Theodore Jerome Cohen is the Readers’ Choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. The winning entry is decided by the popular vote and rewarded with a special feature here today. (In the case of a tie, the writer who submitted an entry first is the winner per our rules.) Without further ado, here’s the winning story:
Vortex
by Theodore Jerome Cohen
Alyssa had been to Sedona many times, but she’d never experienced anything like this. It was early in the morning, and the temperature already was above 70 degrees. She was transfixed, looking at the cloud pattern above the fabled red rocks.
“It’s a vortex,” I whispered, as if anything louder would have disturbed the psychic powers arrayed before us. “There are four in the area that are thought to direct positive energy into and out of the Earth: Bell Rock, Airport Mesa, Boynton Canyon, and Cathedral Rock.”
Alyssa said nothing, but slowly, I saw a look of skepticism sweep across her face. “And people believe this?” she asked, holding back some, I think, so as not to embarrass or insult me.
I pressed on. “Many believe the Bell Rock and Airport Mesa Vortexes are masculine; these are thought to be upflows . . . you know, places where energy is coming out of the Earth. They occur over mountain or mesa top, just like the one we’re looking at.”
“Of course,” continued Alyssa,” so the other two must me feminine. And unless I miss my guess, they’re marked by inflows into canyons and depressions.” She said it almost in a mocking voice.
I laughed. “You don’t have to believe it. Still, people come here release their negative energies and take up the positive. It’s all in the mind—and heart—of the beholder.”
Congratulations on another win, Ted.