Stardust

Once upon a time in a small village there was a little girl named Elsie, who inherited a fantastical music box from her adoring grandmother. The frail woman had anxiously asked Elsie to never let the box play until the last note. In painstaking detail, she told the tale of how it came to possess something precious and dear to her, the spirit of her beloved cat; and how if thestardust melody it chimed were ever completed, his soul would be lost forever.Elsie became fascinated by the princely cat with the sad eyes as he slowly twirled to the gentle music, his graceful stare beckoning her on to the song’s end. And each time, she remembered her sweet grandmother's words and pushed down the old wooden lid just before the final notes sang.

One day, as she was under the spell of his delicate turns, a strangely cold gust of wind whisked a flutter of purple petals into her bedroom. As she shuttered the window, she suddenly realized the room went silent. The song had ended! She rushed to the music box to close the lid but it was too late. The box was empty. Standing beside her was a most handsome cat gazing warmly into her eyes. Carefully setting a bouquet of violet flowers at her feet, he turned and walked out into the dusk of twilight time. Nearby, a nightingalesang its fairytale; the stardust of their song, and the memory of love's refrain.