The Bats in the Slats

Grandpa Buzz lives in a beach house built on tall stilts. He loves his house and its big deck, where he grows tomatoes and fruit. Or, at least he would if it weren’t for the rats.

The rats are big, greedy thieves. They raid Grandpa’s garbage bins and leave a terrible mess. They steal his tomatoes and fruit. Why, they even ran off with his freshly baked apple pie! Grandpa has had enough of the nasty little beasts.

Under the house it’s dark and scary, and Grandpa is afraid of what might live down there. As it turns out a family of bats calls the dark space home, hanging out and sleeping under the slats of the deck. Grandpa only finds them when he waters his plants and water splashing through the slats wakes them up. When they ask Grandpa to stop leaving them with wet wings, he agrees—but only if they do him a favor in return. With the help of the bat family, Grandpa’s going to get rid of those rats for good!

Written by grandfather Thomas R. Ryan, Bats in the Slats is a fun poem with a twist ending sure to leave children laughing.

Thomas R. Ryan is a ninety-one-year-old attorney who writes to entertain his grandchildren and the children of the future.