Not One Wish
Be careful who you wish to
As she was washing the dishes, a strange green mist bubbled out of the soapsuds. She knew the dishes had been sitting in the sink for quite a while, and she had put a little bleach in the water, but not that much!
The mist coalesced into a small genie, green and wizened, decked in jewels. He folded his arms and began to intone, “Thank you, O Mistress, for…”
“Wait a minute. Where’d you come from?” she asked. Jerking the plug out of the sink, she began to rinse each piece left revealed through the suds…no lamps nor unusual bottles, not even a pot with a lid. “Where did you come from?”
“Don’t you want your three wishes?” The genie smiled, yet perhaps not in a friendly way. “Gold? Love?” He peered at her bulky form, “Perhaps a bit less avoirdupois?”
By this time, the water had drained, and the sink held nothing but some unidentifiable scraps that might once have been food. She wiped the sink with a paper towel.
“Came up from the drain, right?” She reached under the sink for her handy bottle of Liquid Plumber ®. “We can do this the easy way, or we can do it hard.”
“No, No! I am truly a genie! Let me grant you three wishes!” The genie shrank back from the bottle, his arms protecting his face.
“I do the magic in this house,” she said. “Back in the bottle or down the drain for you. Which will it be?”
“When did they let your kind move into this neighborhood?”
“I’m here now.” She nodded meaningfully towards the drain.
With a sigh, the genie melted, one drop at a time down the drain. Just before his head disappeared, he cried, “You could have turned me into a frog!”
She smiled, but perhaps not in a friendly way. “You didn’t make a wish.”
This story comes from the collection of my stories Just a Smidgen of Magic
Fun story. A twist of magic.
Thanks for sharing this today. I needed to deal with my own drain, and now I have a few ideas! Clever you!!