InvisibleAura

Good Omens (1990) is a wacky-wry fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. One of my favorite scenes occurs in Chapter "Thursday" as Adam, a boy of apocalyptic importance, is visiting Anathema Device, a "Practical Occultist" (aka witch):

:She stared at Adam. There was something odd about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. ...

and a few pages later:

:... She was still trying to put her finger on what was so odd about Adam, and then she realized what it was.

:He had no aura.

:She was quite an expert on auras. She could see them, if she stared hard enough. They were a little glow of light around people's heads, and according to a book she'd read the color told you things about their health and general well-being. Everyone had one. In mean-minded, closed-in people they were a faint, trembling outline, whereas expansive and creative people might have one extending several inches from the body.

:She'd never heard of anyone without one, but she couldn't see one around Adam at all. Yet he seemed cheerful, enthusiastic, and as well-balanced as a gyroscope.

but by the next page it is revealed:

:It might, or might not, have helped Anathema get a clear view of things if she'd been allowed to spot the very obvious reason why she couldn't see Adam's aura.

:It was for the same reason that people in Trafalgar Square can't see England.

TopicLiterature - TopicHumor - Datetag20040803

(correlates: WorthTheCost, IdiosyncraticFandom, Asimov on Zoology, ...)