Hi, Porcupine

Real and Imagined Beasts (Flash Fiction)

Photo by Sajad Nori on Unsplash

I was told once that it was possible to trade a nosebleed for silence.

I was too young to understand, but not by much.

My mom gave me a knife, just in case.

Just in case.

The knife said “porcupine” on it, and I was just young enough to think the knife was just in case I saw a porcupine.

I had never seen a porcupine, but it seem…