One by one, the little chipmunks poked their heads into the hole under the hackberry tree, but it was too dark to see anything.

As the littlest chipmunk, the last in line, peered into the darkness, a shaft of dusky sunlight slanted its way into the hole as well, where it lay in a golden pool on the floor, illuminated thousands of dancing dust motes, and — barely, just barely — allowed the little chipmunk to see the writhing, murmuring, fluttering mass of fur and leathery wings on the cave’s ceiling.

“Oh!” she said, and backed away quickly, pulling the other chipmunks with her, as the sun dropped below the horizon and hundreds of little brown bats streamed out of their cave and into the late-dusk sky.

(Late 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.

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