A Gift for Aunt Jayne

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By Angie Bromeland

Josa sat on the slate floor, drafting a painting. There was plenty of seating in the library, but she always chose the hard floor. It made an excellent table for all her papers. She liked to spread them out. 
Josa was wearing her favorite pleated skirt, and it spread out like a fan around her. She leaned against the wall and looked up thoughtfully.
“An iris!” she suddenly thought aloud. She blushed at her outburst and looked around nervously. No one was close enough to hear. “Phew,” she whispered.
Lately, Josa had been enjoying painting flowers. She planned to give four or five paintings to her mom’s best friend, Jayne. Even though they weren’t actually related, Jayne was like an aunt to Josa. She even called her “Aunt Jayne.”
Josa had already sketched a rose, a daisy, a tulip, and even lilacs for her. An iris would go with the collection perfectly. After Josa sketched the iris, she looked at her drawings with a satisfied smile. This would do. She vacated the library and went home to the apartment where she lived with her family. It was located just blocks from the library. Josa grabbed a paper plate and squeezed her paints onto it. Red, blue, yellow, white, and black. With these, she could make any color she could dream of. She carried the plate to the kitchen table, treating the plate of colors very carefully. Dropping it on the floor or bumping into something would be a disaster.
Josa set up her painting area and pulled out her sketches. She could hear music playing from her brother, Leroy’s, room. She smiled and nodded to the beat as she filled the flowers with color. She couldn’t wait to give her gift to Aunt Jayne.

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