The Christmas Genie (12 page)

“I suppose happiness and sadness should balance each other out,” Ella said. “Like two people on a seesaw.”

“There's just one more wish,” Mrs. Walters said, holding up a card.

Everybody laughed. Christopher stood up and took a bow.

“You're an idiot,” Ethan said. “You know that?”

“It's just a joke,” Christopher said.

“It's also the most important decision we'll
ever make,” Hannah told Christopher. “I would think you might take it seriously.”

“Well, I didn't,” Christopher said.

“Okay, that's it,” Mrs. Walters announced. “We went through all the wishes. Is there anybody we missed?”

Nobody raised their hand.

“So which one do we choose?” asked Mrs. Walters.

“They're all so different,” said Alyssa.

“I can't decide,” Anthony said.

“Choose it or lose it,” said Bob.

“We need to take a vote,” I said. “That's the only fair way.”

“There's no time to take a vote!” Ella said. “Look at the clock!”

We all turned to look at the clock on the wall. There was only a minute left. Ella was right. If we started in with a vote, time would run out. We wouldn't get
any
wish, and we'd miss our Christmas vacation.

“You decide, Mrs. Walters,” said Ella. “Quick! Just pick something. I'm sure we'll all be happy with whichever wish you choose. We respect your judgment.”

“Yeah,” we all agreed.

“Well, okay,” Mrs. Walters told us. “I would rather have you kids make the decision. But we've got to do what we've got to do. I wish—”

And that's when the bell rang.

Okay!” Genie Bob said, clapping his little genie hands together. “Time's up! Listen, I'd love to hang around and hear more of your spirited debate and scintillating chitchat, but I really gotta hit the road. Places to go, people to meet. I'm sure ya understand.”

“What!?” we all shouted. Everybody was freaking out.

“You can't go
now
!” I shouted at Genie Bob. “We didn't tell you our wish yet.”

“Yeah!” everybody else yelled.

“Hey!” Genie Bob said, throwing his hands in the air. “Time's up. You brats blew it. We had a deal. You had an hour. But now the deal is off. The expiration date on me passed. You just lost your Christmas vacation.”

“That's not fair!” Logan shouted.

“It's perfectly fair,” Genie Bob said. “Deadlines are important in the wishing community. I got my reputation to protect. You had your chance. Wishing for stuff is great and all. But that's only part of the deal. If you wanna see your dreams come true, ya gotta get off your butts and
do
something about it. I'm outta here.
Hasta la vista,
baby! Have a nice life.”

Genie Bob closed his eyes and started to float up above the meteorite as he waved good-bye to us. He was about to float right out the window.

That's when William climbed on his desk, jumped up, and dove for Genie Bob. It was the most amazing midair tackle I have ever seen in my life. William tumbled to the floor next to Mrs. Walters's desk, with Genie Bob in his arms. Me and Alex and a few of the other guys piled on too, just to make sure that Bob didn't try to squirm away.

“We want a wish!” William shouted. “You promised us one. And you're not goin' anywhere until we
get
it.”

“And we want our Christmas vacation, too!” Alex said.

“Get
off
of me!” Genie Bob shouted.

He was wriggling around trying to break free, but we had him down on the floor pretty good.

“Okay, okay, I usually don't do this,” Genie Bob finally said. “I'm gonna make a special exception in your case because you're kids. Even though time is up, I'll grant ya a wish anyway and let ya keep yer vacation, to show ya what a good guy I am. Just get your grubby hands off me. I ain't no football. Sheesh, I bet nobody ever tackled Santa Claus when he was leaving their house.”

William let go of Genie Bob, and he floated up to about eye level.

“I wish you
were
Santa Claus, instead of a dumb Christmas genie!” exclaimed William.

Genie Bob stopped.

“What'd you just say?” he asked.

“I said I wish you were Santa Claus,” William said.

That's when the most amazing thing in this whole story happened. A smile spread across Genie Bob's face. A twinkle appeared in his eye. Above his upper lip, a mustache began to sprout, and a white beard grew out of his chin before our very eyes.

“No!” shouted Mrs. Walters. “Stop!”

But it was too late. Genie Bob's tie-dyed shirt had already turned a bright red, and white fur trim grew out of it, as if by magic. We stared at him as his pants turned red, held up by a thick black belt and buckle. Red mittens to match appeared on his little hands and a red hat with a white pom-pom at the point grew on his head.

“He's turning himself into Santa Claus!” Logan shouted.

“Wait! No! That's not our wish!” we all started yelling.

But there was no stopping Genie Bob now. His body grew bigger and
bigger
before our eyes until he was the size of a grown man. A grown, extremely fat man.

“Ho! Ho! Ho!” he bellowed as he ran toward the window. “Thanks for making
my
wish come true! Merry Christmas! So long, suckers.”

William dove and tried to tackle Genie Bob again, but Bob was much bigger than he was the first time. He straight-armed William like a football player and knocked him down. Genie Bob climbed out the broken window and ran through the playground.

“Ho! Ho! Ho!” he hollered as he disappeared around the corner.

Well, that's pretty much the way it happened. We were all upset that we didn't get a wish, but at least we got our Christmas vacation.

If, by some miracle, I ever get another chance to make a wish, I'm going to think it through a little more. Maybe instead of wishing for a snowboard or a bike or a pile of money for myself, I might wish for world peace or to end global warming or something that might help lots of people. And I figure the Cubs should be able to win without me. We waited a hundred years for them to win the World Series. I guess we can wait a little longer.

Like I said before, you don't have to believe a word of this story if you don't want to. But even if you think I made this whole thing up, it might be a smart idea to come up with a wish or two of your own. Think about your goals and your dreams. Just in case. Because you never know when
your
genie might show up.

But be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Dan Gutman
is the author of many books for young readers, such as
The Homework Machine, Return of the Homework Machine, Nightmare at the Book Fair, Getting Air, Back in Time with Thomas Edison, Honus & Me, The Kid Who Ran for President
, and the My Weird School series. He lives in New Jersey. If you want to find out more about Dan or his books, visit him at
dangutman.com
.