“You figured that out quicker than I expected,” the genie said, appearing across the room. He leaned casually against the wall, his arms crossed in such a way that both forearm muscles and biceps flexed attractively. The intrigued expression on his face made Ella’s heart beat faster again.
“Do I have another wish?” she asked, trying to keep her mind on the potential danger, rather than how handsome he was. Would he look like a sexy woman if I was a lesbian? she wondered. She tried imagining him in the pink harem outfit from “I Dream of Jeannie.” It helped, a little. Then he grinned and she was glad that she was still sitting, so he couldn’t see how weak-kneed she felt.
“Make a wish, and see,” he purred.
Tilly’s handsome husband, she reminded herself. We... I have to stop this, if I can. I wanted magic, but there’s just too much potential for disaster. She reminded herself of the snowstorm, and the explosion. That’s right, she thought. It’s a good thing I did figure it out quickly. I can't expect this genie to be kind or gentle.
She took a deep breath. “I wish...”
The genie leaned forward eagerly when she paused.
“I wish that you can never grant another wish.”
He froze, then for just a moment his face twisted into a snarl of rage. Ella felt adrenaline flooding her body in an instinctive fight or flight reaction, but then as soon as they had appeared, the expression and the sensation of danger were gone again.
He smirked, and though she still felt a little light-headed, she couldn't help smiling back.
"Fortunately for me," the genie said as flirtatiously as ever, "your first wish after finding my lamp was that 'there really was a genie, waiting around to grant incautious wishes.' I'm afraid that wish sounded anything but incautious, so I'll have to pass on granting it. Very clever, though. I can see I'm going to have to watch you very carefully.”
The leer that went along with his last comment made her blush furiously, and it took her a moment to realize what his first comment meant. "Wait... if that was my first wish, and my second wish... you know, then undoing it was my third wish. I was out of wishes anyway. What are you still doing here?"
"Three wishes?" he asked. "I didn't take you for a traditionalist."
He knelt down in front of her, his knees only a few inches from hers. "I grant what I want."
He leaned a little closer. "How I want."
Closer still. "When I want."
She broke eye contact with him, only to find herself staring at his lips. Pink harem outfit, she reminded herself, but it didn’t help at all.
“So until next time, my lady...” he leaned forward a little more, so that his lips brushed her ear. “Be careful what you wish for.”
Then he was gone.
~~*~~
A Christmas Wish
Ella snuggled into the bed, so tired that her eyes had finally stopped focusing on her book and forced her to give up for the night.
She thought fondly of the friends she would be seeing tomorrow. Having a quiet Christmas at home with a good book was nice, but she was also looking forward to exchanging presents and seeing her friends' children excitedly tear the wrapping paper off of their presents.
Wrapping paper...
She moaned, rubbing her face into her pillow. "I forgot to wrap the presents," she groaned, trying to goad herself into getting up to take care of it, but reluctant to move out of her nice warm bed. "Ohhh... I wish it was already done."
An instant later, she realized what she had said. Adrenaline had her out of bed and down the stairs in seconds, racing across the house to see what new disaster her wish had spawned.
The toys and candy sat innocently on the table, still unwrapped.
She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. He must not have been listening." Humming a Christmas carol, she set about wrapping the presents.
The genie smirked, watching from one of the decorations on the tree. "Merry Christmas," he whispered, too softly for her to hear.
~~*~~
Short Story Collections by Anthea Strezze
Refuge: Tales From a Zombie Apocalypse
When a terrorist attack unleashed a new strain of the bird flu, people worried.
When the resulting pandemic killed millions, it felt like the end of the world.
Then the dead started to rise.
The Trouble With Wishes
Everyone wishes sometimes - for things to be different, or easier, or better. But when a wish is granted, can you ever get what you really want?
Zombie Variations
What's it like to be a zombie?Do you still feel love and fear? Or nothing but a ravening hunger for the brains of the living?
Coming soon:
Transformations
Self-transformation - What sort of motivation does it take to destroy who you are, in the hope of who you might become?
~~*~~
About the Author
Anthea Strezze believes in nurturing the sense of wonder, and strives to write stories that her readers can really connect with and find echoes of themselves and their lives in. She's just as likely to write a story about werewolves washing dishes as mages doing battle with ancient evil (more likely, actually), and loves writing both mundane stories with a taste of the fantastic, and fantastic stories with a hint of the mundane. She lives in New England with her husband and cat, and maintains a blog at https://AntheaStrezze.com/blog.
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