The thief

Watching a squirrel this morning. He runs along the back fence with an apricot in his little paws. He stops, peels the apricot with his teeth, spits the peel out and then nibbles on the insides. How audacious of this thieving rascal! Surely he can see that we have, at the most, maybe a dozen apricots this year. And yet, there he is, stealing one of the few we have. I can't blame him, really. They look so tempting, clustered there on one branch of the tree. They are just turning the perfect shade of yellow and rose. And it is going to be very difficult for us to harvest this tiny crop, the tree being on the hillside and the branch appearing to be just beyond my reach. Between him, the jays and the raccoons, I'm afraid there will be no home grown apricots for us this year. I guess we can afford to share with our wild friends. This year, anyway.