The Lantern Keeper's CatAnimated

The Lantern Keeper's Cat On a rainy night in an old mountain town, a girl named Mei, about ten, with a short black bob, a red scarf and a yellow raincoat, runs the tiny lantern shop her grandmother left her. Paper lanterns hang from every beam, glowing warm orange, swaying slightly in the draft. Rain streams down the shop window. Mei sits at the wooden counter, chin in her hands, watching the candle flame in the one lantern that won't stay lit. It flickers, shrinks, almost goes out. A soaked grey cat with one white paw squeezes in under the door. Water drips from its whiskers. Mei gasps and wraps it in her red scarf. She pours warm milk into a chipped blue bowl. Steam curls up from the milk while the cat laps at it, its tail flicking slowly. The cat jumps onto the counter and sniffs the dying lantern. The moment its nose touches the paper, the flame inside steadies and grows bright. One by one, every lantern in the shop brightens. Their glow pulses gently, like breathing, and the light dances across Mei's amazed face. Mei opens the door. Outside, the rain has turned to slow-falling cherry petals drifting past the lanterns along the street. Mei and the cat sit together in the doorway. The cat purrs and its tail curls around her wrist, while petals keep drifting down and the lanterns glow behind them.