Wish Granted

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What if one of your random wishes was suddenly granted? What if you gained the power to grant other peoples wishes? How would it change your life?
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It all started at the end of a very, very bad day at work. The day began with a special staff meeting where my immediate boss publicly blamed me for all of his recent screw-ups. It got worse from there.

I was tempted to go home at noon after a sudden power outage revealed that the battery backup to the computer at my desk was not properly installed and I lost my entire morning's work to corrupted files. Yes, I was saving regularly. I was saving everything when the power went out. That's what screwed up the files.

Just after two o'clock I was even more tempted to tell them to take this job and shove it when my asshole supervisor informed me, loudly enough for the whole office to hear, that since I didn't seem to be able to get the work done in a timely fashion, he was recommending that I undergo a special "performance review" at the end of the month.

I almost made it to five o'clock, but just after four-thirty, the entire computer system for the office crashed for the third time. I yelled, "The hell with it," and cleared off my desk. Company policy requires that we leave a clean desk at the end of the day, so I pushed everything into a pile which I then dropped it into the lower drawer of my file cabinet. A few moments later I had slipped out a side door, gone down the stairs to street level, and was coming in the front door of Mickey's Pub.

Mickey Finn's Public House is a quaint little bar tucked in between the high rise office towers that form the city skyline. It probably would have been absorbed by the developers years ago except this area of the city has an "open air conduit" ordinance that says there has to be so many hundreds of feet of clearance between buildings over three stories tall. The result is that there are vast open areas between the modern tall towers. In those open areas, along with several parks, stand smaller, older buildings that house bars, boutiques, and other businesses.

Mickey's Pub is probably the oldest of those buildings, and its interior is even older. The current owner - who is actually an Italian by the name of Walter Damato - claims that the bar and many of the booths were originally part of a public house in Derry, over in Ireland. That may or may not be true, but the long, wooden bar itself is old and massive and made of stout timbers that have grown dark under many coats of laquer, varnish, polish, and spilled beer.

Most nights I would stop by Mickey's after work to relax and enjoy a glass of my favorite dark ale, which Walt conveniently kept on tap. Tonight, however, I was stopping by not to relax, but because I needed at least two - or maybe three drinks to forget what had to have been a new, all-time, "day from hell" at work. The only problem was that when I got to Mickey's the place was packed - not just full, totally packed.. There was no space at the bar, and no booths were open... except for Crazy Jack's spot.

Crazy Jack had been a fixture at Mickey Finn's for as long as most of us could remember. Every afternoon at three o'clock, Jack would come walking in the front door and go directly to "his" booth where he would stay until closing. During that time he would order four or five or even six rounds of drinks for himself and "his friend."

Jack would sit there all night sipping his beer and talking to the empty seat across from him. When he finished his beer, he would evidently switch glasses with his invisible friend, because both glasses were always empty when Jack called for another round. Above the booth was a big sign that said "Reserved for Crazy Jack Thompson and Friend." No one else was ever allowed to sit there. I normally wouldn't have even thought about trying it, but Crazy Jack passed away last week - most likely from the toll that years of heavy drinking had taken on his body. He wasn't going to be using his booth tonight, so I did.

The place got suddenly quiet and everyone turned to look at me as I slid into the booth, but when I yelled over to Walt at the bar, "Brink me a dark ale, please," he merely filled two glasses and carried them over to where I was sitting.

"I only ordered one... for now," I said as he brought the tray.

He replied, "If you sit in Jack's booth, you always get a double order." Then he laughed a deep, rumbling laugh and added, "Trust me, you'll need it."

I reached for my drink, but almost dropped it halfway to my mouth. The other glass sitting on the table was now almost one-fourth empty. "What the hell?" I said aloud as I looked around. I took a deep draw on my ale. When I set my glass back down, I could see that the other glass was now half empty.

"I wish to hell I knew what was going on," I muttered to myself.

