All summer in a Day
-Ray Bradbury
The author and the text :
Ray Douglas Bradbury (1 920 ~2012) was one of the most celebrated A mencan [iction writers of the twentieth century. He wrote science fiction, fantasy, horror and mystery stories. His most famous stories are Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man and it Came from Outer Space. Many of his works have been adapted into comic books, telcwsion shows and films. ‘
This text is an excerpt from a science fiction which gives us an imaginary aecaunt of life on the planet Venus It touchingly narrates the keen expectations of the children of Venus who eagerly waitfor the sun to appear after seven years,
but only for an hour. The deviation of the text from what we know as screnti/ic
fact only adds to the imaginative element ofthe tale
)
It had been raining for seven years. Thousands upon thousands of days filled from one end to the other with rain. The days were filled with the gush of water and endless showers. Heavy storms caused tidal waves to come over the islands. A thousand forests crushed under the rain, had grown up a thousand times to be ~ crushed again. This was the way of life forever on planet Venus. Here was locate the schoolroom of the children belonging to men and women who came by rocket from Earth. They set up a civilization in this raining world.
"Ready?" ”Ready.” ”Now?"
”Soon."
”Will it happen today, will it?”
"Look, look, see for yourself."
The children in the schoolroom chattered and pressed to each other We so many roses. They peered out of the window tolook at the hidden sun.
It rained.
"it’s stopping, it’s stopping."
The children were all nine years old. When the sun came out last time seven years ago they were too young. They could not recall the sun when it came out forjust an hour and showed its face to the stunned world.
All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun. They learned how like a lemon it was and how hot. They had written small stories, essays or poems about it.
”i think the sun is a flower That blooms for just one hour.”
That was yesterday. Today, at this moment, the rain was slackening. The children gathered at the great thick windows.
“Where's our teacher?”
"She’ll be back.”
"She must hurry or she’ll miss it.” The rain slackened still more.
The children were eager to see the sun. They had been on Venus all their lives. They had been only two years old when the sun last came out. They had long since forgotten the colour and the heat of how it really was. They played in the
echoing tunnels of the underground city and sang of summer and the sun. l
The rain stopped.
it was as if a hurricane had lost its sound. There were no motions or tremor bu peace. The world grounded to a standstill. The silence was so immense one woul feel as if the ears had been stuffed. The children put their hands to their ears
They stood apart. The door slid back. The smell of the silent, waiting world cam to them.
The sun came out.
It was the colour of flaming bronze and it was very large. The sky around it was
blazing blue. The jungle burned with sunlight. The children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling, into the summertime.
“Now, don’t you go too far," their teacher called after them. “You‘ve only an hour, you know."
The children were running and turning up their faces to the sky to feel the warm sun on their cheeks. They took off theirjackets and let the sun warm their arms.
“Oh, it’s better than lamplights, isn't it?" ”Much, much better.”
They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus. The jungle grew and never stopped growing. The jungle had spent years without the sun. it was the colour of rubber, ash and ink.
The children lay out laughing on the jungle mattress. They ran among the trees. They slipped and fell. They pushed each other and played hide and seek. Most of all they squinted at the sun until tears ran down their faces. They breathed the fresh air and listened to the silence which held them in a blessed sea of no sound. They looked at everything and savoured everything. Then, wildly, like animals escaped from their caves, they ran and ran, shouting, in circles. They ran for an hour and did not stop running.
And then
ln the midst of their running, one of the girls walled. Everyone stopped.
The girl, standing in the open, held out her hand.
”Oh, look, look.” She said trembling.
The children gathered slowly to look at her opened palm. in the centre of it was a single large raindrop.
The girl began to cry, looking at it.
The children glanced quickly at the sky.
A few cold drops fell on their noses and their cheeks and their mouths. The sum faded behind a cloud of mist. A cool wind blew around them. They turned and slowly walked towards their underground houses. Their smiles had vanished.
A boom of thunder startled them. They tumbled upon each other and ran.
”Oh, oh”. Lightning struck all around them. The sky darkened into midnight in a flash.
The children stood at the doorway to the underground houses until it was raining hard. Then they closed the doors and heard the gigantic sound of the rain falling
everywhere. I ”Will it be seven more years before the sun comes out again?" ”Yes"
With pale faces they looked out for the window at the world that was raining now, raining and raining steadily.
