WHIDBEY ISLAND, WASH. — The first time Tom Riecken caught a big brown bat, there was screaming. Riecken and his wife, Mackenzie Powell, were pulling down walls in the attic of their new house after discovering it was home to thousands of local bats. There was dust in the air — a mixture of decimated drywall and years of decaying bat skeletons and guano. There were smells.
They had prepared themselves for a dirty renovation job — they couldn’t afford to hire professionals. It was December, and they thought their nocturnal roommates were gone for the winter. They didn’t expect to come face to face with one.
They named him Edward.