A soft voice said, "Wish granted," and suddenly there was another person sitting in the booth across from me. Maybe "person" isn't quite the correct word. He was human shaped, about my size, with black hair and a closely trimmed black mustache which blended into a goatee. He was very strangely dressed in a bright blue vest over his naked chest and very loose, deep purple pantaloon pants. What was really unusual about him, however, was that he was vaguely green in color and more or less transparent.

He put his hands around the glass in front of him and said, "Not quite as good as ancient Sumerian beer, but dark ale is much better than that pale piss that Jack liked."

"Jack could see you?" I asked, dribbling ale on the table as I spoke.

"Of course," he replied with a laugh. "Crazy people often see what sane people refuse to see." He smiled at me and continued, "Jack liked having someone to talk to, and I liked having a regular source of beer." He shrugged, "It was good while it lasted."

"Who... what are you?" I sputtered. "And why are you here?"

"My name is Julan." he replied. "I am a Jinn. I think your culture calls me a 'Genie,' but the proper term is Jinn."

"You mean like a Genie in a bottle kind of Genie? ... a rub the bottle and get three wishes kind of Genie?"

"Actually you mean a lamp, not a bottle, but that isn't exactly true either. That myth came about because Jinn's supposedly appeared in the smoke of certain lamps. Even if they did, the Jinn wasn't inside the lamp, and rubbing the lamp wasn't the important thing. Rubbing was just to clean the metal because you needed something really shiny so that you could look back into your own eyes. Looking deeply inside yourself is what enabled you to see the Jinn if it was present."

"So why are you here?" I asked.

As I spoke, I noticed that people were starting to stare at me. I had seen that look before when new people at the bar first experienced Crazy Jack. I was debating between telling them all to go to hell or paying my tab and leaving when Julan began to answer my question. "I made the mistake of getting caught exchanging vapors with a Marid Jinn's wife - the chief of the Marid's no less."

He laughed in an empty sort of way. "The Marid were the most powerful of the Jinn and he was the most powerful of the Marid. He was really pissed when he found me and Fazeel fused together above the pool at the oasis. I thought he was going to tear us both into wisps of smoke, but instead he plunged his arm deep into the earth and drew out a lump of copper. He heated it in his hand until it glowed red and then he spoke the words that bound me to that lump of metal for all eternity."

When I looked perplexed, he explained, "That was a Marid's way of punishing another Jinn. They would bind you to metal for as long as that metal existed and then put it somewhere really nasty. There might have been a Jinn or two bound to the metal of a lamp, or perhaps the metal they were bound to was used to make a lamp... who knows where myths like that come from."

"Anyway, Fazeel and I were just untangling ourselves when Gazoom threw that glowing lump of metal far out over the sea, and even beyond the sea, into the great waters beyond. I think he intended it to sink forever into the depths of the great waters. Luckily for me, it landed instead on an island where it stayed until some miners picked it up and blended it with some other metals and made that." He pointed to the brass foot rail along the front of the bar. "That's the metal I am bound to, and so, I am here as long as that metal exists."

"What do you mean 'exchanging vapors'?"

"Well it's not like we have bodily fluids to exchange," He said with a laugh. "And little Jinns have to come from somewhere. Jinn sex is a total mixing of our bodies. You are actually both totally inside each other. I've tried it a couple of times with human females. They sort of know I'm there, but nothing much really happens for either of us. I've been so long without fusing that I think I could screw the smoke from the fire in the steak brazier."

He turned a slightly deeper shade of green. "I got desperate enough once to actually try something like that." He grimaced. "I wouldn't recommend it."

"So you are trapped here for all eternity?" I asked.

"I doubt Mickey's will last for all eternity, but I am trapped wherever that metal is for as long as that metal exists, which seems like about half an eternity so far."

He reached his hand more or less through the glass of dark ale in front of him. The area around the glass shimmered slightly and more of the rich, dark brew disappeared. "On the other hand,
he said with a shrug. "Since I was far away from my home and was bound to a lump of metal, I wasn't there when the great plague wiped out my race."

"I thought Genies were all powerful."

