As You Wish

My story begins at an auction. It wasn’t anything special, some old lady died and had no next of kin, so they auctioned all her stuff off. This old lady had all sorts of antiques in her house. She could have easily opened up her own antique store, which I’m glad she didn’t, because I didn’t need any more competition. That’s right, I own an antique store, and auctions like this are a regular thing for me.

I bid on a few things, but there was very little that I absolutely had to have. I did, however, win a box of random dishware. Plates, silverware, cups, and other small unassuming items from around her house. I always liked buying the boxes of junk, because sometimes you might get lucky and whoever packed the box up doesn’t really know the value of a particular item that can actually be worth quite a bit.

I took my winning back to my shop and began to go through the box of small items. Like I had assumed, most of the items were of little value. However, at the very bottom of the box was something that caught my attention. It was an Arabic oil lamp, like the ones in all the stories about genies. I chuckled; it was a cool find. In all my years in dealing antiquities I had never come across an oil lamp. It wasn’t as ornate as I had imagined them being as a child, but it was made of bronze and had some decorative designs engraved on it. I picked up the lid and looked inside and was disappointed that no genie was inside. I set it aside and began cataloging my new inventory.

I found that I could not keep my thoughts from the lamp. I had this urge to rub it to summon a genie, but I knew this was just a foolish myth. Yet, there was some part of me that was almost afraid to rub it. What if there was a genie inside there that would grant me three wishes. What on earth would I even wish for? Finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I grabbed the lamp and rubbed it gently.

To my surprise, a red smoke began to pour out of the spout. I stared at amazement as it formed a human like shape. Finally, the shape became a physical form. In front of me was a god damn genie. His skin was a dark red, almost maroon color, and was muscular. He had a long beard and wore a turban around his head. He was adorned with beautiful golden bracelets, rings, and earrings. I stared at him with amazement. If my jaw could, it would have hit the ground.

“It has been a long time since you summoned me, Martha.” The genie said as it looked around.

His eyes met mine as I stared blankly at him.

“You are not Martha,” the genie began, “but you are the one who summoned me. Therefore, you are now my master.”

“You’re a real genie?” I finally stuttered.

“Well, I’m certainly not a fake genie.” He jested. “My name is Khalid, and three wishes I shall grant you, master.”

He bowed as he introduced himself.

“My name is Brandon.” I said slowly, still in shock of what stood before me.

“A pleasure, Master Brandon.” Khalid said with another bow.

“So, I assume that the normal restrictions apply to the wishes?” I asked.

“I’m not sure what restrictions you refer to,” Khalid began, “but I can tell you that I cannot grant you more wishes, I cannot bring people back to life, and I cannot make anyone fall in love with you. Besides that, your imagination is your only restriction.”

“Yeah, those were the restrictions I was referring to.” I laughed.

Khalid stood in front of me, waiting for my first wish. He grinned at me, but it didn’t feel like a joyful grin. There was an eerie malice to his grin. I got the feeling that this was not something he enjoyed doing.

“Let’s keep this first one simple.” I thought to myself.

I was a successful antique dealer, but anyone who runs a small business will tell you that more money is always nice. I didn’t want to be too greedy though. I stroked my chin as I thought to myself about how to word my wish.

“Very well,” I started, “I have my first wish.”

“Please proceed.” Khalid said.

“I wish that I had $100,000 in twenty-dollar bills.”

“As you wish.” Khalid said with a snap of his fingers.

Suddenly several briefcases appeared on the counter, each was open and showed the money inside. I was excited, I had never seen this much money before. I could pay off the loan for the store and still have some money left over to make some upgrades to my house. I went behind the counter and grabbed a paper bag and began putting the money into it.

“Do you not like the briefcases that I provided you?” Khalid asked as I put the money in the paper bags.

“They are nice, but I’m afraid to shut the cases and have them lock on me. I would then not be able to spend the money that I wished for.” I explained.

“You are wise, Master Brandon.” Khalid said with a grin.

“I’ve heard stories about genies twisting wishes.” I began, “I just couldn’t take the risk.”

“It’s an interesting thought.” Khalid said rubbing his beard, “I’ll keep that in mind the next time someone wishes for money.”

“Poor bastard.” I quipped.

Khalid smiled. I think he enjoyed the thought of watching someone struggle to open the briefcases that contained the money that they had just wished for.

