4th Wish (2 page)

I shrugged and grinned as I said, “No problem. Magic."

Giving me a sharp glance, she said, “You just said you don't believe in magic."

Grinning, I said, “It was a joke, Jaline. I say the same thing about how computers and their programs work. It usually saves having to try to explain things to newbies."

"New-bees?” she drew the word out a bit. “That word wasn't in the newspaper."

"Newbies,” I said. “People who are new to computing, for instance."

"I see. You have a rather cavalier attitude concerning something you don't seem to understand at all."

"Yeah? You're sitting in an air-conditioned car, ma'am. They didn't have those in 1917. They didn't have computers, either, but you haven't asked me what a computer is. Seems to me that someone who hasn't been out of her bottle for close to a century ought to have more than a few questions, too."

Giving me that raised eyebrow again, she said, “Computers were mentioned in the paper, as was air-conditioning. I
do
have some questions, but there will be time enough to learn what I wish to know about this era once I'm fully released from my debt to you."

"Back to that, huh?"

"Yes. I must grant you three wishes. I may not leave your presence until I've satisfied my debt. May I suggest we retire to your home and discuss..."

I interrupted, “Oh, no. Huh-uh. Nope. My girlfriend wouldn't react well if I brought you home and we only have a few more days together before she leaves for Tallahassee."

Looking a bit surprised, Jaline asked, “She's leaving you?"

"Yeah. She'll be going to school there."

Jaline's eyes got big as she asked in a shocked tone, “She's a mere schoolgirl?"

"Hey! Don't look at me like that! She's thirty-three!"

Her startlement changed to suspicion. “How can a woman that age still be in school?"

"She just is. Ma'am, I don't buy your story and I can't take you home with me. Now hop out. See ya. Bye."

My tone and words obviously irritated her. Jaline sat stiffly staring forward for some moments, then said, “I'm required to remain with you until I've completed my service."

"You
can't
stay with me."

"Until I grant your wishes, I
must
."

"Yeah, right, the wishes. Three, you said?"

"Yes. Three."

Studying the woman next to me, I considered a few things. She'd ghosted into my car through a closed door. Illusion or not, that was a helluva trick. It suddenly occurred to me that some genie stories didn't end very well for the bottle-opener; either the wishes backfired or the genie simply killed him. The stories had made me think dealing with genies was like dealing with devils, a chancy proposition at best. Well, if she was real, at least she hadn't killed me. Yet.

I said, “Suppose I believed you for a minute, Jaline. If I wished for world-wide peace, what would happen?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she matter-of-factly said, “If that were your wish, I'd have to grant it."

"Uh, huh. And how would you do that?"

With a wry look, she said, “Through magic, of course."

Shaking my head, I said, “No, I mean ... how would you change people so they'd go along with a peace program?"

"I'd rather not discuss that."

"I'd rather you would. Tell me anyway."

Her eyes met mine. “If you wish it."

Again shaking my head, I sat back and looked at her. “And if you're for real, I'd only have two wishes left."

She didn't answer.

"Jaline, may I ask why you can't simply talk to me about these things?"

With a little shrug, she said, “Yes."

"Well?"

Smiling slightly, she said, “You only asked if you could ask."

Looking abashed, I smiled and said, “Oh, right. So I did,” then I said, “Game's over. Get out of my car."

"I may not leave until..."

I said rather flatly, “Shut up and get out or I'll call a cop."

She shook her head and seemed to anchor herself to the car seat. “I can't."

Opening my door, I said, “I'll do it, lady. I'll call the cops. I'm not kidding around."

"I can't leave you until I've granted your wishes."

That was enough for me. I saw a pay phone by the restaurant door, got out of the car, and headed for it. Ten paces along, I glanced back at the car, saw no brunette in the passenger seat, and stopped to look around. Jaline—or whomever, or whatever—was nowhere in sight. I almost relaxed, then I felt a presence behind me and turned to see Jaline standing not three feet away. I didn't bother asking how she'd got around me.

Keeping her in sight, I backed toward the car. She moved to follow me. I scampered around the car and opened the door, never taking my eyes off her as I got in and started the engine. Putting the car in reverse, I scooted out of the space and quickly backed up toward the lot entrance.

