The sun dripped through the branches and painted gold coins on the mossy ground. Everything in the clearing hummed with quiet.
Tangle squeezed behind the thickest bush, pressing his belly flat against the moss. Sunlight spots danced on the leaves overhead.
A butterfly landed two inches from his nose, wings blinking open and shut. Then it fluttered away.
A small red tail wagged. A fox cub padded into the clearing and set down a plump blueberry with both paws.
Tangle peeked one eye open. The cub set the berry down, sat cross-legged, and waited without moving.
Tangle uncurls and rolls forward. His quills brush the berry — once, twice — and it lands perfectly on his spines.
The cub reached up, plucked the bigger half, and broke the berry in two. She offered the bigger half back to the hedgehog.
Tangle crunches the smaller piece and does not hide again. The cub's tail thumped the dirt in a fast rhythm.