The Tale of The Quill-less Porcupine

There once was a Mama Porcupine who gave birth to a Small Baby Porcupine.

The Mama Porcupine was all alone in this world so this Small Baby Porcupine was a gift for her. She loved the Small Baby Porcupine the most. The Small Baby Porcupine, too, was exceptionally pretty, sensible and cute which made the Mama Porcupine, want to always keep her in her small pocket near her heart to protect her.

However there was one problem. Her Small Baby Porcupine was born bare bodied. She had no soft quills. Her skin was absolutely smooth!

Though, this made the Porcupine Community look down on the Small Baby Porcupine. But Mama Porcupine didn't care. To her, her Small Baby Porcupine was the most beautiful in the world, perfect as she was.

So the Small Baby Porcupine grew up to be one of the happiest porcupines on the block. No, not one, she WAS the happiest porcupine in the block! Her mother caught for her the most delicious wood to eat; she even had exotic seasonal flowers and fruit to snack on. She had many friends and many toys, she was even made leader because she had the biggest garden. The Small Baby Porcupine was really living a luxurious life.

But as she grew up, her number of friends suddenly started dwindling. They made another group and elected another porcupine as their Leader even though he didn't have a garden as big the one at her house.

"Small Baby Porcupine, my mother said I can't play with you because you don't have quills like all porcupines do. What kind of porcupine won't have quills?" They would say.

One day, Small Baby Porcupine couldn't take it and went to Mama Porcupine, crying, "Mama, I want quills too."

Mama Porcupine had always given her baby everything she wanted so she set out to get quills for her. However, when she returned with a set of quills in her hand, Small Baby Porcupine grew uneasy at the sight of the bright red bloodstains on her Mama's hands as a few drops dripped on to the floor. That night, Mama Porcupine forcefully punctured her baby's body with the quills as Small Baby Porcupine howled from the pain.

As morning came Small Baby Porcupine's cries finally stopped but there were two new people crying outside their house instead.

Small Baby Porcupine hobbled out of her house, still not used to having quills, to see an Auntie Porcupine and a bare, bloody bodied Elder Sister Porcupine, crying to her Mama to return her daughter's quills to her.

That's when Small Baby Porcupine realized that her kind Mama Porcupine had viciously snatched someone else's quills.

That Small Baby Porcupine was me.

~

Going to the Old House for dinner was the thing that I wanted to avoid the most because everyone I did not want to face would be there.

My parents.

My half sister.

Her mother.

Me.

It's not like they treated me badly. My Grandma was a typical product of patriarchy. She only cared about her son and her grandchildren. She didn't care about any disputes between the ex-wife and the present wife. She didn't even think her son had done anything wrong when he cheated on his wife and brought a woman back, asking for a divorce. And after everything, she still expected her son's ex-wife to be present on the dinner table, eating with the woman who had ruthlessly snatched her husband away.

Kuan Huahua was one powerful woman. Her husband had been away most times on business trips when she was pregnant at home with her daughter but after a few years, she came to know that he was actually out vacationing with another woman in Maldives and that she had even gotten pregnant just four months after her. After everything, I never saw her cry or suffer. I saw her always determinately fight for her daughter. She got a divorce with her proper rights and alimony and made sure that her daughter won't lose her position as the Second Miss of the Qiu Family. Nor did she allow my parents to put shoddy coverings over the ugly truth, to make the situation better.

The more I respected this woman, the more I felt guilty of my existence.

"Qiu Yu, you came back early from college today? Your mom said that you're generally busy with college every day." Grandma Qiu smiled in an amiable manner. Grandma Qiu was getting on with her age, she turned 82 today but she still dutifully took care of the household matters in a responsible way. She maintained herself properly so you could see no sign of age taking a toll on her and weathering her bines down, even with her head full of white hair. She still laughed delicately that sounded like wind chimes. This particular laugh had made her famous back in the day and had charmed Grandpa Qiu the second he heard it. The laughter had still not lost its power and still sent Grandpa Qiu into a daze whenever he heard it.

I don't know what mutation my father was to be born a scum in a family full of romantics.

"Grandma I especially took leave for you today," I smiled as I presented the birthday gift I had bought for. It was a jade chessboard as both my grandparents liked to play chess together sometimes.

"Good child." Grandma patted my head. She smiled at her younger son and nodded at my mother indifferently.

"Mom, where's Dad?" my father asked.

"He's still cooped up in his study, playing with his little stones. How could he have time to bother with his wife's birthday? That old man and his antisocial behavior! Why didn't he just marry one of those Black Opals?" Grandma had a belly full of grievances. Grandpa had always been a man of very few words. Now that both her sons had their own businesses and families to manage, they didn't come back as often to keep her company. Nor did her age and body allow her to go out and socialize with her friends anymore. She was truly turning lonely. My father ran up to the study to talk to Grandpa.

"Old Lady, your unfilial granddaughter is here," Suddenly a voice sang out in a domineering voice.

I turned to look at the door as my unconsciously tightened in Grandma's hand. She squeezed it back to reassure me.

Standing in front of the door was Qiu Zhoufan, my elder sister by four months. And behind her was her mother Kuan Huahua.

"You little brat, you still have time to remember this old woman. I thought you wouldn't come." Grandma complained but there was still a fondness for her granddaughter that glinted in her eyes.

