Porcupine's Lament, Part I

The minute hand progressed with haste, and the melancholy porcupine knew that time was not on his side.

Plucking a quill from his side, he proceeded to write a farewell letter to his lover, the elegant and eccentric emu.

"Dear Desmond," he wrote. "I cannot touch you without injuring you. I no longer wish to harm you. I would rather shed my own blood."

As he dipped his quill into the well, tears fell from his eyes and diluted the ink. He struggled to finish the letter.