A short one because I have a gig today. Keep an eye on your carrots!

The gopher cautiously popped his head out of the mound he’d dug in the grass and surveyed the scene. He looked towards the house where the old man would charge from when the gopher was spotted. But the house was dark. It had been dark a lot lately.

He looked towards the garden and admired the overripe tomatoes splitting in their skins on the vine and the zucchini that had grown to gargantuan proportions. All of it looked divine. But what drew his attention the most were the tall bushy green stems that traced down to dirty orange roots bulging out of the soil – the carrots were ready!

A glance back to the dark house and he popped out of the ground and bounded for the carrot tops. He reached the bushy leaves and expertly yanked one out of the ground immediately chomping on the warm orange tuber.

He glanced at the dark house as he ate and thought of the old gardener. He didn’t care for humans as a rule, but there was something in the back and forth of their relationship. The old gardener never resorted to poisons or traps. He put up silly looking fake birds and mostly just chased the gopher out of the garden and filled in his holes when he found them. But he hadn’t been around lately.

The gopher consoled himself by yanking up another carrot and burying his incisors into it.

“I finally got you!” A voice boomed.

The gopher felt the icy spectral hand of the gardener’s ghost close around its body.