"Have you ever given us an option to not come back?" Qiu Zhoufan answered back indolently crossing her hands on her chest and leaning back on the sofa, sitting opposite Grandma. Kuan Huahua silently sat down at beside her daughter while drinking the tea that the house help brought for her.

"Sure, don't come back. Anyway, you don't have anything good to say so just go away," Grandma trembled with anger," I'll get you married far, far off so you don't even have a chance to come back even if you want to!"

"Okay I will marry away. I better not receive any plane tickets from you, crying about a fake heart attack or something," Qiu Zhoufan retorted with a snort.

I looked at both these tsundere characters with increasing disinterest. They would never stop.

"Sister, didn't you want to give something to Grandma?" I said, indicating her to stop and give in today. It was Grandma's birthday today; they should give in to her a little.

Qiu Zhoufan harrumphed looking at me like a child who got told to switch the TV off and go to bed.

"Here. Happy Birthday," Qiu Zhoufan slid a rectangular box messily wrapped in gift wrapping paper. She must have tried to wrap it herself.

"Who wants your gift? There is no sincerity at all. Look how you've wrapped it. What kind of an adult doesn't even know how to wrap a gift? Leave me no face at all. Don't tell people that you are my, Gu Shen's granddaughter. I can't stand that kind of fortune!" Grandma's mouth was poisonous but her hands quickly reached for the gift and tried to unwrap it quickly. She was not wearing her glasses so she could not find the place the cello tape was put which made her so impatient that started tearing the wrapper off.

It was a new smart phone. My grandma didn't know how to use a phone so she didn't own one. And nowadays she had been complaining about being lonely. So I knew why Qui Zhoufan bought her a phone. Though she acted out, Qui Zhoufan was also the most observant of everyone's needs.

"Grandma, Elder Sister bought you a phone. You can use this to chat with your friends online." I explained to Grandma. I could see the glee in her eyes shining. She kept the phone aside after making me and Zhoufan promise to teach us how to use it after dinner.

"Qiu Yu," Kuan Huahua suddenly called.

"Yes, Auntie?" I asked while my fixed at her chin. After all these years, I still could not make myself look her in her eyes.

"This is for you." She said as she handed me a big box. There were skin care and make up products inside it. After all the divorce, she had started her own cosmetics company which had become very famous now.

"You've grown up now and should take care of your skin and dress up beautifully whenever you go out. These are new products that my company is going to launch soon. They're good for sensitive skin so don't worry about reactions. Tell Auntie when you finish them, I'll send you more."

The weight of those products was so difficult to carry for me as I gripped them with two hands. I'd rather that this pair of daughter and mother treat me like dirt in their eyes or just ignore me, but the more they treated me well, the more I felt burdened.

"Thank you, Auntie." I simply said knowing that I would never use these and never contact her for more.

I glanced at my mother to look at her nonchalantly drinking tea and chatting with my Grandma like there wasn't a woman in this room whose life she had knowingly destroyed with her bare hands. And I didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. It seemed like everyone had moved on.

Grandma and Grandpa treated all of us equally. I had the surname Qiu and also had stakes in the company and property. My mother and father were married and seemed to be happy together. Kuan Huahua had moved on and was a big CEO. The sister I had gained out of nowhere never treated me like a half sister.

Everything was fine and settled but for some reason I was the only one still stuck at that time. Stuck at the kitchen of this very house, looking at Zhoufan standing in front of the stove, boiling water as I brought out tea cups and added tea bags to the cups. There was a fight going on in living room.

"I agree to the divorce but Fanfan will be my child and go with me."

"Huahua, don't speak nonsense! How can my daughter stay away from me?"

"She has grown up with you barely being there, anyway. How dare you act like her father now? When you couldn't make it to the delivery room because you were busy buying baby clothes with another woman then you bloody well can stay away for the rest of her life too!"

"Kuan Huahua, I said I will bring your child up like she���s my own. I promise! You don't have to do this. I'm sorry, Ah Zhen and I really love each other. Even my baby needs her father. Please don't make things difficult for Ah Zhen." My mother begged.

"Huahua, honestly speaking, how will you be able to support Fanfan alone? Don't be so emotional and practically think about our daughter. I know I have wronged you but don't take revenge on Fanfan because of this."

"Revenge?" Kuan Huahua laughed loudly," I don't give enough shit about you to take revenge. That time we got married to keep the engagement agreement decided by our families. My parents died leaving me alone. So when you promised that you'd take care of me and respect me, I agreed to marry you. I didn't love you then, I don't love you now. So bring your melodrama somewhere else. However, if you dare to cook up a lie and slander me outside or take my daughter away to look good in society, then just wait for me to make this whole thing ugly."

"Huahua why are you being like this? Fanfan won't be neglected here." Grandma tried to mediate.

"Fanfan is and will be the Second Young Miss of this family but she be raised by me."

"Huahua don't be so unreasonable."

Everyone kept screaming, crying, and breaking things. And we kept silently watching the water boil. Zhoufan was a girl who went to my school. She was one of the only ones who never treated me differently for not having a father. I always remembered her to be someone always laughing and playing loudly. This was the first time she was so quiet.

I wanted to tell her that I didn't need a father anymore. I'll give her father back to her if only if she could laugh and play again.

"Zhan Yu?" My last name was Zhan then.

"Hmm?"

"Isn't it too noisy?"

"Yes." So noisy, that I couldn't think.

"Say," she started again, looking at her palm," If I burn my hand right now, will they care enough to stop?"