Pen and acrylic ink, 7.75” x 10.75”, Framed

Something New

By Chinwe I. Ndubuka

Josephine considered the plaques artfully arranged on her wall like offset bricks. The smallest, received twenty-three years ago, held centerstage. Its painted white finish had faded to pale yellow. Her favorite award sat on her desk. A blue glass sculpture that rose in two curved columns from a wooden base; it was different. She imagined it centuries from now in a museum along with flatscreen TVs and single-serve coffee makers. Together, the paper, wood, and glass accolades told the story of how she’d passed time; creating, resilient, triumphant. A few feet away, her window framed an opportunity for something new.