Thanks to Susan and Jesse for all the help.

Mary Lou Beattie

Susan Soderstrom

    It seemed that Prudence the teacher had one problem after another in her porcupine school at six-mile near Hudson’s Hope. Her father had reminded her early that morning that a porcupine school during a pandemic could present many problems.

    Even the very thought of keeping twelve prickly porcupines six feet apart was troubling. That morning at assembly the masks were being tossed around, the distances were getting so much closer amid all the noise and the quills were beginning to fly. 

    “What am I going to do?” she asked herself. "I can’t give up. I must be able to turn things around or I may as well quit being a teacher.” She had already dealt with two bullies who were intending to start a quill fight with some classmates. This time she was able to calm everyone down. But for how long? There and then she decided that drastic measures were necessary.

    The latest rumors were about another school opening a few fields away in the bush. And so after school Prudence set out to investigate. When she arrived at the clearing, she could hear unusual hissing and squealing sounds. The students had just been dismissed from school but to Prudence’s dismay they were not porcupines. They were strange looking animals none that Prudence had ever seen before.

    Just then Prudence’s father caught up to her on his afternoon walk. He recognized the animals as fishers, a rather large Martin like animal. 

    “There's a big difference between a Martin and a Fisher.” Prudence’s father said. “The fisher is a known enemy of our porcupine family and can be a fierce one too. So you must be very careful!”

    Prudence listened to her father but she already had a plan in place that would hopefully be good for both schools.

    She approached the Fisher teacher, Fred, aware of suspicions among the students. Fred was still in shock seeing this girl porcupine in his school and introducing herself as a teacher was almost too much. He agreed to listen to her plan but then could not see how it would work. Prudence proposed that she and Fred have an exchange student plan where Prudence would add a student, a Fisher to her class and Fred would have a porcupine join his group.