Nearly up to her elbows in a massive ceramic bowl — mixing flour, sugar, and butter by hand, to make the shortbread crust for two pans’ worth of lemon bars — Raccoon ticked off the remaining ingredients in her head. More sugar, a bit more flour. Eggs, of course. And … oh no.

Afterwards, she claimed to not remember, but when she looked in the cupboard, Raccoon might have screamed.

Squirrel, walking along the top of the fence, heard a yelp from Raccoon’s tree nest, and came running. When he entered the flour- and sugar-dusted kitchen, Raccoon squeaked, “I’m out of lemons!”

(Late August 2024)

Story © Jennifer McClain Singleton / Read+Purr

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