March 1, 1954

John stood at his kitchen counter making coffee as the little radio on the table droned away.  They didn’t get news very quickly in the Marshall Islands, but there was some available from the military base and from over in the Philippines.  John was half-listening to the voice on the radio, which was talking about the new atomic bombs the army had.  John had heard about them, knew that they had supposedly ended the war in Japan.  He also knew that the Reds had the bomb too; he had even heard they blew a few up in their own country to see what would happen, the barbarians.  Tuning out the little radio, he started to go out onto the porch to sit and watch the sun rise—the glow on the horizon was just beginning to show.  Light flooded the house, and with a queer suddenness it was a bright morning outside.  Bewildered, John walked onto the porch to see a brilliant sunrise in the west.

Pacific Sunrise

Sources:

Ragtime