Fountain of Death

The pavement still smelled like rain as we went to go walk outside that morning. The storm in the night swept down with the force of God's hand, and strangely, the city had never looked better. All the trash and grime had been swept away by the force of the gale, and the hobos were out of sight. Even the fountain was working again, spraying down crystal clear water.
The sky is so bright, Koraki said, It doesn't even look as if it rained.
Indeed it didn't. In fact, I was struck by the allusion that it was the fountain's waters that had cleansed the city overnight.
Everyone was looking at the fountain in awe. Watershed was a very suspicous place, and its people were superstitous. I could see it in their eyes as they tried to find some meaning in the everyday miracle. The Pernie fellow looked as if he believed he himself was responsible.
I looked back at the fountain, so innocent and deceptivly pure in apperance. It made me shiver.
"It smells like death." I whispered.
You are right, Koraki said, looking towards the sky. Three black crows were flying across the horizion.

Ambrosia

The city becomes still as the dead for the first hours of a blackout. Nobody quite knows what to do when they can no longer watch their TV or play on their other electronic doodads. But then they slowly creep back up to the surface, wide eyed and uncomprehending, like monkeys descending for the first time from the trees. Then they all slowly made their way to the smell of pie. I did not blame them. I took in a large inhale as I walked towards it myself.
"Do you smell that?" I asked Koraki with a sigh. "Sweet Potato Pie with marshmallows and cinnamon... I used to make that with my grandmother when I was a girl..."
I can't smell it. But everyone else seems quite enamored, He remarked. They should be. It was the smell of Ambrosia... I had to have some. Among the flocking crowd, I could see only one man who had the will power to walk away. I admired him for it, but not enough to follow his example.