The wind had continued overnight and throughout the day, emptying trees of red, gold, brown, and orange leaves, which floated and swirled through the air before settling into deep, multicolored drifts along the edges of the neighborhood streets and sidewalks.

On that windy, leafy afternoon, Old Possum walked to the woods, warm sunshine on his face and each gust of wind ruffling his fur. And, with memories of similar long-ago days at the back of his mind, he kicked through all the leaves he could find on his way. 

Possum made so much leaf-kicking and -crunching noise, in fact, that Mouse could hear his friend coming and had a mug of hot tea waiting for him when he arrived.

(Early November 2023)

Story © Jennifer 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 days’ worth of stories from our first year, visit ReadPurrNewsletter.com.