Apr 17 - High Fives, Haikus, Bats, and Cheese Balls ... *blah blah blah*

Every day there are a slew of national holidays, be they weird and wacky or proper and practiced.  Under the weird/wacky subtitle, Apr 17 sings the praises of bats, cheese balls, haikus and the hearty high five.  I often choose just one holiday, but this timeI focused on bats with a sidebar or two.

I have two main memories with these particularly creepy chiropteras.  My first thoughts go to the ranch in Olancho, Honduras where I worked in the late 80s and early 90s.  One of the rooms had quite a nest of bats one had to avoid at night ... especially in bunks.  I still remember doctoring the forehead of a young girl who, from a top bunk, heard fluttering around and sat right up in bed at just the time a bat was about to fly directly over her.  There was quite a kerfuffle in that room after she HIGH FIVED the bat with her noggin.

Another bat-related memory is how I met some of my dearest friends in Nashville, including my close pal Jeffrey, who played the titular role in a theatrical production of Bat Boy: The Musical at Street Theatre Company while I was assisting with props (I found a cow's head!)  and I sang a few bars as a random character.  For those who are not familiar with Off Broadway sensations, this show is a hysterical macabre story around the tabloid claim that a half bat/half human child was found in a cave.  And yes, this is a photo of Jeffrey, either singing or wailing or both ... I can't remember.  It was all pretty "CHEESEBALL."

Jeffrey Williams in Bat Boy, 2007 
(Photo courtesy of Jose Herrera)

I will now celebrate all five holidays with one haiku:

High five to the bat

who ate a big cheeseball and

then sang, "Blah-blah-blah..."

It also happens to be BLAH BLAH BLAH Day, a day to put off stalled projects ... which I am celebrating anyway just by writing this blog here, so there.