Bambi's Sister

Porcupine

Suri's POV

It's been a few days since what happened with the dogs at the meadow. Most of the snow has been washed away by rain. But it's still very cold. So spring hasn't fully started yet. Dad doesn't let Bambi and I leave the den. Though it doesn't stop us from trying to go with him.

"So, where are we off to today?" Bambi asks dad.

"You both are going to stay near the den, where it's safe" dad says like usual. I sigh in defeat and stop. But Bambi continues to follow dad.

"But I'm ready for danger, for adventure, for..." Bambi says.

"The den" dad tells him.

"Yeah. Yeah, good idea. I'll stay and guard the den" Bambi says sadly. Dad left.

"Don't worry, he can't keep us here forever" I assure him. He just hangs his head sadly as we heads back to the den. As Thumper and Flower appear.

"Hey, Bambi. What's wrong?" Thumper asks.

"Nothing" Bambi lies.

"Come on. You can tell your bestest friend" Thumper tells him.

"Well, my father never takes me with him any more" Bambi tells him.

"He doesn't take me either" I remind him.

"I guess I'm not what a prince's son is supposed to be" he says and I roll my eyes. I am over his pity party. "If I could just show him" he states.

"Show him what?" Flower asks.

"That I can be brave like him" Bambi states.

"Bambi, dad is only brave when he has to be" I tell him.

"He's not scared of anything" he states.

"He was that day with the dogs" I retort.

"He was?" he asks confused.

"He thought he was going to lose us, like mum" I state.

"If that's all it is, being brave is easy. I can teach you" Thumper states.

"You can?" Bambi asks forgetting what I just said.

"Sure. Watch this" Thumper says and makes a weird face growling.

"I think he's got a hairball" Flower states and I giggle.

"No, I'm being brave, silly. The trick is to be scarier than whatever's scaring you" Thumper explains and growls again. "See?" he asks. Bambi tries to imitate him, baring his teeth. Not scary at all and Thumper laughs.

"You look like a squirrel" I giggle.

"He does!" Thumper says laughing loudly.

"Watch me!" Flower shouts and makes his scary face. Letting off a stink bomb. Thumper covers his nose.

"Flower! You just found your inner strength" Thumper tells him and Flower becomes all bashful.

"Suri, you try" Bambi says. I roll my eyes and glare growling. Thumper gasps and hides behind Bambi. "Wow, you're great at that" he states and I smile.

"Thank you" I say.

"Okay. Now, stand very straight. Stick out your chest. Take the deepest breath you ever took in your whole life. Now let it out with a big grr" Thumper instructs Bambi. Who lets out a bleating sound. "You're gonna need a lot of practice" he tells him. "Come on. Do what I do. I'm a mountain lion" he says and hops off with a growl.

"I'm a bear" Bambi says rearing on his hind legs with a bleat.

"I'm a wolf" I add.

"I'm a turtle" Flower says and we all look at him surprised. "What? Turtles are so scary" he tells us.

"If you say so" I tell him. We go to explore, each of them still practicing their scary faces. Bambi was still having no luck when we reach a small river and start to cross a log. Only for a porcupine to block our path. We scream and run the opposite direction. We stop once we're off of the log.

"Get out and stay out, you trespassing hooligans. Trashy, muddy paws. Couldn't you have anything nice?" he grumbles sweeping the log with his tail.

"Well, we can always swim across" Flower suggests.

"Or go around" I add. But Thumper spots something on the other side of the river. It was mine and Bambi's dad. We'll be in a lot of trouble, we're nowhere near the den.

"Let's go before he sees you both" Thumper whispers. I nod my head in agreement. I start to leave with Flower and Thumper.

"No. This is it. I can show my dad how brave I am" Bambi states.

"Our dad and you don't have to prove anything" I tell him.

"You better hurry" Flower says as our dad starts to disappear from view.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of your guys dad" Thumper assures Bambi. "And remember what I taught you" he adds before hoping away. I sigh, this will end badly. I stay by Flower to watch as Bambi walks back to the log. Making sure to stay out of sight encase dad isn't happy.

"I'm gonna walk across this log" Bambi tells the porcupine.

"Get off my property, you pesky squirrel" the porcupine tells him.

"I'm not a squirrel. I'm the young prince" Bambi corrects him. He goes to cross and the porcupine blocks his path.

"Where you going, princey? Not this way. Try again" he says as he keeps blocking Bambi's way.

"You don't understand. I have to get across" Bambi tells him.

"Then go around!" the porcupine tells him. "In my day, we didn't wander willy-nilly onto  someone's property. We took the long way. It sometimes took days, weeks, in the pouring rain, 'cause we had a little thing called respect" he rants and Bambi jumps over him.

"Bambi, you did it!" Flower cheers.

"Yeah? Oh, you did it all right" the porcupine says getting mad. He puffs up his quills.

"Bambi, run!" I shout. He tries the run, but the porcupine blocks him at every turn. Until he finally gets him in the rear. Bambi squeals in pain as he falls into the shallow slow river.

"That'll teach you. Think twice before you trespass round here again. Mind your own beeswax next time" the porcupine states. I see dad's antlers appear and lay down behind a big bush praying he can't see me. As Bambi hid under water. "That's the problem with these kids today. No respect. No respect at all. What are you looking at, you big moose?" he asks my dad before disappearing into his log again.

Bambi comes out once dad is gone. He had many quills in his bum. Thumper started to pull them out. Bambi yelping in pain each time. Maybe this will teach him to use his head next time.

A/N

Picture above of the Porcupine.