Bathyscaphe

[My entry for the latest Weekly Writing Challenge on The Daily Post: Find a Muse in the Masters,  the Master inspiration being the painting “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper]

The bright light of the diner cuts into the darkness like an intruder, splashing the sidewalks in prismatic green then fading into the gray of the bituminous road, finally losing its strength against the shop windows on the other side of the street. The diner’s occupants pay no attention to the world outside their glass enclosure, like disinterested scientists in a bathyscaphe, their curiosity crushed after months of staring into the lifeless ocean floor.