“Himalayan Sunset”

“In the midst of unpacking his gear, the sun began to set. Theo stopped what he was doing and moved to a hummock overlooking the draw. The sinking sun had painted a wide swath of the mountains before him in deepest rose. The huge piles of cumulus set behind the tallest visible peak showed the shape of cotton candy and the color of a pink sapphire. The rim of the sinking star burnt a candescent arc on the far horizon. Then the colors deepened to ruby and orange, and the mountains turned black, and their faces curved like mighty Hawaiian waves preparing to crash into an unsuspecting shore. Finally, one lone cloud hung high, cream and tangerine, and the sky itself assumed a solemn purple hue, and one lone peak stood out against it, nothing but a molten shimmer of flowing lava light. And it all ended.”