Logan Dimond
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
25 February 2020
The Porcupine Incident
Out past the city limits of Eden, Idaho, there is a white house. This house happens to be the one I live in. It is where I have been raised my whole life. It is the place where the porcupine incident happened.
My Uncle Mark used to live in Utah. He got a job up in Burley, Idaho, so we let him move in with us. We made his bedroom one of the rooms in our basement, which has a widow well.
The day seemed to be going like any other. My three siblings and I were headed out to feed our animals when we noticed something strange.
“What is that?” I asked my fellow chore-doers.
I then noticed our dog acting strange. One foot after another, we made our way to the mystery lying on the lawn.
“Isn’t that a porcupine?” My older sister, Raquel, questioned.
My younger brother, Treg, went to tell our mom.
When Mom and Treg returned, Mom took a close look at the porcupine.
“I don’t know how it died, but I’m pretty sure Bandit drug it here,” Mom concluded.
We examined the dead animal for a few minutes.
“Bandit, come here,” Mackenzie said, making sure that our dog hadn’t been hurt by the sharp quills.
“Hold on,” I said. “I have an idea.” After a few moments of planning, we set off to work.
With baling twine wrapped around its legs, the porcupine was slowly dragged up toward the house.
“I’m going to head back inside the house before this gets crazy,” Mom said and headed toward the door.
“Before we do this,” I commented, “Let’s Google and see what kind of sound a porcupine makes.” Raquel used an iPad to accomplish this task.
“Screeeetch!” We heard come from the speakers. We got ourselves into position.
“Ready, set, go!”
Raquel dropped the porcupine in the widow well. Mackenzie beat two rocks together, making a thump sound.
“Screeeeetch!” Treg made his best imitation of the porcupine sound. I slid my fingernails across the window creating an eerie shrill.
Raquel told her service dog to start barking.
My uncle ran over to the window. We hoped he didn’t see us. He quickly ran out of his room.
Raquel went to pull the porcupine out of the widow well.
“Oops,” She said, as she looked at the end of the twine which didn’t have a porcupine in it anymore.
“Run!”
We all took off toward the backyard. Treg, Mackenzie, and I quickly jumped onto the trampoline and acted like we had been playing. Raquel came around the corner of the house and tripped on the lawn. When she got up, she made her way to the other side of the house.
“Where are the dogs?!” Uncle Mark yelled as he came into the backyard.
“What is going on?” Mackenzie asked.
“There is something in the widow well and I don’t want the dogs to get hurt,” He replied. We followed him up to the widow well and had to fight hard to contain our laughter.
“I can’t imagine that the fall down there killed it,” Mark said. The widow well is only about four feet in the ground.
After a little time had gone by, my brother and I were sitting in our front room, talking with our uncle.
“Living in Idaho has taught me two things,” Mark told us. First, he explained an event of a bird that crashed into a power pole. “And now, I know what a dying porcupine sounds like.”
My uncle lives in Rupert now. To this day, he still has no idea we pulled a fast one on him. I imagine he would be extremely upset if he ever found out.
Personal Narrative Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
First, I took class time to brainstorm some ideas to write about. Once I settled on an idea to write about, I began typing my story. I finished it and Ms. Lehmann graded it. I fixed all of my mistakes and turned in the final copy.
2. What qualifies this paper as a narrative? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
This paper is a narrative because it tells a story that has been built from events. It is a personal narrative, meaning it had to be a true story that I have experienced. This paper has a conflict and characters. My paper is about how we pranked our uncle.
3. What is one part of your story that you think turned out really well? What do you like about that part?
I like the part when the raccoon falls into the window well. I tried to use dialogue to show, not tell, how this event occurred.
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
25 February 2020
The Porcupine Incident
Out past the city limits of Eden, Idaho, there is a white house. This house happens to be the one I live in. It is where I have been raised my whole life. It is the place where the porcupine incident happened.
My Uncle Mark used to live in Utah. He got a job up in Burley, Idaho, so we let him move in with us. We made his bedroom one of the rooms in our basement, which has a widow well.
The day seemed to be going like any other. My three siblings and I were headed out to feed our animals when we noticed something strange.
“What is that?” I asked my fellow chore-doers.
I then noticed our dog acting strange. One foot after another, we made our way to the mystery lying on the lawn.
“Isn’t that a porcupine?” My older sister, Raquel, questioned.
My younger brother, Treg, went to tell our mom.
When Mom and Treg returned, Mom took a close look at the porcupine.
“I don’t know how it died, but I’m pretty sure Bandit drug it here,” Mom concluded.
We examined the dead animal for a few minutes.
“Bandit, come here,” Mackenzie said, making sure that our dog hadn’t been hurt by the sharp quills.
“Hold on,” I said. “I have an idea.” After a few moments of planning, we set off to work.
With baling twine wrapped around its legs, the porcupine was slowly dragged up toward the house.
“I’m going to head back inside the house before this gets crazy,” Mom said and headed toward the door.
“Before we do this,” I commented, “Let’s Google and see what kind of sound a porcupine makes.” Raquel used an iPad to accomplish this task.
“Screeeetch!” We heard come from the speakers. We got ourselves into position.
“Ready, set, go!”
Raquel dropped the porcupine in the widow well. Mackenzie beat two rocks together, making a thump sound.
“Screeeeetch!” Treg made his best imitation of the porcupine sound. I slid my fingernails across the window creating an eerie shrill.
Raquel told her service dog to start barking.
My uncle ran over to the window. We hoped he didn’t see us. He quickly ran out of his room.
Raquel went to pull the porcupine out of the widow well.
“Oops,” She said, as she looked at the end of the twine which didn’t have a porcupine in it anymore.
“Run!”
We all took off toward the backyard. Treg, Mackenzie, and I quickly jumped onto the trampoline and acted like we had been playing. Raquel came around the corner of the house and tripped on the lawn. When she got up, she made her way to the other side of the house.
“Where are the dogs?!” Uncle Mark yelled as he came into the backyard.
“What is going on?” Mackenzie asked.
“There is something in the widow well and I don’t want the dogs to get hurt,” He replied. We followed him up to the widow well and had to fight hard to contain our laughter.
“I can’t imagine that the fall down there killed it,” Mark said. The widow well is only about four feet in the ground.
After a little time had gone by, my brother and I were sitting in our front room, talking with our uncle.
“Living in Idaho has taught me two things,” Mark told us. First, he explained an event of a bird that crashed into a power pole. “And now, I know what a dying porcupine sounds like.”
My uncle lives in Rupert now. To this day, he still has no idea we pulled a fast one on him. I imagine he would be extremely upset if he ever found out.
Personal Narrative Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
First, I took class time to brainstorm some ideas to write about. Once I settled on an idea to write about, I began typing my story. I finished it and Ms. Lehmann graded it. I fixed all of my mistakes and turned in the final copy.
2. What qualifies this paper as a narrative? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
This paper is a narrative because it tells a story that has been built from events. It is a personal narrative, meaning it had to be a true story that I have experienced. This paper has a conflict and characters. My paper is about how we pranked our uncle.
3. What is one part of your story that you think turned out really well? What do you like about that part?
I like the part when the raccoon falls into the window well. I tried to use dialogue to show, not tell, how this event occurred.