"The Day The Sun Rose In The West. A short story by Brian
Mitchell. London.
"Early in the day, in and around the city, people had been going
about their daily business. Many were already at work in the
factories and in the fields. A small group of children had been
helping their families planting rice, and had stopped to catch
crickets, which they flushed out of the ground by pouring water down
their holes and catching them when they floated to the top.
Some fishermen had just landed their first catch of the day, and some
children had gathered round to pinch some of the smaller fish, which
they would eat raw after drying them and soaking them in vinegar or
lemon juice.
Some smaller children were playing with a small octopus which had
come up in the fishermen's nets, and were allowing its tentacles to
curl around their necks in order to shock the city folk passing on
their way to work.
At the sound of a dull, reverberating drone somewhere to the West,
they searched the blue sky until they spotted a flashing, silvery
fish approaching the city.
The plane appeared to bank and turn away, as if uninterested. The
people carried on with their work and play.
Some fishermen out at sea said: "The sun rises in the West today!"
Hiroshima had vanished in a flash of blinding heat, and one hundred
and seventy-six thousand people no longer worked or played."
.