The Chestnut Who Knew How to Ask for Help
To Our Dear Friend Skweek
One late afternoon as I was returning home from my patrol, I spotted something at our front door. Something small, round and beige-brown in colour. I thought it was a large chestnut in its dried pod, but it started to move, running from left to right on the mat. Strange, I thought, I don’t recall seeing chestnuts run. But who knows. . .? I figured I’d get closer and check, so I started to approach it very cautiously. If it could run, it could also bite or drive its quills into me – there are so many strange things in this world! My mum is one. She believes she’s going to publish a book, poor thing! Moving right along. . .
A few steps from the front door, I realised it wasn’t a chestnut – it was a tiny baby hedgehog!
“What are you doing here, petit? Where is your mum?”
He seemed astonished by my question. “Mum? She’s in the house! She’ll be bringing my dinner soon.”
“No,” I said, “I mean your mummy hedgehog. Where is she?”
“I love mum! I’m your brother!” he replied, and ran to the azalea flower bed to hide. I had the feeling he was emotional and was going to cry.
What was all this about, I wondered. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him this question? Maybe my siblings, the Maine Coons, knew something about this? I thought I’d better go inside and speak with them. I jumped on the patio fence and from there onto the windowsill as I always do. The Maine Coons were already sitting at the table enjoying their dinner. As it looked good and smelled delicious, I walked inside to join them, forgetting about the baby hedgehog in the process.
It was only much later, after dinner, when we were all gathered around mum for evening cuddles that I remembered him.
“The baby!” I exclaimed. “Did he get his dinner?”
Mum knew immediately whom I was talking about. “Yes, Freddy, he gobbled a full plate of kibbles and ham!”
Daddy cat Uddy, who had seemed to be in a deep asleep, suddenly raised his head. “The baby? What baby? Mum, you haven’t adopted someone new without telling us, have you?”
He was alarmed – and rightly so. Our mum is capable of adopting just about anybody and anything; not only birds and cats, but also ants, snails, butterflies, trees, and plants. When she goes to the garden centre, she probably asks the flowers around her, “Which one of you wants to come to my garden?” And I’m sure she genuinely expects a reply.
A little embarrassed, mum told us this story:
“A few days ago, I was taking some fresh air on the patio. The evening was beautiful and calm, the last rays of sunlight were illuminating the garden, and the birds were chirping everywhere. I hadn’t had time to go out yet that day, so I just stood there, enjoying this tiny moment of peace and quiet. The garden seemed empty. You’d all gone back into the house already, and no neighbouring cats had yet come in to ask for dinner.
“Usually, at this time between daylight and dusk, hedgehogs come out of the bamboo hedge or the rhododendron bed to quench their thirst at our large bowl at the end of the path. As you know, there is always fresh water available so that stray cats, birds, hedgehogs and occasionally bees and butterflies can drink. Our Freddy, who drinks the water from any puddle he finds where he walks (don’t you, sonny?), showed me how precious water is to free-roaming animals.
“It’s then that I spotted them: a couple of hedgehogs running on the path. The first one was a very large hedgehog mummy, possibly an older lady, which suddenly emerged from the flower bed and ran very quickly towards the water bowl. She was followed by a tiny baby, possibly her son. I’d never seen them before, and I’m sure you would say the same. We know all the hedgehogs that come to our garden, don’t we? Anyhow, I’d never seen this mummy hedgehog come into the garden before, and all the babies we’d seen up to that point this year had been bigger, probably older. She ran so fast that it was difficult for the baby to follow her, yet he was trying very hard.
“She didn’t care, didn’t look back to see where the baby was and didn’t wait for him. On the contrary, I felt she was doing everything she could to lose him. This was a strange behaviour; the other mummy hedgehogs are always so attentive to their kids!
Dear reader, this story is no longer available online. You can read it in my book, available on Amazon
I think your mum runs a one-person wildlife sanctuary, and all the local wildlife must love her.