"There is always something bigger and more powerful out there that can get you. Or, in our case, something smaller. I don't know if it was a disease or a curse that got out of hand, but one day the Jinns started... evaporating. Like a morning mist clearing off in the morning sun, even the most powerful of the Jinns slowly faded away... except for the few of us who were in exile bound to lumps of metal. Its kind of ironic that our punishment protected us."

"So, are you the last of your kind?" I asked.

"Not exactly the last, but there aren't many of us left."

"And you can grant three wishes?"

Julan shimmered himself another large gulp of ale and shrugged. "Yes and no. This wish thing is a little more complicated than that. If someone makes a wish in my presence, I can grant it or reject it. There is no limit on the number of wishes. But the person making the wish can't actually ask me for something and whatever the wish is has to come from that person. Someone else, especially me, can't put them up to it."

"So if I wish for something now you can't grant it?"

"Nope. Sounds stupid, but I didn't make the rules of the cosmos."

"And you can't ask someone to wish that you were free?"

"Nope. The rules don't allow for it." He drained the glass and then looked me in the eyes, "Kinda sucks, doesn't it?"

I sipped my ale and sighed. "And I thought I had a really bad day at work. At least it was only one day. I wish there were a way to get you unbound or whatever so that you could be free."

"WISH GRANTED!!!!" he yelled, bouncing up and down in his seat as he repeated again, "WISH DEFINITELY GRANTED!!!!"

I looked around to see the reaction of the rest of the people in the bar, but then realized that I was the only one who could see or hear him.

His smile nearly split his face in two. "You said the magic words. I didn't ask you to, and you didn't intend it to be a wish you asked of me. Your wish is granted. Because you wished it, there IS a way to free me... if you are willing."

"What would I have to do?" I asked.

Julan coughed lightly and pointed at his empty glass. "I'd order a round if I could, but you are the only one who can see me."

"I wish I had an unlimited tab," I said hopefully.

"Nope. That one doesn't fit the rules. Can't grant it. Sorry."

"It was worth a try," I replied and then yelled over to the bar, "Two more, please."

When Walt brought them over he said with a smile, "I see you have met Jack's friend, whoever or whatever he is. The previous owner labeled this booth 'The Haunted Booth.' Anyone who sat here said they got strange feelings and their drinks kept disappearing. Some of the women said that they felt a little like something was trying to put the make on them, but no one could explain what was happening. Then Jack started talking to "his friend" and I changed the sign. Jack's gone. Should I put your name on the sign?"

"Not yet," I answered, "but the night is young."

After Walt went back to the bar, I turned back to Julan and asked, "So, what's the deal?"

"It is really simple. Believe me, I have had a LOT of time to think about this. All you have to do is be willing to take over my wish granting powers. I retain all of my other powers, but having changed status I am a different Jinn, so Gazoom's curse is broken and I will no longer be bound to the metal in the bar rail. It's a win-win situation. I'll be free, and you get to grant wishes to people around you."

"But do I end up bound to the brass rail like you were? There has to be a down side to this."

"No, it doesn't work that way... I'm certain it doesn't.... OK, I'm pretty sure it doesn't. But just in case there is something that we aren't thinking of, we can do a trial run for say... a week. You take over my wish granting powers for seven days. If it works out, we make it permanent. If it doesn't, we investigate other options. What have you got to lose?"

"My sanity, for one thing," I replied. "But I think I have already lost most of that." Glancing down at my watch I yelped, "And my girlfriend if I don't get home soon."

I paid my tab and ran down the block to the Metro station. A twenty minute ride and a short walk took me to my apartment. I was desperately trying to think of what I would tell Sandy when I opened the door to find that the apartment was still empty. She was running later than I was.

Sandy and I have been living together for about three years. She is a lawyer and has a much, much better job than me, but because of being in a supervisory position, she often has to work late with little notice. I checked the answering machine and found her message saying she would be late and asking me to start something for supper. A second message, in which she sounded very frustrated and upset, indicated that she was going to have to redo an important document that was needed for tomorrow and would be at least another half-hour. I was still checking what was on the shelves in the pantry when she came through the front door.

