Roberta gave me a special tour of the museum's glass exhibit. It was the only exhibit from the main collection on display that day, the rest of the museum was dedicated to a featured exhibition. Me and Roberta were the only ones in the glass exhibit. It was her job to be there. I was just curious.

Ooo babe. Look at dis one.

She grabbed me by the elbow and took me to the blue glass. It was caged beneath other glass.

Do you see? Look. You has to look real close. You see?

I didn't really know what I was looking for. It was just glass. Sure, I guess it was ornate. In some instances pretty. But mostly just glass. Some with prints and fine details. Others ordinary. In this instance she was pointing out to me the fine details on a set of blue wine glasses.

I asked Roberta what her favorite was. She pulled me to the center of the room.

You see? It holds water and there's also a cup. You need water in middle of night, you pour to cup.

It was a lightly tinted pink water pitcher. The way it was shaped to the top allowed for there to be inset a cup that could rest as a lid or else be removed and as Roberta says, filled with the water from the basin.

I didn't even know. Dis woman shows me since I showed her blue glass. I didn't even know.


It was a small one room exhibit, but for the next 10 minutes me and Roberta go from display case to display case looking as closely for detail as we can.

Mos people don't look. They don't care. They want everything else. And they come and go and go witout lookin.

In some cases Roberta points me to fine detail, in some I to her. A small printed bug on the underside of a magnifying glass, a butterfly under a lid or a baby's face in a base's embellishment.  

When it was time for me to go still no one else had entered the exhibit. I walked Roberta back to her doorway post as Security Guard of the fine glass display.

I'm not really sure what she gave me but I'm certain it was some sort of gift. Not any new know-how about glass, which I have absolutely no interest in. But something immaterial. Almost like the space inside the glass. The potentiality of volume. The potentiality of meaning.

From her own pitcher Roberta poured me a glass of water. And so I drank to her health, and in what small way I could, tried to replenish her stores. Taking what she offered and giving what I could.