The rain poured down, and the wind howled, rattling the windows. Everyone who’d gathered at Old Possum’s house was about to sit down for tea and cookies, when they glanced around the living room and said, “Where’s Rabbit?”

​

Crow braved the storm, flying to Rabbit’s to check on her. Peering through one of the tea-shop windows, she saw water covering the floor and Rabbit scurrying to and fro, moving things — books and teapots and teacups and candles — to the safety of tall shelves and the worktable counter. Crow squawked and flew straight back to Possum’s to report what she’d seen.

​

Leaving the littlest birds and chipmunks safely inside Possum’s house, everyone else headed out into the raging wind and rain, holding paws so that no one would be swept away.

​

Together, they shoved on the now-slightly-swollen tea-shop door, until it popped open and they all splashed inside.

​

Rabbit, who was both surprised and delighted to see her friends, pointed at the water-logged floor and asked for help with the rug. Not understanding what she meant, no one knew what to do, until Old Possum remembered the stories he’d heard about this very burrow when he was a boy. He reached for a corner of the giant, sopping rug, and they all worked to heave it aside, revealing a trap door in the floor, which they wrestled open, despite the growing weight of rainwater. And once the cellar door was open, the water, thankfully, began to drain away.

(Early October 2024)

Story © Jennifer McClain Singleton / Read+Purr

This is another vignette in my ongoing series of Tiny Garden Stories: peaceful 1-minute tales that let you read like a kid again. Click one of the first two buttons below to go to (or back to, if that’s where you fell down the rabbit hole) either the “Public Garden” archive page or (if you’re a Story Club member) to the members-only “Private Garden” page. Or click the third button to learn more about my Tiny Garden Stories.

If you’re new to Tiny Garden Story-land and would like 10 free stories from our first year, visit ReadPurrNewsletter.com.

Want a pawful of (illustrated!) tiny stories? Grab one or more of our tiny books: ReadPurrShop.com.