What's that in my belfry?

I first noticed it last Friday (now it is Tuesday). I didn't have my contacts in and it was dark... It was lurking in the space behind the headboard (created because I needed some variety and like the reassurance of a wall near my bed)...Looked like a big ball of cat fur...Perhaps blown there by the ceiling fan! Too busy (too tired) to care, I ignored it. I did keep my eye on it over the weekend. It didn't move (thank goodness), but probably wasn't a blowing tumbleweed of cat hair. Could be a horked up fur ball (darn-it, going to be hard to reach!) Closer (not too close) looks determined that it might be one of those furry mice that I bring home from the pet store for the cat to fling under the furniture and appliances...It is a long reach back there.

Then, (I think it was Sunday night) the light (on a timer) happens to be on, and I notice it has "eyes"--unlike the furry harmless mice-a-likes or any type of fur ball emanating from the cat!...But it still hasn't moved. I am going to have to do something about it---soon. Next morning, I notice the legs--at least I think they are legs--stubby things sticking out the back--too big for a bug (and not moving thank goodness), I make up my mind that somehow a dead bat is lurking just beyond my head each night!! (Yikes!) How did it get there? Where is the security breach? How did no one notice if bats were about? Is this akin to the horses heads in bed? (double yikes!)

So, this morning, I peek again--yep, the eyes, legs--not a cat toy--still cozied up to the baseboard! Come to think of it the cat moved out about 5 weeks ago, taking up residence in the guest room. I thought it was the air conditioning---but maybe I'll be joining him. Maybe this is some weird thing from some of those country's S. visits that has crawled out of his suitcase, missed by the customs inspectors --even more unpalatable than the bat idea! I am really going to have to do something!

After work, I procrastinate by heating left overs, reading the paper, sorting the mail and surfing the internet until eventually I have to face that fact that I have to go upstairs and deal with the not moving, lurking thing with eyes and short legs that could be a foreign bat-like disgusting thing--that could maybe spring to life (after all this time of not moving?) behind the headboard of the bed I have to sleep in tonight. I get my trusty "recycled" target bag from the dispenser (strong) and the long reach tool left from some elderly relatives hip surgery (so they could pick up things off the floor and put on their socks without bending over)--and I get up the courage to confront this monster behind the head of my bed.

By taking off all the pillows, reaching through the bars (brass-like bed), I can get into position to grab the "thing" with the pincher pole, and whisk it into the target bag--quickly in case it has been playing possum for 5 days! As the "grip" moves into place, I sense that it is "crunchy"--so it is either an ominous foreign toxic morphing ready-to-come-to-life thing (I have seen the pod people movie!)--or a very, very, very, dead bat (How could I not have seen this all this time?) It is in my clutches and into the bag in a flash, withdrawn from the space without a trace!

I peer into the bag--have no idea what it is. Not a bat (or at least I don't think so, based on the bat bodies I found when we first moved here). Not a bug--and thankfully not alive!! It looks like a decomposing frog!! (No wonder the cat moved out!)

So I put away my extradition equipment, and save the bag to ask some expert (like 7 year old Z) what they think it is.--But it is staying in the garage, and I still have no idea how it got into my bedroom--although the suitcase is looking more and more suspect!!

Interestingly, the entombing bag was barely tucked into the garage, when the cat saunters back into the master bedroom--on alert. After a sweep of the bed and pillows, he settled into his old favorite spot! Apparently whatever it was/is, the cat wanted no part of it--and neither do I, really. I just want to know how it got there, so I can prevent a recurrence.

Somehow, I can't help but think that somehow S. is behind this---he took down all the lights in the closet to clean them and get new bulbs--which required a trip to the depot, leaving the ceiling, exposed, unattended for long enough for this something to find it's way through those tiny holes!! Why do I have to be the one to discover, monitor, and dispose of the thing---when S probably smuggled it in from Mexico in his suitcase? It is difficult to be the director of homeland security here!

The happy ending (for me and the cat) is that it showed no signs of life.....Whatever it is. Downside is that maybe I need look harder for a cleaning lady--a brave one!