High Noon Harvest: Post-apocalyptic Urban Fantasy

The sun beat on her bare bronze shoulders as Mira bent over the stalks of wheat, carefully cutting them with a silver sickle. It was noon, the only time to harvest grain safely. Otherwise, what went into ones basket as grain could come out as snakes, scorpions, or weeping bloody fingers. It made life careful, knowing what was happening. She remembered when the thresher had powered its way through acres of wheat all day long during harvesting season. Now, it was she and her silver sickle, moving stealthily at high noon, hoping not to surprise some fey creature that would take it unkindly. The bread, though, tasted better, she thought. There were a few compensations. The fob watch hanging from her belt chimed softly, and she let the last stalks of wheat fall into her basket. She surveyed her haul. Enough for a couple of loaves, one for her and one to trade for apples harvested under the full moon.


Inspiration: The first part of "Raw is War 2003" by Jedi Mind Tricks
Story Potential: High, especially when concatenated with yesterday's freewrite.
Finished Length: Novel. Damn it. Oh, this could be a short story, but with both of them...it's a novel struggling to come out.
Notes: I swear I didn't plan on writing another part of yesterday's freewrite story. Amplification: magic rules are reversed. What was previously used to cause magic (mystic times, etc) are now reversed...the only safe times. the witching hour is safe, etc.