The misadventures of Prickles the Hedgehog

 It was the evening of December 5, 2021. Our family went to church to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional. After the devotional ended, we headed home and started getting ready for bed. 

Before long, I heard Shadow barking out back. It wasn’t his usual bark so I opened the door to call him in, but I heard what sounded like a cat being attacked. 

I quickly put on a pair of Dale’s flip flops and grabbed my phone. As I walked around our yard in the dark, I called out “here, kitty, kitty.” Kimball followed me because he also heard the noise and said it sounded like a pig squealing. 

Before I knew it, I stepped on something squishy which quivered and hissed. I started screaming and Kimball started laughing as I collapsed against the trampoline in shock. Once I regained my composure, I looked closer at what looked like a pile of dried grass and realized it was covered in blood. It didn’t take long to realize it was a hedgehog and I didn’t have the strength to deal with it. 

I went inside and informed Dale that there was a dying hedgehog out back and I needed him to take care of it. He grabbed his maul and went outback. The hedgehog had moved several feet when we got out there, and after looking at it for a minute, Dale realized it didn’t look like it was dying after all. He also recalled that our neighbors own a hedgehog, to which Cameron informed us that the hedgehog had gone missing a while ago.

I called our neighbor and told her that we found a hedgehog in our backyard. She came up with her husband and son, and they confirmed that it was their hedgehog which had gone missing over 6 months ago. She told me that they were just about to get rid of all the hedgehog accessories and suddenly asked if we wanted a hedgehog. The boys were ecstatic, but I couldn’t commit if this poor creature was going to die from it’s injuries. 

They took it home, cleaned it up and couldn’t find any injuries on the hedgehog, so the blood was probably from Shadow. The next day I got a text from them saying that they were still willing to give us the hedgehog and offered us a fish/fish tank as well. The boys ran down to help empty/clean out the cage and tank and suddenly we were the owners of a hedgehog and another fish. Welcome to the family Sonic (formerly known as Ms Prickles)!