The sun had set. Everywhere around Henry, the forest was coming alive. He had been expecting this night for no less than two fortnights. He’d prepared himself. He’d rehearsed how it would all pan out. He’d even scavenged around the neighbourhood to find the perfect outfit. Balls were a rarity here. A rarity that Henry was now famous for bringing in to fashion. None of his friends had heard of such a thing before he’d presented the concept to them. But Henry wasn’t quite like everybody else here. You see, this technically wasn’t Henry’s first life. He has always felt like he always was the same person. Yet, when he’d try to recall them, his previous life’s memories were blurry, dreamlike. Time worked differently when you were a hedgehog.
Once upon a time, Henry was a banker. He wasn’t living a thrilling life. He would wake up, eat a bowl of porridge, go to work, come back home, mindlessly watch something on the television and go to sleep. Then he’d do it all over again. It wasn’t the most exciting life, but this was honest work. Occasionally, he’d see the few friends he had–bankers, mostly. Those had been good, happy memories. But amidst the hazy recollection of his past days, one moment stood out. The very pinnacle of every single day was the morning. When, right before going to work, he’d get to pick his outfit. Bankers didn’t get a lot of choice, mind you. But to Henry, whose creativity would run wild if unchecked, this was the perfect blend of bank-enforced stringency and freedom. It had to be a suit, obviously. It had to be dark coloured. But he’d read the dress-code rules enough to know them by heart. He would abide by the rules. And so, every day, he’d open his wardrobe and would try to piece up the most original, the most daring outfit. Someday he’d dress all black, trousers and vest. Some others, he’d risk a dark brown. Once, he’d even risked a dark olive colour. He liked to think he was having a colourful life. How little did he know.
This all happened on the Eve of Halloween, one of his favourite time of the year. The reason is obvious. Every single tree in the small city of Northampton would slowly turn a variation of yellow, orange or red. Today, Henry had decided on a mustard coloured trousers, an olive vest and a brown cravat covered with intricate patterns. If you turned the cravat upside down, you could make out tiny embroidered pumpkins. They were not allowed in the bank’s dress code per say–although nothing was explicitly forbidding pumpkins–but you couldn’t really see them anyway. Plus, it had seemed fitting to wear this cravat today. He’d gotten a few odd looks at the office from the other bankers. Surely, they were all jealous of his outfits. Most likely, none of them ever built up the courage to compliment him, or to inquire about how he was doing it. They’d never gotten the hang of sporting such daring colours. No, they definitely did not. It was a bright, sunny day. Therefore, instead of going straight home, Henry decided to walk around the neighbourhood. The dusk light was highlighting the autumn colour of the leaves and this was a show Henry did not want to miss. The sidewalk he was walking on followed the outskirts of the city, and he could just spot the forest from it. Taken by a sudden inspiration, he advanced towards it. He suddenly had a strong urge to go walk around the forest. Henry noticed that the declining light had already abandoned the forest undergrowth, it would not pierce the still dense foliage. This gave the place a gloomy atmosphere. But today was Halloween. If he ever was going to have a spooky walk around, it was going to be tonight.
And so, it is on a bright, sunny Halloween night that Henry the banker was last seen in Northampton.
He couldn’t really tell what happened once he got to the forest. It had been dark. It had been damp. He’d gotten a slight feeling of anticipation. But above all else, what he remembers is waking up at dawn, on the forest floor. He was laying there, inside his suit. Inside his suit. The thought took some time to sink in. Because when he finally managed to disentangle his way out of his banker’s trousers, he realised how much the trees had grown overnight. He was laying in front of the famously old oak tree. He knew the tree was big, but this was ridiculous. Looking up, he couldn’t tell how far up the tree went. That’s also when it struck him. His usually impeccable vision was extremely blurry. In fact, the markings on his cravat were just a jumble of fuzzy shapes.
When finally, the morning drowsiness started to wear off, he realised a couple of things. First, he was the one who had grown smaller. Second, he had a terrible eyesight. Third, those scents floating around that were giving him nausea were just regular, normal forest scents–they were just really strong. Fourth, he was on four legs.
Fifth, he was a hedgehog.
