MY FORAY INTO THE REALM OF AURAS -- Vonnie Davis

I was a sophomore in college when I met Erin. We were both nontraditional students. I was forty-five and she was late-twenties. One day as we were traipsing across the campus to the library, she told me I had a cranberry red aura.

 I stopped in my tracks. “A what?”

“An aura. That colorful energy force that surrounds everyone.”

“Energy force.” What in the world was she talking about? I worked six days a week at a third shift job and attended college during the day as a fulltime student. I had NO energy force. I’d used it up the previous semester.

We started walking again. “Haven’t you ever heard of an aura?” Erin asked.

“No.” I hate being in the dark about something. “What do you mean you can see energy forces?” She was kind of freaking me out. Even so, the writer in me, the part that needs to know everything, was quite curious.

“I see them out of the top of my head.” She splayed her hand over the crown of her brown hair. Good grief, what kind of crack was this girl smoking? She beamed at me with her usual animated sweet spirit. Too bad what she was saying made zero sense to me.

“So you can look at someone and see or sense from the top of your head a ring of color around them?” My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to come to grips with what she was telling me. Frankly, I’m very conservative in some ways; too often skeptical of most things out of the norm.

“Yeah, I’m told we can have various layers to our auras, but I can only see one.” I nodded as if I understood but, folks, I was clueless. She went on with her tutorial. “Our aura reflects our health, mental activity and emotional state. It holds all information about who we are.”

“Kinda like our credit reports,” I quipped as I reached for the library door. “So, tell me, is a cranberry red aura good?” And how did she know it was cranberry red and not tomato red or brick red? What if she were color blind and read everyone’s aura wrong?

“Oh, yeah. It signifies passion, love for others, enthusiasm and courage.” Sounded like a one-size-fits-all psychic reading to me.

Two weeks later, I was sitting in the cafeteria with another nontraditional student eating lunch and talking about our business law exam. Gary was late-thirties, early-forties. He was seeking me out more often, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I was still reeling from my divorce; even after two years, my emotions remained raw.

Erin came bustling over. “Vonnie, can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

Gary took the hint and made some excuse about making a phone call.

“What’s up?”

Erin sat in the seat he just vacated and glanced back over her shoulder. “His aura scares me.”

“Who’s? Gary’s?” Enough with the auras, already. I didn’t believe in them. I couldn’t understand how she saw or felt something from the back of her head. It all sounded like mumbo-jumbo to me. I mean, really…

“Gary’s aura is dark grey and black, and it’s moving and swirling. Has he asked you out? He keeps looking at you funny. I think you better keep your distance. I’m worried.”

Three days later, police came to campus and arrested Gary for beating a woman until she was near death.

Color my aura “Oh-My-God Scaredy-Cat Yellow.”

What about you? Do you believe in auras?

I won’t be online to read or respond to your comments for a couple days. I’m having surgery today to remove the saliva gland in front of my left ear. It has a cyst about the size of a grape growing in it, causing ear aches, headaches and jaw pain. Because of all the facial nerves, it’ll be a delicate operation. Color my aura black and blue.