Sunday Afternoon.
“Autumn is drawing near,” she said.
“Yes, it is,” he replied.
The room was dimly lit, and the thin curtains were drawn. They sat on easy chairs facing the windows of the living-room. There were ornaments all over the room. A white china vase stood on the coffee table. It was decorated with beautiful blue flowers. Next to the vase a few books lay on the table. Miscellaneous fiction and poetry.
On the shelves and mantelpiece stood all manner of assorted trivia. There was some war memorabilia such as bayonets and old helmets. Travel souvenirs such as sea-shells and coffee cups. There was a lot of handicraft from all over the country and the world. The assortment of collectables were all neatly packed and displayed on the shelves for the benefit of the casual browser.
The couple sat in a silence that was only occasionally interspersed with conversation. The light breeze outside lifted the curtain-tail and it gently wafted into the room for a moment. The old clock on the mantle piece kept the time with a steady and audible ticking beat.
While they relaxed and spoke, they drank some coffee. A bird sung a lovely and lively tune outside somewhere I a tree. It was Sunday afternoon and the neighborhood was quiet. There was a small dog barking somewhere far away, and he was scarcely audible in the background. Every now and then a car or two would drive by quietly. The clock ticked on steadily.
Then the couple gradually fell silent, as each took to reading their own book. The woman read a murder-thriller by some obscure writer, while the man read a book of poetry by WH Auden. The afternoon passed quietly with the two of them reading, and the clock keeping the time in the background. From time to time one of them would get up and go to the kitchen to fetch more coffee.
The afternoon was mild, and outside the birds sang happily in the trees, as the sun slowly started to go down in a red brilliance…