Elderly Man Reading Newspaper with Frozen Lightning

Soft overcast light falls through large cafe windows, illuminating the worn wooden bench and the elderly man seated within. He holds a newspaper open, his face lit by the pale glow of the glass. Above him, the cafe ceiling seems to dissolve into the morning sky where a jagged bolt of lightning hangs frozen in mid-strike. The electric blue branches illuminate the steam rising from a nearby cup and cast sharp, unnatural shadows across the table surfaces. The turn of seasons is visible in the muted autumn leaves pressed against the glass, against the violent, static energy of the suspended storm. A reflection of the lightning bolt dances on the polished wood of the bench leg.