Auguries (a fragment)

And when she came out of the bus finally, looking up, the western sky seemed suddenly like a great red desert, dunes tapering off into a kind of moss of clouds, which floated on a dim but intense blue. She was unsure what made the color so intense when it was already dulled by the approaching night, but could only explain to herself that it was like the piercing of eyes, the grey-blue of a…