A Christmas Kibble (Part 3): The Spirit of Sunbeams Past 🕰️🌞🐾✨🐾

When Muffin awoke, the room was as dark as a coal cellar. 🌑 Suddenly, the curtains of his bed were drawn aside, and he found himself face-to-face with a strange figure. 🧿🧿

It was a kitten—a small, fluffy ginger kit with eyes like bright amber. 🐈 It wore a tunic of the purest white, and in its paw, it held a branch of fresh, green catnip. 🌿✨ But the strangest thing about it was that from its head there shone a bright, clear jet of light, like a miniature sunbeam. 🔦☀️

"Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?" Muffin asked.

"I am!" The voice was soft and gentle, like the purr of a nursing queen. 🎶

"Who, and what are you?"

"I am the Ghost of Sunbeams Past." 🕰️🌞

The Spirit took Muffin’s paw and led him toward the window. "Rise! and walk with me!"

They flew through the glass as if it were air. 🪟💨 Suddenly, Muffin found himself in a bright, sunny garden. The air was warm. The grass was green. And there, sitting on a **Cloud Nine Suction Perch**, was a young cat who looked remarkably like Muffin. 🦁🍼

"Good Heavens!" Muffin cried. "That is me! And that is the old barn! I remember the smell of the hay and the sound of the swallows!" 👃🌾

The young Muffin was playing with a ball of wool, his eyes full of joy and wonder. 🧶✨ He wasn't thinking about efficiency. He wasn't thinking about being the master of the house. He was just... a kitten. 🐈💓

"The joy he gives," said the Spirit, "is quite as great as if it cost a fortune."

Muffin watched his younger self share a bowl of milk with a stray kitten. 🥛🤝 A tear—a genuine feline tear—welled up in his eye. He remembered a time before he had hardened his heart against the world. 😿

"Spirit!" Muffin cried. "Show me no more! Why do you delight to torture me?"

"I told you these were shadows of the things that have been," said the Ghost. "That they are what they are, do not blame me!" ⚖️🕰️

The light from the Spirit’s head grew so bright that Muffin could no longer see. He grabbed his blanket and pulled it over his ears. 💤

Ready for the next chapter? What does the Spirit of the Present show Muffin? Find out in Part 4! 🐾✨