“Late at night we sat on the deck. They were pumping water out of the hold of the trading boat, preparing her to float and flounder away to Guaymas for more merchandise. But La Paz was asleep; not a soul moved in the streets. The tide turned and swung us around, and in the channel the ebbing tide whispered against our hull and we heard the dogs of La Paz barking in the night.”
Check it out:
Remember point 2 of the instructions
Wizzo gave you in today’s Monday Morning Memo?
2. Look for the defining characteristic(s)
In the Steinbeck passage above, the defining characteristics of the scene are: (1.) Darkness, (2.) the sound of the sea, and (3.) dogs barking in the distance.