Jaline stood on the sidewalk by the space and watched me go for a moment, then she simply disappeared; there one second and gone the next. I stopped the car and stared. A car honked behind me. I ignored it.

Then Jaline reappeared on the seat next to me, looking straight ahead with her hands together in her lap. The car behind me honked again, then another car honked. With a sense of resignation, I let off the brake and we headed for the parking lot's exit.

With a small smile, Jaline said quietly, “Oh, good. We're finally moving. Does that mean that you believe me now?"

Pulling my seat belt into place before we reached the street, I buckled it and said, “Buckle your seat belt. If we get stopped, the fine is one-eighty-five."

She examined the shoulder belt as she pulled it across herself, then fastened it as she asked, “Will you make your wishes soon?"

"Not until I know a bit more about the process."

"What don't you understand? Make wishes. I'll grant them."

"Yeah, well, I'm kind of worried about the aftermath, lady. Most of the stories I've read about genies ended rather unhappily. I'm wondering how—and
why
—someone put you in that bottle, too. Until I know a lot more about you, I won't be making any wishes, so if you want to hurry things along, you'll answer my questions and do your best to make me comfortable about you."

After a moment of silence, she softly said, “I see. Do you mean ‘comfortable’ in the ways that other men have so often demanded of me?"

I took my eyes off the traffic long enough to glance at her, then said, “Zap yourself up a chastity belt if you want. Are you really a woman, or did you just make yourself look like one because a man found your bottle?"

"I was created female."

"Are there others like you?"

"Yes."

"What'll you do when you're free of me?"

Turning to look at me for a moment, she said, “That is none of your concern."

"It is if you want to be free of me anytime soon. If you're
really
what you say you are, letting something like you run loose in the world could be a
big
mistake."

Jaline glanced sharply at me and said, “I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I'm not allowed to reveal such things to mortals."

Sighing, I said, “Again with that
'not allowed'
stuff. Gee, how very damned convenient."

Her voice was almost strident as she again turned to me and said, “I'm
not
lying to you. That isn't allowed, either."

I chuckled, “For which I have only your word, of course. Very reassuring. But if it's true, it seems to me that someone put a lot of fences around you, ma'am. That makes me wonder why, but I'll bet your answer would be,
'I'm not allowed to tell you'
. Right?"

With an outright glare, she softly, tensely said, “Yes."

Shaking my head with a small laugh, I said, “You ‘creatures of magic’ types must have a helluva union. What'll happen if you tell me something I'm not supposed to know?"

"I'd rather not say."

I grinningly exclaimed, “
Whooo! All right!
Finally something other than
'I'm not allowed to tell you'!
Major progress! Hey, can you disappear and stay that way? Invisible?"

Smiling slightly, she replied, “Yes. Is it your wish that I become invisible?"

"Nope. It's part of your ticket to freedom, ma'am; part of the
'cooperation'
thing I mentioned before. Work with me on this, ‘cause if you hurt my girlfriend by making her think I've already replaced her, you'll be waiting for me to make wishes for a long damned time. No silly games. Just do it. Once Selena's gone, you can pop back in and we'll square this thing away. It'll only be for a few days, okay?"

After a moment of gazing at me almost studiously, Jaline nodded, said, “Yes,” and vanished, though I saw her seat belts still hugging her hips and chest.

"Thank you,” I said. “Now, do you eat or drink? I mean, do you have to? I don't want you to starve or dehydrate or whatever."

"No,” she said, “I don't have to eat or drink."

"Great. I'm not interested in making you suffer, y'know."

Her tone was wry as she said, “Thank you
so
very much."

Pulling in at a convenience store, I went inside and bought two Creamsicles and two cold cans of sweetened tea. When I got back in the car, I handed Jaline one of each.

"Here, Jaline. Try these."

The clerk was looking out at me as she took the two items. I saw his eyes narrow as the wrapper apparently peeled itself away from Jaline's ice cream.

"Uh, Jaline, could you make the ice cream and tea invisible, too? We have an audience, and...” The items disappeared before I could finish the sentence.

