Catastrophe

The white walls allowed the masterpieces, full of vibrancy and color, to pop and catch the customer’s eye. Marvin grinned, satisfied with how his dream had pulled together so easily. The bell to the front door chimed and he rubbed cold hands together.

“Our first customer, Lucky!” he murmured. His tuxedo cat blinked up at him lazily before closing her eyes to continue her catnap. “I suppose I’ll provide the greetings by myself,” Marvin chuckled.

Stepping around the corner, Marvin spotted a woman studying one of the paintings on the wall.

“Welcome to Catastrophe,” Marvin’s greeting startled the woman and she jumped and placed a hand over her heart.

“Snuck up on me!” she said with a laugh. Before Marvin could apologize, she gestured to the painting she had been admiring. “This one really is quite amazing. Is it true that I could make something just as wonderful? I’m really not much of an artist at all but it looks like such fun...”

Marvin walked to her side and the two gazed at the painting together.

“That’s the beauty of it,” he said. “You don’t have to be an artist. Here at Catastrophe you’ll be partnered with an expert who will allow you to experience a new way of painting. Every piece you construct together will be unique. Guaranteed.”

The woman slowly nodded, her eyes stuck on the painting.

“We have an opening today, if you’d like—”

“Oh, could I?” the woman gushed, interrupting him. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement. Marvin ignored the strange thumping in his heart and struggled to remain professional as she placed a hand on his elbow. “And am I allowed to pick my, um, painting partner?”

Marvin directed her to a table in the middle of the room. He flipped open a book full of photos of art tutors.

“Of course you can choose. We have ten different tutors here at Catastrophe. You can choose one or, if you would like to invest in our Gold Package, you can choose them all.”

“All of them? At once?” she whispered, eyes wide. “Wouldn’t that be a bit...chaotic?”

Marvin chuckled. “It can be but chaos makes for some great art.”

“I think I’d like to see that,” the woman laughed. “I’ll try the Gold Package.”

“As you wish,” Marvin said with a wink. He took her credit card information and finally discovered her name.

“If you’ll follow me, Emily, we have three studios for creative, uh, creation.” He pointed to a pair of disposable coveralls hanging on a hook. “You’ll want to slip that on before you start, to protect your clothes.”

Fetching one of his largest canvases, Marvin set it in the middle of the floor. He laid out a variety of colorful paints and brushes.

“Now for the fun part,” Marvin promised. Passing through the door in the back of the room, he found all ten of his instructors snoozing or snacking in their lounge. He rang a little bell and ten sets of ears perked up.

“Look lively, gang! Our first customer is here and she wants to work with all of you.”

Within seconds, he had all ten cats following him. Emily clapped her hands, excited, when she saw the furry felines. A calico zoomed in, bounced into a small tub of blue paint, and left a trail of footprints on the canvas. A pure black kitten stretched and yawned, his tail drooped into a glob of red acrylic before twitching over the footprints. An orange tabby tried to catch the black kittens colorful tail, creating a smear of color across the portrait.

“We use animal-safe paints,” Marvin said, though he wasn’t sure Emily was listening over the chorus of yowls, purrs, and a screeching growl as a long haired tabby bit a tad too hard on the tail of a tortoiseshell.

Paintbrushes knocked over by curious paws were batted at and skittered across the room, creating interesting lines and angles.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Marvin said. The session would only last 10 minutes but in that time, Emily should have an interesting piece of art to showcase in her home.

“Oh, wait!” Emily called. She giggled as a beefy gray cat flopped into her lap, causing her paintbrush to fly and splatter on the canvas. Marvin paused.

“Please stay,” Emily coaxed. “I think I could use a human ally in this...this assault.” She laughed and Marvin felt his heart unprofessionally squeeze again as his eyes lingered on the streak of green paint that pointed to her lips. He shrugged and knelt to the floor, ignoring the squish of paint that soaked his knee.

“Each of these cats has an interesting backstory,” Marvin said, lovingly scratching the tuxedo, Lucky, between her ears. “Each one I either adopted or they adopted me.”

Emily stroked the bulky gray cat, who stretched out one massive paw and placed it on Marvin’s thigh as if to draw him closer. Marvin obeyed, scooting across the splatters of paint.

“I’d love to hear their stories.” Emily’s eyes sparkled. “Perhaps over dinner? I make a mean tuna casserole. I could make enough for the whole crew.”

Lucky gently batted his face with a soft paw, as if telling him not to screw up a free meal of tuna.

Marvin picked up a paintbrush and twirled it on the canvas. “That would be great. I’ll just need to get these guys a quick bath—”

Ten sets of ears perked up at the dreaded ‘b’ word and the cats skittered away, sending paint flying in their escape.

“Session over already?” Emily laughed, watching the cat’s tails disappear as they ran for their lounge.

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” Marvin quipped, mentally reminding himself to work on training the tutors not to flee at the mention of a bath.

Emily winked and took his hand. “And there’s more fun yet to come.”

Marvin entwined his colorful fingers with hers, realizing that more than one dream of his had come true.



Meow ▼

1000 words
Written for: The Writer's Cramp
Prompt: use and bold the words--catastrophe, cold, chorus, construct; use "arts" as one of your genres