dear all,

while visiting friends last night, i noticed a stack of cards (like baseball
trading cards) belonging to one of their children. it was about vampire bats
and how they "eat blood"! naturally fascinating to children. what i liked
about the card was that it had the question, "what do baby vampire bats eat"?
on the front. i asked the couple of adults standing nearby, and my oldest son
(about to be eleven). various answers were given, mostly, "well, blood, i
guess"?

my son patiently explained to all that "of course, the mother bat goes out to
the local supermarket and buys artificial bat milk substitute, takes it home,
and gives it to the baby vampire bat in a bottle." i really had to laught, i
guess he has picked up on my subtleties thus far. luckily, the card had the
correct answer on the back, which i shared with the losing contestants . . .
it's mother's milk. of course! looks like vampire bat mothers have more sense
than some human ones.

carol b.