"Thanks,” I said. “How do you like that Creamsicle? I don't think they had those back in 1917."

Around a bite of it, she slurred, “Zhey ditn't. Umm. It'sh ferry good."

"I think you'll like the tea, too."

I felt a slight motion and realized that—even though I couldn't see her doing it—she had turned to look at me as she asked, “May I ask why you're suddenly being nice to me?"

I shrugged and asked, “You're cooperating, right?"

After a moment she said, “Yes. I am."

"Then I have no reason to be difficult with you, whether all of this is for real or not. If it is real, all I want to do is get through it without any consequences."

"Consequences?"

"Yeah. In one story I read, the genie thanked the guy for freeing him, then tore him apart because he was human and a human had bottled him up. Psychotic stuff like that. Or like when another guy wished for a king's ransom in gold. The genie made the gold fall out of the sky on him. Killed him with it. And then there's the guy who wished to sit on the throne of his country.” Waving a hand dramatically, I said, “Poof. Done. He was suddenly sitting in the king's chair. The king's guards just as suddenly dragged him out of it and killed him. Want more?"

Jaline giggled. “
Poof?
"

"Yeah,
poof
,” I said around some ice cream. “You know; a puff of smoke or a flash of light and
zap
, one dead bottle-opener. No thanks. Hey, are the wishes transferable? Could I donate them to charity?"

"No. You freed me. Only you may make your wishes."

"Figures. It was just a thought."

She giggled again. “Would you feel better if I told you that I have no intention of killing you?"

"Oh, a little, yeah, but you might say that anyway. Want to hear about a bottle-opener who
didn't
get killed?"

In a sardonic tone, she asked, “Oh, you actually know of one of those, as well?"

"Sure. Three guys were shipwrecked on an island. Food and water were in short supply and they didn't get along well. One found a bottle and let a genie out of it. He wished to be back in his hometown. Poof, done. He wished for great wealth. Poof, done. In his excitement, he yelled,
'Boy, I wish those other two jerks could see me now!'
Poof, done. He was back on the island with them, holding an empty bottle."

There was absolute silence for a long moment, then a snicker that turned into a giggle that turned into a chortling laugh.

Sipping my tea, I tossed my Creamsicle wrapper in the trash bag that hangs on the radio tuner knob and said, “Augustus Claudius said,
'Be wary of gifts from the gods.'
Glancing in the direction of my unseen passenger, I said, “I think that probably applies to goddesses, too."

"I'm not a goddess. I'm a Jinn."

Reaching to strum the taut seat belt on her side of the car, I said, “Yeah, well, the difference isn't readily apparent to me, ma'am. Of course, neither are you at the moment."

I heard the pop-hiss as she opened her tea, then nothing more for a time until she snickered again and said, “Thank you. I haven't had a reason to laugh for a long time."

"You're welcome. Question: Why haven't genies taken over the world?"

Slightly muffled by ice cream, her answer was, “I can only speak for myself. I don't want to take over the world."

"Is there anything you do want?"

She instantly replied, “My freedom."

"Beyond that,” I shot back.

"I need nothing beyond that."

Shrugging, I said, “Well, then, I hereby declare you to be free."

"You can't do that. As I told you, I must..."

Sighing loudly to interrupt her, I gave her an exasperated look.

After a moment, she quietly said, “A greater power has decreed it."

"
What
greater power?
Who? Where?
How do I file a complaint?"

"I'm not allowed to..."

With a minor curse and a swat at the steering wheel, I said, “Yeah, yeah, all that."

I put my empty tea can in the trash bag and started the car, then headed us back out on US-19. Silence reigned for some time before something occurred to me.

"Jaline, can you assure me that nothing terrible will happen to me if I make a wish?” As an afterthought, I added, “And just to be clear about that, I mean the sorts of things that
I
would consider terrible."

"Of course I can, but would you believe me?"

"Well, probably not at this very moment, I guess. I've been trying to figure out how someone could make you get into that bottle, and about all I can come up with is; he or she used the third wish. Probably to try to get more wishes."