The Chrysanthemums ( 1 ) John Steinbeck The high gray - flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world . on every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot . on the broad , level land floor the gang plows bit deep and left the black earth shining like metal where the shares had cut . on the foothill ranches across the Salinas 1 ~ iver , the yellow stubble fields seemed to be bathed in pale cold sunshine , but there was no sunshine in the valley now in December . The thick willow scrub along the river flamed with sharp and positive yellow leaves . It was a time of quiet and of waiting . The air was cold and tender . A light wind blew up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long ; but fog and rain did not go together . Across the river , on Henry Allen ' s foothill ranch there was little work to be done , for the hay was cut and stored and the orchards were plowed up to receive the rain deeply when it should come . The cattle on the higher slopes were becoming shaggy and rough - coated . Elisa Allen , working in her flower garden , looked down across the yard and saw Henry , her husband , talking to two men in business suits . The three of them stood by the tractor shed , each man with one foot on the side of the little Ford - son . They smoked cigarettes and studied the machine as they talked . Elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work . She was thirty - five . Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water . Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume , a man ' s black hat pulled low down over her eyes , clod - hopper shoes , a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips , the trowel and scratcher , the seeds and the knife she worked with . She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked . She was cutting down the old year ' s chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and powerful scissors . She looked down toward the men by the tractor shed now and then . Her face was eager and mature and handsome ; even her work with the scissors was over - eager , over - powerful . The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy . She brushed a cloud of hair out of her eyes with the back of her glove , and left a smudge of earth on her cheek in doing it . Behind her stood the neat white farm house with red geraniums close - banked around it as high as the windows . It was a hard - swept looking little house , with hard - polished windows , and a clean mud - mat on the front steps . Elisa cast another glance toward the tractor shed . The strangers were getting into their Ford coupe . She took off a glove and put her strong fingers down into the forest of new green chrysanthemum sprouts that were growing around the old roots . She spread the leaves and looked down among the close - growing stems . No aphids were there , no sowbugs or snails or cutworms . Her terrier fingers destroyed such pests before they could get started . Elisa started at the sound of her husband ' s voice . He had come near quietly , and he leaned over the wire fence that protected her flower garden from cattle and dogs and chickens . " At it again , " he said . " You ' ve got a strong new crop coming . Elisa straightened her back and pulled on the gardening glove again . " Yes . They ' ll be strong this coming year . " In her tone and on her face there was a little smugness . You ' ve got a gift with things , " Henry observed . " Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across . I wish you ' d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big . " Her eyes sharpened . " Maybe I could do it , too . I ' ve a gift with things , all right . My mother had it . She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow . She said it was having planters ' hands that knew how to do it . " " Well , it sure works with flowers , " he said . " Henry , who were those men you were talking to ? " " Why , sure , that ' s what I came to tell you . They were from the Western Meat Company . I sold those thirty head of three - year - old steers . Got nearly my own price , too . " " Good , " she said . " Good for you . " And I thought , " he continued , " I thought how it ' s Saturday afternoon , and we might go into Salinas for dinner at a restaurant , and then to a picture show -- to celebrate , you see . " " Good , " she repeated . " Oh , yes . That will be good . " Henry put on his joking tone . " There ' s fights tonight . How ' d you like to go to the fights ? " " Oh , no , " she said breathlessly . " No , I wouldn ' t like fights . " " Just fooling , Elisa . We ' ll go to a movie . Let ' s see . It ' s two now . I ' m going to take Scotty and bring down those steers from the hill . It ' ll take us maybe two hours . We ' ll go in town about five and have dinner at the Cominos Hotel . Like that ? " " Of course I ' ll like it . It ' s good to eat away from home . " " All right , then . I ' ll go get up a couple of horses . " She said , " I ' ll have plenty of time transplant some of these sets , I guess . " She heard her husband calling Scotty down by the barn . And a little later she saw the two men ride up the pale yellow hillside in search of the steers . 朗讀 : 유정아 ( FM 가정음악 , KBS 1 FM )