Heatwave over the rolling meadows. Pink of flowers, black of rooks. In the tall grass, a stray cat squints at the sun and sniffs at the hot, heavy air. A sudden gust of wind — and a swirling vortex of parachute seeds disappears in the glowing opal sky. The air is abuzz with bees and tiny nameless midgets. A ladybug hiding in a tangle of roots, stalks, and leaves; a dragonfly in mid-air, motionless but for the flickering of its gossamer wings; water striders frozen by the heat among the sinuous leaves. Slowly, the cat begins to move through the grass, over to the brilliant forest in the distance.
