You only get one go.

Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.

Your character comes across an old oil lamp which, when rubbed, frees an ancient and cranky genie. The genie grants only one wish, and it can’t benefit your character. The request can only affect one person. (No curing cancer worldwide.) What does your character wish for?

I thought about this topic for a while. Here’s what came into my head.

“Who wakes me?” The voice was unexpected, it didn’t seem to have an origin. I was in the back room of an old antique shop, rummaging through a pile of ancient brass junk.

“I said, who wakes me?” the voice spoke again. I looked around, there was nobody there. The assistant was still sitting at the desk. I could see him in the security mirror.

“Who are you?” I whispered, almost frightened to speak.

“I am Al-Kashouri, Grand Genie and wizard to the Visier of Hansour.”

It sounded improbable. “You’re having a laugh, whoever you are, pack it in.”

There was a rumble, like distant thunder. “Don’t mock me, mortal. Just get on with it.”

“On with what?” I realised that my hand was touching an old lamp. Surely this wasn’t the old three wishes chestnut? It had to be a practical joke, there was probably a hidden speaker somewhere. I picked the lamp up, turned it over in my hand.

“Steady on,” said the voice. “Can you turn me the right way up? I get vertigo. I’ve been stuck in this lamp for thousands of years and my back is killing me. Here’s the deal. I’m coming out, I need to stretch. We can do our business then I can go back to sleep.”

There was a whooshing noise. Dark blue smoke appeared from the lamp. Suddenly, a figure, dressed in some sort of robe, was in front of me. I looked at the mirror, it was gone. In fact, the whole shop had gone and I was in a dark room, almost like a cave.

In a panic, I dropped the lamp.

“That’s right, just go chucking it about,” the figure said. “That’s my house. A little respect wouldn’t go amiss.”

I ignored that. I wasn’t buying into this, someone was filming me. I’d be on social media soon, making a fool of myself.

“Why can’t I see anything?”

“You’re in my world now, be quiet because I’m not repeating myself.”

“Is this the three wishes thing?” I asked. “Only I’ve heard it. I get three wishes, I can’t use them to ask for more wishes and I can’t change them once I’ve spoken.”

The figure shook his head. “Can’t you follow simple instructions?” he said. He sounded annoyed. “I told you to be quiet. I don’t know where you heard that, but it caused too much hassle. People kept changing their minds and had to use wishes to correct things they hadn’t been precise about. They were always complaining that it wasn’t fair. I changed it. Now, you get one wish. Two conditions: it can’t be for you and it can’t be for more than one person.”

“Dosen’t seem like much of a deal,” I said. “So I can’t ask for money, or a girlfriend or a big…,”

He raised his hand. “Stop. Too much information. Those are the conditions, take it or leave it.”

“If you don’t mind me saying, you’re a bit of a grumpy genie.”

“Being stuck in there does that,” he said. “And dealing with people. Anyhow, I don’t have to be cheerful, now come on, what do you wish for?”

I thought for a few seconds. Now I’d been put on the spot, I had nothing. At that moment, with him standing there, watching me, my mind had gone blank.

“Well,” he said. “Hurry up, it’s not difficult.”

“Don’t rush me, I’m thinking.”

He sighed, theatrically. “It’s pathetic, you get a wish and you can’t think. I don’t know, people today, it used to be so much simpler. I’m waiting.”

It felt like he was trying to rush me and I didn’t like it. “I wish you’d shut up moaning and leave me alone to think.”

There was a blinding flash. When I could see again, I was back in the shop.

“Are you buying that?” asked the assistant.

I looked at the lamp in my hand.

“No.” I threw it back into the pile of rubbish.

I hope you enjoyed that.

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