Mama used to let me help her bake cookies. After Jack was down for his nap, Mama would bring out the big mixing bowl and I’d gather the measuring cups and spoons. My favorite cookies were peanut butter – they always smelled so yummy!

One afternoon during the winter I was seven, we’d slid the last dozen cookies into the oven when Jack began crying. Mama washed her hands, wiped them dry and she met my gaze saying, “Don’t touch the oven Gabby. Come get me if I’m not back in time.”

“Yes Mama,” I replied.

She left and I sat coloring at the kitchen table, listening for the oven timer. We had arranged the most recent batch on the cooling rack and placed it on the window seat to cool; Mama left the window cracked when she baked to keep the kitchen cool. There was a rustling sound and I looked up from the coloring book.

Sitting on the window seat was the fattest squirrel I’d ever seen! As I watched he stuffed a whole cookie in his mouth! Then he grabbed one in each hand and tried to go back through the window.