Okay, so I’m bad.
THE DAY
A very large chunk of the day was spent dealing with the aftermath of the bat. The vet was wonderful; the health department people tried to be helpful; the animal control people’s supervisor listened, too.
Here’s the thing: if I’d been a normal raggedy person, with zero knowledge of rabies . . . I might very well have been exposed. Or my kids. When I talked to the animal services people here–this is when I initially found the bat, mind you–I was told that a) they would have to get back to me to decide what to do; b) once they did get back to me, that they were short-staffed; so, c) could I please bring in the bat?
Well, sure, I can do that.
Except I was given no instructions. I needed none; I know about rabies. But what if I hadn’t?
Now you’re talking a problem because animal control, which is supposed to, you know, keep people safe . . . isn’t.
To their credit, the supervisor instantly understood where I was headed as soon as I decided to call them–and I only decided that because I got something like my seventh call from the county animal control people with yet more instructions. Mind you, this is about seven different calls with a little bit more information, a little bit more instruction, a little higher escalation of the problem. I finally called the contact guy back and said I wanted to talk to the head of animal control for the county. I wasn’t mad at him or anything, but what I was and am concerned about is the very haphazard way this has all been handled. It’s disorganized. It’s most certainly not working for the public terrifically well.
Now I do understand that animal control primarily investigates cases of bites, where there’s been actual contact. They have no protocol for someone in my situation and so the approach has been piecemeal. I get all that.
That still doesn’t make it good because can you imagine what might have happened if I had just scooped up the bat with my bare hands? Or not called my doc, not called on a few ID guys? Not known what counts as exposure or had the means to find out?
So, that was a big part of the morning. Tonight, there was a spring benefit for the nonprofit where the husband works. It was good, in a way, to see how many people in the community support the mission. I can also see why the husband is happier here.
And I did manage to write, and although the word count doesn’t show it, I know I did more than I could really tally because I was also nipping and tucking and rearranging as I went along, and I STILL ended up with more words. But I got to wrap this sucker up and move on. What will be instructive: to see how many words I write and then actually kill.
WRITING OUT LOUD
SHORT STORY (UNTITLED)
Day 1: 1000
Day 2: 2200
Day 3: 2100
Day 4: 1200
Day 5: 3300
Day 6: 2000
Day 7: 3400
Day 8: 1250
Blog Post: 580
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What I’m Watching:
Not a blessed thing. Didn’t even go to the gym because I lost all that time this morning with the damn bat thing. So decided that the work comes first.
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What I’m Reading:
Trying to find something to hold my interest.
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What I’m Listening to:
This little voice in my head going, Finish, finish, finish this.