It had taken Henry a long time to overcome the shock of becoming an animal, with all the pros and cons that entailed. By his calculation, it had roughly been a year since the event happened. By now, the entire grove knew him. Mice, fellow hedgehogs, magpies, rats, squirrels and many more. They were all residents of the forest and they were all living a much happier life than any one banker he’d ever met. “Big H” they called him, or sometimes “Double H,” Henry the Hedgehog. He liked the title, and he loved having been able to bring fashion to the residents of Oak Grove, Northampton. They were so much more receptive than his usual public. He’d explained magpies how to wear jewellery. He’d shown other hedgehogs how to put those quills to use. Indeed, when he first pinned a leaf to his quills, he had been the centre of gossips for a week. He’d sparked a fashion fever among the other forest creatures when never had any other banker even acknowledged his outfits. He liked the look, the style that it gave him. The quills protruding from his back gave him a punk vibe while the variety of leaves available to him beat the most lavish banker’s suit he’d ever had.
The first few weeks had been rough, but eventually he’d managed to dig an empty burrow and had made it his home. He’d even found a broken mirror shard he’d placed in his living room. Very often, he’d try out leaves of different trees, leaves of different colours. One day, he knew. He’d open a salon and would help dress customers. From what he’d seen, fellow forest dwellers sorely needed his help.
Today however, as he found himself looking at that mirror shard, all the memories and trials he’d experienced for the past year suddenly came washing over him. He took a shuddering breath, steadied himself and looked up at his reflection. He was proud with the latest addition to his outfit: dried pine needles that complimented his autumn leaf cloak and his quills. He pinned a last beautiful scarlet oak leaf to one of his head quills and, happy with what he saw, came out of his burrow. He set off deeper into the grove, nearer to the big empty tree stump. That is where the ball was due. For some reason he couldn’t explain, a swarm of fireflies had taken residence into that stump and would bring light well past dusk. When he’d discovered that fact, Henry had gone to his new friends and suggested to organise a ball.
Of course, he’d then had to explain the very concept of a ball. Frogs, fellow hedgehogs and various forest creatures weren’t familiar with the idea. But that had brought everybody together in ways he hadn’t expected. Today, it wasn’t uncommon to see an opossum chattering with a rabbit.
Tonight, the grove was teeming with life indeed. Everybody was coming. A chamber orchestra of cicadas with two frogs were coming from his right. Even Benny the owl had perched herself to survey the event, ready to hoot once the ball had started. Careful to not damage the cape he’d taken the day to assemble, Henry slowly made his way to the trunk.
“Big H!” hailed Annie. “Are you ready to dance the whole night?” Annie had always had a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Apparently you’ve decided to not go alone today, given the care you’ve dressed yourself with. Yet, where is your lady?”
“Good evening Annie, I see that you’re always keen to get the latest gossips,” he said, cracking a smile. It had taken months to Henry to know how to act around her. She always displayed an energy he didn’t have, a charisma he lacked. She was so different, so alien that he simply couldn’t understand why she kept coming to him. They were as different as a hedgehog and a mouse can be. They had met close to a year ago, when he’d freshly become a hedgehog. She had been the one to show him how to dig a burrow. She had been the one introducing him to the grove and his new neighbours. She had been his first friend. Yet, even after all this, he sometimes couldn’t quite place her. Maybe that was because she was a mouse, not a hedgehog? Things must be so different for a mouse. She obviously couldn’t pin leaves to her non-existent quills, Henry pondered. But looking her over, some new ideas involving mouse specific fashion started to form in his mind.
They were trotting at a leisurely pace together. “Well, you know me. But I must admit, my dear Henry, that you are quite the puzzle yourself,” she said, pointing at a couple of crickets up ahead. “I always knew they’d fall for one another. At every ball, I’d see him fawning over her at every chance he’d get. Then you have James. It was pretty obvious how he’d end up, wasn’t it? I reckon everybody knew it before even he did, poor thing. Oh, and did you hear about Suzy? She’s taken to bartending. She’ll be the one serving the drinks tonight.” She eyed Henry. “You’re not listening, are you? Now see, that’s what I mean when I say that I can’t quite place you. By know, I should know at least who you’re going to dance with tonight. I wonder if you actually wanted to ask Suzy,” she mused.
