Evening Redness, Fire near Cassoday, Kansas - 1990

Note: Similar to my last post, this is a piece of descriptive flash fiction was based on Blood Meridian. By now, you may be able to tell, if you have seen my essay history on this website, that I am quite a big fan of Blood Meridian and Cormac McCarthy, having written a very lengthy essay on The Judge and read quite a few of his book. However, this particular piece was not inspired by the content of the book. Rather it was inspired by my fascination with the cover from the Vintage International paperback of Blood Meridian, paired with its haunting title. The cover, I learned was by a consummate photographer named Larry Schwarm, who specialises in photographs of fires of prairies. Below, is the picture that inspired me. It is titled, 'Fire near Cassoday, Kansas - 1990'. Thus, I have merged the alternate title of Blood Meridian - The Evening Redness in The West' - with the photo's title.

As if in heaven, the man takes faltering steps through a field of reeds, moving listlessly, towards the infinite, eternal line of the horizon. The sky above bleeds ochre and burgundy; its light forcing the strands of the earth to adopt a dark duality. As the shades of red consume the yellow, slowly a strangely nebulous mass forms before his eyes. It besets the reeds, colouring them maroon as they gently sway in the wind. A faint yet ubiquitous tinge of marigold is present, like a candlelit lamp’s light bleeding through a bloodied veil. The reeds’ shadows grew and elongated, as if stretching into obsidian tentacles, holding him down to the ground. Only a scornful god would be cruel enough to set a mirage of heaven possibly making him feel tied down, his true destination of hell appearing. As the sky blackens, a shape appears - a crescent moon, of a pure white. The man thinks it is an escape of sorts, a beacon of hope in this nightmarish, blood red hellscape. But, slowly its sanctity is stained by a disgusting yellow, like a rictus of brimstone. Slits, widening and stretching into cracks form, and now it seems like this entire corrupted world is laughing at him.