Embroidery

The story begins with a group of woman sitting in rocking chairs, embroidering. They are discussing something, though it's not clear what. It becomes clear, as the story moves on, that something is going to happen that they all know about,, something bad. They talk about simple things that they won't have to do past that night, like making dinner or reading papers, while they begin to cry. One woman who's embroidering a lovely scene, messes up a man's face on her cloth and undos the whole man instead of just his face, leaving an empty landscape. At one minute to five, they all head out to the porch. When the clock strikes five and nothing seems to happen, all the woman relax, but not even thrity seconds later a fire can be seen rapidly making its way towards them and destroying everything in its path.

A quote that left an impression on me was the very end of the story. One of the woman compares herself to an embroidery as the fire wrecks havoc on the area. "For now, yes, now! it was plucking at the white embroidery of her flesh, the pink thread of her cheeks, and at last it found her heart, a soft red rose sewn with fire, and it burned the fresh, embroidered petals away, one by delicate one...." The story ends like this, with the elipses and the image of burning flesh. It's interesting how Ray Bradbury makes this scene sound so beautiful and calm as everything is destroyed. The juxtaposition is what is so haunting.