A thunderstorm — the fourth in three days — raged outside, and nearly everyone was hunkered down in Old Possum’s living room, where a cheery fire in the grate held the storm’s daytime darkness at bay.

While the wind howled, and the rain lashed the windows and dripped down the chimney, spitting into the fire, Rabbit and Raccoon stood in the kitchen, making three pots of tea and a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

The older children busied themselves with folding sheets of paper into boats, which they planned to race in the creek that had sprung up with all the rain.

But the littlest chipmunks jumped at every flash of lightning and window-rattling bang of thunder. To keep their minds off the storm, Possum brought out a treasure from his hall closet: an old handmade wooden jigsaw puzzle, with pieces in the shape of animals and trees and birds and fruit and snowflakes.

(July 2023)

Story & Photo © Jennifer Singleton / Read+Purr

This is another vignette in my ongoing series of Tiny Garden Stories: peaceful 1-minute tales, full of cozy vibes, delicious details, and generous dollops of imagination & whimsy. 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 Private Garden page. Or click the third button to learn more about my Tiny Garden Stories. Want each week’s featured story delivered directly to your inbox? Subscribe to my Substack.