Quill

(BTW, for two days in a row now, I have had my posts scheduled to post in the morning at 5:00 AM, but blogger hasn't posted them.  I've double checked the posting date and times and have no idea what's going wrong.  Hmm.  Hoping for tomorrow. . .)

Gemma reported from school, earlier this year, that her teacher had brought in a porcupine quill to show the students. 

At first mention of this, I was sad.  Gemma used to say "pokeypine," and she believed she was correct, and we never corrected her. 

Kids lose these things.  One by one.


She had a whole story to tell me about this quill.  I can't quote her exactly.  A child's monologue is almost inimitable. 

But the gist is that the quill was really long and Mrs. Nagel let the kids pass it from lap to lap and it was on a towel and she said not to touch it with her fingers, but this one girl, Elizabeth, the one who always wears dresses to school, touched it with her finger and it got stuck.

So she had to go to the nurses office and the nurse pulled it out and it was really bloody and they put this big puffy bandage on her.

"But," and here is where I can quote Gemma, because this is the punchline today, this is the part I loved and that I want to remember because this is how an 8-year-old thinks of these things. . .

"But," she concluded, "Elizabeth was actually kind of lucky because Mrs. Nagel let her keep the quill."