Dr. Emily Carter, the vet, sighed. Her day had been a parade of purring kittens and overly enthusiastic puppies. Now, Mrs. Higgins was hustling in, practically dragging a large… something… wrapped in a floral-patterned blanket.
“Doctor, doctor! It’s Percy! He’s been… well, he’s not himself,” Mrs. Higgins panted, finally revealing the bundle. It was, as Emily suspected, a porcupine. A very grumpy-looking porcupine covered in more quills than usual.
“Percy?” Emily asked, raising an eyebrow. “You named your porcupine Percy?”
“He answers to it,” Mrs. Higgins said defensively. “Anyway, Buster, my pug, tried to make friends. Percy wasn’t receptive. Now Buster looks like a pincushion and Percy… well, he looks like he fought a cactus and lost.”
Emily examined Percy. He was, indeed, bristling. “Alright, Mrs. Higgins. This is going to be tricky. We need to remove these quills… carefully.”
For the next hour, Emily, her assistant Dave, and a very unhappy Percy were engaged in a delicate operation. Dave, wearing thick welding gloves, held Percy while Emily, armed with pliers, painstakingly extracted the quills.
“Ow! Careful!” yelled Mrs. Higgins every time Percy squeaked, even though Emily was the one getting stuck occasionally.
Finally, the last quill was out. Emily wiped her brow, exhausted. “Okay, Percy’s all clear. Buster will need antibiotics, but he’ll be fine too.”
Mrs. Higgins beamed. “Oh, thank you, Doctor! You’re a lifesaver!” She then leaned in conspiratorially. “He’s been so mopey lately. I think Percy was just lonely. I’m thinking of getting him a friend. Perhaps a… hedgehog?”
Emily stared, aghast. Dave, still wearing the welding gloves, choked back a laugh. Before Emily could formulate a polite, yet firm, ‘absolutely not,’ Percy waddled to the edge of the examination table, looked directly at Mrs. Higgins, and gave her the middle quill.
