Marvin’s Leaf

The Whiskerless Cat

Fall was Marvin’s favorite season. He loved playing with crunchy colorful leaves and dunking them in water like prey. His favorites were yellow leaves from the silver maple trees. The demon had been quietly watching Marvin play for hours before he approached Marvin.

The demon asked Marvin, “Would you like to have leaves all year round?” 

Marvin was intrigued. He asked, “Could you do that for me?” 

The demon smiled. “I can certainly do that. However, I must take something from you,” he said, gesturing to Marvin’s whiskers. 

Marvin considered it for a moment, but his impulses took over. “Okay, you can have my whiskers in exchange for an infinite amount of leaves!” 

The demon snapped his fingers, and Marvin’s whiskers disappeared, along with the demon. 

For any other cat, being whiskerless would be a problem. However, Marvin was a popular cat and his popularity grew even more now that he had access to leaves all year round. In exchange for leaves to play with, the other cats protected Marvin from predators, hunted for him, and helped him navigate his surroundings. Everyone was friends with Marvin. 

After a few months, the demon returned to see what had become of Marvin. To the demon’s surprise, Marvin didn’t seem to miss his whiskers at all. In fact, Marvin looked happier than ever. The demon was confused because he had never failed before. 

The demon approached Marvin and asked, “Would you like to have your whiskers back?” 

“I’ve learned to live without them,” Marvin said as he dunked a red leaf from a Japanese maple tree.

This made the demon mad. The demon snapped his fingers to take away Marvin’s leaves and give him back his whiskers. Marvin’s whiskers reappeared, but the leaves remained. Marvin touched his whiskers with his paws and said, “Cool! I can hunt again!”

Enranged, the demon snapped his fingers once more, but Marvin’s whiskers still remained. The demon continued snapping his fingers until he was exhausted. The demon had never been outsmarted by any being before in the billions of years he had been on earth. Admitting defeat, the demon snapped his fingers one last time to disappear, but that didn’t work either. 

Marvin felt bad for the demon and offered him a leaf. “Would you like to be my friend?”

The demon was offended that such a tiny simple creature thought that they could be friends with a powerful being like himself, but he found himself strangely drawn to Marvin’s charms. He looked at Marvin’s round copper eyes and said, “Okay. Let’s be friends.”