Lila eyed her stash of soda cans, pipe cleaners, and a defunct lawnmower part, then nodded. ‘A giant cat! Bold. Unconventional. Perfect.’ She glued the first can to the lawnmower blade, only for the structure to lurch sideways, toppling a tower of soup cans. ‘Not a failure,’ she said, rescuing a dented can. ‘A… dynamic adjustment.’ The cat’s head wobbled, its eyes (button knobs) popped off during a test waggle. Lila taped them back, then frowned. ‘You’re supposed to be majestic, not a menace.’ She rigged the body with string, yanking it too hard. The cat’s tail snapped off, flying into a jar of paint. The jar tipped. Paint splattered the wall, forming a vague blob. Lila stared. ‘Wait… is that a…?’ She grabbed a brush, slopped more paint on, morphing the blob into a second, smaller cat. ‘Double the chaos. Double the charm.’ The original cat, now lopsided and leaning, groaned under the weight of her attempts to balance it. ‘Alright, Mr. Whiskers,’ she said, slapping a can onto its nose. ‘Let’s dance.’ The structure collapsed with a metallic crash. Lila sat in the debris, surrounded by cats of varying sizes and orientations. ‘Art is mess,’ she declared, smearing paint on her cheek. ‘And I am… a master.’
