The Challenge...

In a quiet lull at work, on the back of a discarded till receipt, I set myself a challenge – to write a little scene before the next customer appeared . Making allowances for finishing abruptly mid-sentence and a little polishing after the fact, here is the result...

The first strokes of night-time brushed lazily across the wide canvas of sky. The palest hue of clear blue, only to be seen at the very extremities of a day, darkened progressively to indigo.  The trees and hedgerows marking the boundary between her and the horizon appeared like shadow puppets, merely childish imitations of the true grandeur of nature. Punctuating the peacefulness of the slumbering countryside were whispered reminders of civilisation. Power cables stood tall like artificial trees interwoven across the landscape with their leafy counterparts. Lights waved and beckoned from far off places, tiny pinpricks like luminescent insects scurrying amongst dense foliage. Fences and walls criss-crossed one another until the land became a patchwork, earth broken into territories and generating neighbours. Resting her forehead against the coolness of the window, she allowed the murmuring vibrations of the moving train to rock her gently. She watched attentively as the images slipped by, as they merged and changed, and until the window framed an entirely new scene.