Henry had never really been at ease in social settings. Maybe that was why Annie made it so easy, he didn’t have to participate too much in the conversation and she didn’t seem to mind. But as she gave him a detailed report of the most recent gossips, Henry’s heart rate started to pick up. He liked Suzy. She was a really sweet hedgehog, but she wasn’t the one. However, he trusted her more than Annie to keep what he’d say private. Annie’s continuous tattle had carried them to the trunk’s entrance. They were now part of a large crowd. As he’d guessed, the entire grove had wanted to come.
“Well dear, I must leave you. I hear that Jim has some important news to share tonight, I must know what this is about!” And with a flourish that would never cease to amaze Henry, she hopped around the crowd until she landed in front of another victim. She’d certainly worm out the latest gossips from him as well. Henry headed to the bar. Annie was right, he wanted to talk to Suzy.
“If it isn’t our lovely Henry coming to grace us with his presence! What can I get you, love?”
Henry looked up. The drinks were almost always rain water that had been left to macerate in various leaves. Each leaf would impregnate the water with a different taste. For instance, yew leaves gave a sour taste, cherry leaves gave a sweeter one. Suzy and Ana the racoon had devised a clever mechanism. You could trust Ana when it came to engineer things. Bartenders now only had to pull a string attached to the leaf. Doing so would tilt it and pour the water it contained. But there is more to bartending than just pulling strings. The recipient you’d drink from is almost as important as the leaf. If you poured water on a half walnut shell, you’d get a really different taste than if you’d drink the water from a hazelnut shell.
“An oak-lychee please,” said Henry.
“What’s wrong?” said Suzy. Lychee was well known for its use in steadying nerves. Suzy knew that.
“Can I trust you, Su’?” Henry gave her a pleading look. “I haven’t been myself for the past couple of days, ever since I heard of this ball coming up.”
“You know you can. It’s clear enough there’s someone tonight you want to meet.” She couldn’t entirely suppress a roguish grin as she added “And you’ve come to seek advice, haven’t you?” Why does every one treats this as a fun tidbit when it’s obviously causing me distress, thought Henry.
He rearranged a leaf on his cloak, took a nice, long gulp of his oak-lychee mixture and a deep breath. “Listen Su’, there is this… other hedgehog.” Suzy was quietly listening, and he continued “I don’t know, I’ve just always lived a quiet, lonely life. But now… I can’t help but think about him since that party we had over the pond near the birch tree a couple of months ago.”
Suzy perked up. “Him?” Henry could almost see the cogs turning behind her eyes. It took her barely a moment and a half to connect the dots. “Edward!” she exclaimed.
“Shhhhhhh! Not so loud!” Henry was mortified. He glimpsed Annie on his right angle her ears towards him. That mouse.
However, Suzy continued. “How nice it is of you to come here! Why, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced yet! I’m Suzy, hedgehog and barwoman.” She pointed at Henry who’d gone redder than any of the leaves he sported that night. “And this is Henry, although I believe you two are already acquainted, aren’t you?” Again, she cast that insufferable grin at Henry who was trying as he might to hide behind his equally red lychee shell.
“Hey Henry, it’s such a pleasure to meet you again!” Edward waved at Henry who was still cowering behind his lychee. He was halfway downing the entire drink when Edward spoke. Being too distracted from his drink, he choked on it and began to splutter as he tried to regain his composure. By now, Suzy was giggling uncontrollably behind the bar counter.
He’d barely managed to take two breaths in when he spoke. “Hi, ho- ‘u?” he mumbled with a raspy voice. Edward was looking at him quizzically. He coughed a couple of times and tried again. Do try to say something intelligible, he thought.
“‘U wango dan’ weeme?”
Edward looked at him in stunned silence while Suzy had broken into a full, hearty laugh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get what you meant.” Many groups had stopped talking now and were watching the scene with interest. A couple were laughing.
Being now redder than a summer cherry, Henry took a deep calming breath. He looked Edward in the eyes and asked again. “Would you like to dance with me?”
“Why, yes! I thought you’d never ask,” Edward answered with the corner of a smile. As they advanced onto the dance floor, Henry caught Suzy beaming at him. Finally, they arrived among the other couple and danced the ball’s opening song. Tonight was going to be the most lovely ball of all.