I never did get around to posting about the conclusion of our trip, and enochsmiles has been nagging me to tell the ongoing story and keep everyone in suspense, but now it's come to its final stage and the entire story can be told.

So, with that, I give you the Saga of the Hedgehog-Rescuers.

foxgrrl had to head back to the States on the 31st, so I got up early and took her to the train station in Marburg so that she could get to the Frankfurt airport. enochsmiles and I spent the rest of the day exploring more of Bad Laasphe and the surrounding villages, took tons of pictures, and finally, as the sun went down, bade farewell to the Rothaargebirge Mountains and headed westward for Belgium. We were pretty low on gas and the last known location of a gas station was behind us, but we figured we'd find something in one of the villages on the way back to the highway. This was, as it turned out, a bad assumption to make on German back roads at night. The needle crept lower and lower as we crept along the twisty B62, and every gas station we passed was closed.

Fortunately, we happened across a reasonably-sized city, Siegen, before running out of fuel. Even better, my guess that we'd find a gas station somewhere near the centre of town proved accurate. However, my getting-back-to-the-freeway instincts did not. We missed the E41 entirely and travelled some 15km southwest of Siegen before figuring out, around midnight, that we needed to turn around. On the way back, I noticed a round lump in the middle of the opposite lane. I couldn't tell what it was, but enochsmiles immediately said, "Pull over."

I turned the car around and pulled over, and enochsmiles dashed to the side of the road. Apparently, while I was pulling the U-turn, another car had stopped and moved the object out of the path of traffic. enochsmiles figured out where they'd put it, though, and returned a few moments later with the object cradled in his arms: a European hedgehog, stunned and bleeding from the head.

We watched it carefully for a few moments to take stock of its condition. It was breathing, but shallowly, and blood bubbled weakly from its nose every few breaths. The head wound was only trickling, but it was pretty large; if he stayed by the side of the road, the blood would attract insects and predators, and Mr. Hedgehog probably wouldn't survive the night.

enochsmiles got his trenchcoat from the back seat to make a nest for the hedgehog, and we formulated a plan: we'd stop at the next gas station on the way back to the E41, try to find the number for an all-night vet, and if we couldn't find one, then we'd take him back to Leuven with us. Dying in a car would be no fun, but we figured it was a much better alternative to dying on a roadside being eaten by bugs.

A few hundred meters later we came to a Shell station. I parked the car, dashed inside, and in broken German started asking whether the attendant or his friend who was hanging out with him knew of a veterinarian that was open at that time of night. (This was complicated by the fact that I didn't know how to say "veterinarian" or "hedgehog" in German. The attendant knew enough English to understand "An animal has been hit by a car, we need an animal doctor," but "hedgehog" is apparently rather idiomatic; I got around it by describing it as "like a football, but with spikes.") The attendant knew of one in the nearby village of Niederdielfen, and quickly got on the phone to someone to find out the number; his friend pulled a map off the shelf and helped me figure out how to get to Niederdielfen. They let me use their phone to speak to the vet, and after warning us that we'd have to pay for the hedgehog's care (to which I heartily agreed), the vet gave me the address and said she'd be waiting.

Armed with directions and my newfound knowledge of how to say "hedgehog" in German (der Igel, in case you were wondering), I returned to the car. enochsmiles had been about to come inside and join me -- as he put it, "I thought you might be having trouble communicating what was wrong, and I figured if I came inside with a bloody hedgehog that would resolve things pretty quickly" -- but we both buckled up and set out on the 11km trek to Niederdielfen. The hedgehog started to perk up a little as we drove, rustling around in the coat, and enochsmiles petted the non-bloody side of its head and encouraged it to rest and save its strength.

We got to the village in short order, and after a few wrong turns in the village -- it's surprising how easy it is to get lost in towns with fewer than ten streets -- we arrived at Tierzärtliche Klinik Dielfen. The vet was waiting at the door when we got there. We brought in the hedgehog, still bundled in the trenchcoat, and set it down on an examining table. The vet checked it for responsiveness and examined the wound, then said, "It's probably in shock." She gave it an injection of glucose and one of saline to stabilize it, then administered some antibiotics and some flea spray to keep the wound from getting infected. After observing it a little longer, she said that it probably had a concussion and some internal damage to its lungs -- as we'd thought, given the blood leaking from its nose -- and that its chances weren't too good, but they'd care for it. She found a heating pad and a small basket for it to rest in, gave it some wet catfood to eat, and carried it into the back of the clinic for the night.

How much does it cost to care for an injured hedgehog? 37 euros, as it turns out. I'd been expecting much more, given how much it cost to have Sasha examined after he fell from the balcony. We gave her a 50-euro note and asked her to keep the change for the next ownerless animal that came in. She thanked us and gave us her card, and with that, we said good night and headed back to Siegen, the freeway, and eventually Belgium.

Over the next few days, we phoned a few times to check up on the hedgehog. He survived the night, and by day three was still not in great shape but clearly on the mend. I just got off the phone with the vet half an hour ago, and I am delighted to report that last Thursday, the hedgehog was released into the woods just outside Niederdielfen. Hurrah for helpful gas station people, friendly all-night vets, and stalwart hedgehogs; I hope he lives out a happy life in his new home.