Some weeks ago, in the evening, I was standing at the bus stop. That particular bus stop is situated next to the back wall of a gymnasium. Some bushes grow along the wall, the bus stop is no more than a sign standing on the pavement. I was too early for the bus. It was already dark and the street was quiet, just someone cycling by now and then. I was enjoying the quiet.
Then, from the bushes behind me, I heard rustling. It sounded like a big animal, a dog perhaps, coming toward me. Only those bushes are way too low and thick to contain a dog. It was no dog. It was a hedgehog.
Now hedgehogs are noisy animals. They blunder through the undergrowth, snorting along, stamping their feet. It seems like they think, hey, it doesn't matter how much noise I make, I've got spines on my back, nobody better mess with me. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes they think the same thing about cars. Then they are wrong...
So this hedgehog was coming in my direction. At first it stayed mostly under the bushes, but the nearer it got, the farther onto the pavement it went. I stood very
still, not wanting to frighten it away. I though that when the hedgehog would get really near, it would make a detour around my feet. It didn't. When it had gotten to within half a meter of me, it walked out onto the pavement and sat next to my feet. It stayed there for at least a minute, staring at my shoes. It was probably trying to decide whether they were
edible or not. After a while it decided my feet weren't all that interesting after all and it walked away. Then the bus came.
Hedgehogs are strange animals.