"Fine, fine, spiders I'll allow," he says, the phone back under his cheek as he works on the fusebox. "Mice too, given how often Cosmo used to leave one for me to find. But if it's bats you're worried about, be glad I'm not sending you up to the attic."

In truth, there had never been bats. A family of raccoons, once, but never bats. Snapping the new fuse in, he flicks the switch back. "Let me know when you've gotten to the library."