Squirrel!

He popped it into his mouth and swallowed. “You sure do have a way with squirrels, darlin’. That was mighty tasty."

--Smuggler's Bride

See those lovely flowers up top? They're from my patio garden in January a few years back. As usual this year, I couldn't wait until the weather cooled off so I could fill my North Florida patio with colorful dianthus, pansies, violas and snapdragons. I spent a Sunday afternoon lovingly filling my containers, making sure they all had enough sunshine and water, and I spent a few days admiring them from my porch as I'd eat lunch.

Then one afternoon I took my lunch outside, as usual, and noticed something was off. My garden looked bare. Oh sure, the rose bushes were still there, and the gardenia bushes were nice and full, but there wasn't any color anymore. When I went out to investigate, all my flowers had been chewed down to the soil. I know it's not deer--our yard is fenced. I know it's not birds, the flower plants were neatly sheared off, as if little teeth had ravaged them.

It's been a long time since I worked off my aggression toward furry rodents by writing about them ending up as stew, but it may be time for another Cracker novel, just to get it out of my system.