Take an ordinary circumstance that’s life-changing, like a wife leaving a husband. Pair this with an extraordinary event, like a volcano erupting in Iceland. Have the two sit together and chat perhaps. Or better yet, just have them sit quietly. The result will be phenomenal. The wife will return to her husband, though the heat of her leaving will still remain. Then will arrive “one of those brilliant moments” – the television will reveal the smoke and ash of the eruption, and one of their daughters will ask, “What’s ash?” And while the volcano makes itself important, its internal temperature rising in the same way the world’s attention will, ash will fall.
the story
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/05/24/100524fi_fiction_doyle
the volcano
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/photographing-icelands-fiery-volcano/