From her appearance, her day had been at least as bad as mine. "I am so tired of being responsible for others," she said as she set her briefcase on the table by the door. Then she added, "Especially idiots who can't remember simple instructions or get the wording right on simple, but important, documents."

She turned to face me and continued, "Growing up, I always dreamed of being master of my own life." After a deep sigh, she added, "Now, I am. But making decisions for others and telling others exactly what to do all day, day after day, is destroying me. Every day I have to be responsible for others and tell them everything they are supposed to do. I never get a chance to get away from it. I wish I could give someone else total responsibility for my life when I am away from work. I wish I had a master to tell me exactly what to do so that all I had to do was to follow their orders."

"Wishes granted," I said softly.

"Strip," I said loudly and forcefully.

"What?" she answered with a look of surprise.

"You said you wished you had a master when you were away from the office. Your master would like you naked when you are at home."

Sandy looked slightly confused, but began unbuttoning her blouse.

"Set your clothing with your briefcase." I commanded. She did so.

"Fix us something to eat. Whatever you think I would enjoy will be fine. You may wear an apron if you are cooking something on the stove, but nothing else."

She looked at me with a bright smile. I hadn't seen her smile like that in a long time. "Yes Master," she replied and walked into the kitchen. I watched her pert ass cheeks bob up and down as she walked away from me.

Dinner was uneventful except that Sandy remained naked at the table. After dinner she said, "Why don't you relax in front of the TV while I clean up the kitchen?" I silently nodded my head. Actually, I was speechless. Normally her comment after eating was something like, "I fixed it. You clean it up."

I went into the living room and turned the TV to a crime drama that I usually had to TIVO and watch later on my own. After a while, Sandy came into the room, still naked, and got down on the floor against my legs in that almost kneeling way in which a woman sits more or less on her own legs. She snuggled her head against my upper thighs and remained their silently for the rest of the show.

"What would you like to watch?" I asked.

"Whatever pleases you, Master," was her reply.

I was tempted to switch over to ESPN, but I know that she really hates to watch obscure sports events with me, so instead I flipped the channel to a game show that we both enjoy. She smiled and said "mmmmm" as she snuggled more tightly against me. Evidently she knew that I was giving this to her as my gift.

We silently watched TV together until the game show was over and then I suggested, "Why don't we just go to bed early tonight?"

Sandy answered, "Yes, Master," and walked back into the bedroom. I again watched her ass cheeks bob up and down as she walked. I think I could watch her walk for hours, her ass is so perfect and inviting.

While I was taking off my clothes for bed, Sandy stood in front of the mirror studying her body and lifting her boobs with her hands as if checking how much they sagged. "I wish I had the body I had when I was 25... and could keep it forever."

I almost said "Wish granted," but decided to check to see if I could influence a wish at all and still grant it. "Be careful what you wish for," I said in a very serious tone. "I can see you now as a senile old woman in a nursing home with a smoking hot body."

"OK," she replied with a laugh. "I wish I had the body AND mind I had when I was 25 and could keep it forever."

"Great," I said, trying to sound upset and amused at the same time. "Now I will be a senile old codger in the nursing home with a smoking hot wife visiting me."

"All right. I wish that both you AND I had the bodies and minds we had when we were 25 and could keep them forever."

"Wish granted," I said softly.

Sandy jumped slightly as though someone had pinched her. "That's weird," she said. My breasts and butt suddenly felt funny, like they were tightening up. And now it looks like my nipples are pointing up. They haven't done that in years." She cupped her hands under her breasts, lifted slightly and let go. Bewilderment showed in her face.

"Maybe your tits get all perky when you get turned on," I suggested. Then I added, "Why don't you come to bed and see how perky I can make them?"

She was smiling as she crawled up the bed to kiss me. "How may I please my Master tonight?" she asked. She was beautiful, and it wasn't just that she had suddenly lost ten years. Happiness and contentment shone in her face.

"If you are willing, your master would like to try to go around the world tonight." I wasn't sure how far this Master thing would actually go, and I loved her, so I didn't want to do something she really didn't want to do. I intentionally phrased my command so that it gave her the choice."