Me too. Let’s hope!

i think your cousin is right. you’ll have to tell me what she says.

I have a cousin who’s afraid of birds, too. I’ll have to ask her if it extends to bats. I think she told me it went back to some early childhood trauma (she’s a psychotherapist).

intellectually i want to like bats. i think they’re pretty cool. but there’s something about my response (i’m terrified of birds, as well) that predates my intellect. the fear is so intense it’s almost like an autonomic nervous system thing. scream and run. scream and run.

(i’m still curious about the book, of course.)

You know, the poet Randall Jarrell wrote a most excellent children’s book called The Bat-Poet. Don’t know if your kids would like it, but I think you would. (And it might change your mind about the “ew” factor.)

Right — long lives, low reproductive rates. Makes them very vulnerable to population collapses. Scarey shit. And I’m afraid it is coming your way.