Solemn Dusk

This is my homege to John Steinbeck!

 

 

Solemn Dusk

 

          The sun hung halfway between the top of the sky and the edge of the horizon.  Looking at the settling rain against the lowering sun allowed one to see every single rain drop.  It had rained hard but briefly.  The dirt held puddles that steadily sank and became smaller.  There was still light out, and a wind that changed the temperature.  The end of the storm was just as the beginning had been a few moments before.

            In a puddle of rainwater a wild bluebonnet leaned over, weakened by the shower.  While the water receded into the ground, this puddle collected rainwater that seeped into it and swelled.  A spider having found shelter in the flower also was also weakened by the rain.  The spider was paralyzed by the intense attack of cold rain droplets.  It waited on this flower for the sunshine to warm the air and free it, so it could crawl to the top of the bonnet, where a grasshopper lay still in the spider’s web.

            The rain had come suddenly, and perhaps surprised the grasshopper, which sprung without looking into an invisible web of a spider, now completely drained of the energy required to secure and devour its forthcoming meal.  The grasshopper lay still in the comfortable web. Either it knew struggling would only cause further entanglement or it knew it was futile. 

            The clouds shaped like horses streamed off the sky and the sun warmed the land as it further set.  The grass and leaves glistened.  Animals and insects continued as they had before the rain, stopping now to drink, or to dig in the softened dirt.  The spider could feel its legs warming and releasing.  It focused intently on the outstretched grasshopper.  The puddle surrounding the bonnet also warmed even though water continued to flow into it.  The blue bonnet absorbed the warm water that was clouded by stirred soil.  With a direct, setting sun shining on it, the bonnet began to wilt and its tip lowered towards the ground.  This perfect combination of naturally occurring events caused the elegant flower to curve at the stem.  The spider, now completely upside down and still unable to move, turned its attention to the looming puddle of water.  The grasshopper lay resigned, unaware of the imminent immersion.

            The evening now reclaimed much of the warmth it had lost by the shower; the sun was a darker shade of red and would soon set. But it was too late, the fleeting burst of warmth was enough to defeat the bonnet, carrying the stiffened spider and trapped grasshopper so it dipped into the murky puddle, drowning all three.

Author's Note

please let me know what you think. I am more interested in how my writing voice carries over than in the plot, but I'll take what I can get.

thank you!