I finished transferring the money into paper bags and placed them in my safe. I closed the cases and placed them in a pile in the storeroom. Satisfied with my first wish, I was eager to use my second. I paced the store trying to think of something else to wish for.

“There is no time limit in which you must use your wishes, Master Brandon.” Khalid said, annoyed by my pacing, I’m sure. “I can return to the lamp until you are ready for your next wish.”

“Yes, that would be fine.” I said, and with that he turned back into the red smoke and went back into the lamp.

Once he was fully gone, I audibly laughed.

“It’s a real genie’s lamp.” I said, as I picked up the lamp and put it underneath the counter.

The next several hours went by as normal. I went about putting the new items that I had purchased into display cases and putting price tags on them. I’m pretty sure that I was grinning from ear to ear as I did. I could have anything I wanted, and Khalid did not twist my wish as I had suspected. Or at least that’s what I thought.

As I was finishing up at the store, I heard sirens approaching. This was nothing new for the area in which my store was located. Kids were always getting into trouble around here, and I assumed it was nothing I needed to be concerned with. As I approached the door to lock it, I looked out the window and saw that the police had barricaded the street right outside the door to my store. Several police officers were standing beside their squad cars with guns pointed at my store.

“What the fuck!” I said aloud.

I then locked the door and ran behind the counter and grabbed the lamp. I wasn’t sure what I expected Khalid would do for me without wasting a wish, but I wanted him near just in case. Finally, I heard a voice coming from the door.

“Mr. Franklin,” the officer said, “please open the door. We have some questions for you.”

“I’m closed,” I responded, “Come back tomorrow.”

I really didn’t think that would work, but I was panicking. I looked over the edge of the counter and saw the police officer looking in. Unlike the others, he was dressed in normal clothes. He was obviously the detective in charge, but what I had done to get their attention was unclear to me.

“Mr. Franklin, we know that you have the briefcases full of twenty-dollar bills that you requested. We aren’t sure how you managed to grab them so quickly after they were dropped off, but please let Bella go.”

“What are you talking about?” I questioned.

“We gave you the ransom money. Now live up to your end of the bargain and let Bella go.” The detective responded.

It was then that I realized that Khalid had taken the ransom money from some drop location and placed it in my shop. I didn’t know how I was going to get out of this. Out of desperation I rubbed the lamp again. Khalid appeared squatting down on the ground next to me.

“Yes Master.” He said, grinning his mischievous smile.

“What have you done?” I asked hastily.

“I did as you wished.” Khalid responded.

“I thought you would just create the money with your magic, not steal it.” I argued.

“You didn’t specify where the money was to come from.” Khalid said.

“How did they find out the money was here?” I asked.

“They put a tracker in each case.” Khalid said calmly.

“Mr. Franklin, if you do not open this door in the next thirty seconds, we will be forced to break the door in.” The detective said as he looked around the shop to find me. “I don’t want things to get ugly, but if you don’t let Bella go in the next thirty seconds, I will use force to get her back.”

“How am I going to get out of this situation.” I asked myself.

“You do still have two wishes left, Master.” Khalid said, grinning.

“Twenty seconds, Mr. Franklin.” The detective said.

“Fine,” I said looking at Khalid, “I wish all the police outside my shop were gone.”

“As you wish.” Khalid said as he snapped his fingers.

There was silence. I peeked out from behind the counter and did not see anyone, but I could still see the flashing lights from the police cars. I turned to look at Khalid who continued to grin at me.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I did as you wished.” Khalid responded.

I got up slowly and made my way to the door. When I looked outside, I was appalled. Laying all over the street were the bodies of a dozen police officers, I presumed dead, and the detective lay just outside the door.

“You killed them!” I yelled at Khalid, who had followed me and was standing behind me.

“Are they not gone?” He responded, still grinning at me.

“That’s not what I meant!” I said pointing to the chaos in the street.

“You really should be more precise with your wishes then, Master.” Khalid said.

I threw my arms up in the air with frustration. I paced the room, thinking about what to do next. How could I get out of this situation without causing more chaos. To make matters worse, there was apparently a little girl whose life was now in danger because of all this. My temper got the best of as I turned towards Khalid, who was standing there grinning at me with his wicked smile.

“I wish you didn’t exist.” I yelled.

“As you wish.” Khalid said as he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly I found myself standing alone in my shop. I realized too late what I had done. He was gone, my third and final wish fulfilled. I was no closer to getting out of the situation I found myself in, and that little girl was surely going to die. Damn my luck.