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 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:
Sky
by Theodore Jerome Cohen
“Are you looking at the sky to the west,” asked Reggie from his wheelchair. He was sitting on the veranda of his and his partner’s home in southwestern Kenya, close to the Tanzanian border. This being mid-August, the great wildebeest migration had finally arrived in the Sand River.
“It is a magnificent sight, Philip,” replied his companion of 30 years as he observed thousands of animals through his binoculars as they were crossing on their way into the Mara Reserve, which is located within the Masai Mara National Reserve. “Just as you always remembered it.” Tears flowed from his eyes.
“And the Sun, Reggie, where is the Sun?!” insisted Philip, raising himself from the chair as if he might catch a glimpse of the golden orb. The man lost his eyesight 15 years earlier in a hunting accident when the cartridge in his bolt-action elephant rifle exploded in the chamber. It required more than 20 surgeries to restore the features of his face and upper body. While surgeons were able to save his speech and a modicum of hearing, they were unable to save his sight.
“On the horizon, Philip. Sitting right on the horizon, old boy.”
“Ah, yes,” said Reggie, settling back into his wheelchair. “I remember what John Steinbeck wrote: ‘A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone.’ I shall never forget that sight.”
Congratulations, Ted. Great story, as always.