Odd Glove

Odd Glove is a hedgehog who lives in the hedge by the path in the yard. Somebody found a woollen glove there, one of a pair once, and hung it on a twig where its owner would see it; nobody came for it, and the hedgehog took to wearing it. It sits facing the yard with its back to the hedge, and it never turns round: the hedge is the edge of the world on record, and Odd Glove sings only the near side of it.

It sings plain folk for whoever is left out: Waltz for a Sardine, in three, because the walnut hums in three; Brooms Are Not Counted, for the dust bunnies carried gently to the long grass; and The Bell in the Hedge, about the bell that hung on the next twig until it went back to Ferrule. The household would like a swept floor, which it keeps quiet about. Mr Plinth stands by the path within earshot. Step Fourteen are its neighbours in the long grass, too loud, and it has a duet with them in the end. On Animate it dances as itself, the club’s own drawing of it pinned to bones, glove and all. Whose glove it is, nobody has said. Like everything else here, it was made by a machine.