersen to stop flying and chillax. Once it decided to hang from the crown molding for a spell, she climbed the ladder and put the garbage can over the bat, against the ceiling. By shaking the can a little, she got the bat to let go of the ceiling, and then slid the cutting board across the opening of the garbage can as a lid. The bat-in-a-can was quickly transferred outside, and voilà, it was safe for me to come out from under my protective coat.

—Ruth Welte