Genie's Wish Ch. 00

I met her in the parking lot. I pulled in and got out of my car, then stood by it while I thought about my appearance. She was already there and got out of her car and walked up to me.

"Nina, I'm not twenty-one." There was no way I could get carded in there and show my current license.

Nina smiled when I said her name. "You're good, Jack. Just act confident. I already know you can!" She eyed my car as she said this. It did look like one that belonged to a successful consultant, not so much to an underage boytoy.

I looked around doubtfully but decided to go along with her plan. I noted to myself that she was right, I could act like I belonged there. I had, for almost thirty years now. That would come out in my manner and body language, I was sure of it. I was glad I had shaved for the picture yesterday. The patches bare of whiskers might not be very noticeable.

We went in, after a little pantomime where I offered her my arm. She looked unsure and nervous about it, and I whispered to her, "It'll sell the age thing." So she was on my arm when we went in and found a table. Luckily we walked right past the waitress who would serve us, so, she had already gotten that subliminal image of Nina and I as connected. I still could have been a son or nephew or something, but still, I didn't expect the server to think that critically about it.

I let Nina tell the server her order first, and briskly followed up in my grown-up voice, "Same for me, please. And can we get some of the popcorn shrimp." Practiced and entitled. The server didn't even look up from her order pad at me, and bustled off to make it so.

Nina nodded approvingly. "I probably won't have any of those."

I wasn't surprised to hear that. I was mildly surprised at myself, though. I had already eaten a burger meal a hundred sixty miles back, but a twenty year old man-child's appetite was a clear and present reality.

The tiny table was round, and I arranged myself at about 120 degrees around it. The angle was good for looking across the table at Nina, yet close enough that it felt just adjacent to intimacy.

I pretended to notice Nina's ring for the first time. She hadn't taken it off. I looked at it silently and went still. She allowed this for a minute, but closed her fist around it and pulled it off the tabletop into her lap eventually. I still didn't talk, and watched her decide what to say.

"The way you looked at me yesterday..." she began. It told me everything I wanted to know. She wasn't getting looks from her husband. She probably hadn't gotten them from anyone in a long time. She wasn't out there cheating left and right. This was what I wanted. I made up my mind.

In short, I seduced her. My twenty year old self gave her compliments, attention, interest, and humor. My hands were warm and she held them. I didn't say the stupid, naive, or self-centered kinds of things I would have said - did say - when I was twenty the first time. I showed her the kind of date which might have attracted her to her husband in the first place. She did tell me about him. She loved him. But she missed him.

I wanted to nod knowingly, listening to this, but brought out the naive-boy script just for this one. "Yeah... wow. I've heard that kinda thing can happen. When people, y'know... Get married." I said it as if it were a foreign concept, and she regarded me like a precious creature, an adorable puppy or something.

She looked at my cold, empty shrimp plate. "You ready to get out of here?"

She paid for the motel next door. She promised her husband wouldn't miss her, it was cards night and he'd be out till five, didn't have to work the next day. We didn't talk much in there. We undressed each other, enjoyed the novelty of kissing and feeling each other, new bodies, new rhythms, new scents. Despite raging arousal like I hadn't experienced in years, I took my time like no twenty-year-old ever would, and showed her a tender, attentive, caring good time. The slow burn satisfied me deeply. She came on my mouth, I came in her guts like a twenty year old madman. Or a mature guy who hadn't had an honest, baggage-free lay in years.

We showered together. She glowed.

And told me she couldn't see me again.

I wasn't surprised. I didn't even play dumb, I just let her deliver the message, and took it maturely. We embraced and kissed before leaving the room. "Thank you," I said to her.

"No. No, Jack. I want to thank you."

PART THREE

Back at the boat, I took stock of things.

I had had some damn psychedelic experiences. And had been granted a new life I couldn't explain. I knew it was Gigi. She lived in a fucking bottle.

And it occurred to me... She crewed for me because I asked her to. That wasn't the wish she had granted, though she had let me think that.

What in the world would I have chosen if I had known I really had a wish coming?

I didn't know, but decided to stop playing what-if. I appreciated what had happened and resolved to honor it to the fullest.

Having gotten my rocks off, and tried out my new "superpowers," I thought about how many Ninas there might be out there, needing my... Consultation. Gigi's gift was one which would keep on giving.

MORE TO COME