Three Wishes: Cairo (13 page)

Aladdin had planned to rise just before the sun, break camp and take a wide circle back to his home. He would lose the guards in the early hours of the day. But the repeated whimpering and fast licking of his face by Darius told him that he had somehow overslept and missed his window of opportunity. The guards were closing in and he could hear their footsteps much more clearly than he felt comfortable with. He quickly had to abandon all of his plans and do what he did best… run!

If his pursuers had known just how close they’d come to stumbling across him, still asleep on his dog’s belly, they would have kicked themselves.

Without time to even contemplate a direction, Aladdin and Darius were back on a chaotic trip through the bramble. He knew that the guards would hear them, but he didn’t really fear capture because he knew he could outrun them. After some frantic minutes, Aladdin again started to breathe easy as he stretched the distance between himself and the guards. He also found a patch of the forest that was a little less dense and it was a relief to not be scratched, poked and prodded with each step. The relief was immediate, until it wasn’t.

One second he was making good time and the next, he was standing at the base of a towering and seemingly endless wall of rock. His first thought was to climb this obstacle and escape. But the combination of an almost vertical ascent and the thought of that vertical ascent while clutching a large dog killed that idea quite quickly.

Darius began to dig vigorously at the base of the wall. With dirt flying and his nose sniffing feverishly, he was obviously focused on something. Of course, with Darius, this kind of single-minded commitment could end up being nothing more than a small crumb of bread, a bug or a leaf that blew the wrong way. Even as he moved on past his busy companion, Aladdin still had the time to smile and shake his head.

“I'm going to check this way to see if this wall ends soon,” said Aladdin. He could see that Darius was deeply immersed in his project. “Let me know how digging underneath a mountain goes for you.”

---------------

Light.

A small beam of pure light entered his chamber for the first time in years through the windows at the top of his prison. This sudden change in his stale atmosphere roused the genie.

He didn't react immediately, as his mind was likely playing tricks on him. He had dreamed of a moment when his tomb would be unearthed, yet he never really believed such a thing would happen.

Constant darkness had worn down his thoughts of rescue. Insanity might have been a pleasant escape rather than the mundane reality of his existence. Almost four decades of captivity had robbed him of any pretense of rescue.

But there it was again, only this time brighter. He began to feel his home moving slightly as the light increased and entered his lamp from various angles. He was getting a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. Acute anxiety gripped him as he realized that his secret was about to be revealed. His weakened mind had fantasized about a search party that had been devoted to his release finding him after all these years. Could this be true? Had they finally unearthed his tomb?

Of course he knew deep down that no such rescue party could have possibly been dispatched that would still be alive. He didn't know how long he'd been down, but he knew it had been longer than just a few years.

And then it happened. As his lamp moved more and more radically, eventually he heard a loud pop as his tomb was unsealed and in a shimmering smoking lightshow, he saw the inside of his lamp fading in the fog and the world outside revealing itself to him. Suddenly, his lungs were filling with genuine air. It was fresh and cold and wonderful. He soon realized that he was not a mere mortal and that, for the first time, he would be revealed as the true creature he had become. He was a genie who granted wishes to the owner of the lamp. He was going over the rules of the wishes in his mind and began his speech as his eyes cleared.

“Who has summoned me? I am the Genie of the Lamp. I have the power to… to what?”

A dog stood in front of him wagging his tail. His first rehearsed speech as a genie had been interrupted by this animal licking his hand. It was cold and wet and the first real contact he’d had with another creature in forty years. He patted the dog on the head.

“Now there you’ve gone and ruined my speech. And you are only a dog.”

Darius barked.

“I've been entombed for decades so that I can be revealed and grant three wishes to a creature that has no wish but to serve his master?” He smiled at the irony.

“Back away my friend. That dog is mine.” Aladdin had heard the pop of the cork and had immediately returned to the scene. He certainly did not expect this and was not sure what he had just stumbled upon. The creature before him seemed to be a mirage. Much taller and broader than Aladdin, but yet with indistinct features that made him appear more like the reflection one sees when looking into a stream than a real person.

“I am here because I've been summoned by this animal,” said the Genie. Darius simply wagged his tail and looked pleased with the whole situation. But Aladdin didn’t dare break eye contact with this strange creature that appeared to be sizing him up.

Wobbled by the creature’s supernatural persona, Aladdin did not back down. “I am sorry if my dog disturbed you, but kindly go about your business and you'll have no trouble with me.”

“I fear no trouble with you,” the Genie looked him up and down again and added, “At all. I am simply here because your dog rubbed my lamp, which summoned me into this world. I am the Genie of the Lamp and I am here to…”

“Look,” Aladdin interrupted, “I'm sorry if he bothered you, but feel free to be on your way now. I'll not stop you.”

Now the Genie looked tired. “Look, if you could possibly stop talking and actually let me finish a sentence I could perhaps explain to you why I can't leave and more importantly, why you don't want me to! Do you have the ability to stop chattering while I’m speaking?”

Aladdin was beginning to feel a tinge of fear. The hairs on the back of his neck were tingling and his well-tuned flight instinct was kicking in. His eyes never left the Genie as he was slowly backing along the rock wall and all the while plotting his escape.

The Genie continued. “I am the Genie of the Lamp. In my former life, I was a prince who was kidnapped and forced into a life of subservience.” He had obviously planned out many times exactly what he would say upon his release. But again, he grew exasperated as he saw that Aladdin was nodding, while ignoring him and again sizing up his exit.

“What are you doing?” the Genie raised his voice.

“Nothing, I just don't want to disturb you,” said Aladdin. “I'm sure you're tired and want to crawl back into your little bottle there and take a lovely nap. I'm sorry Darius summoned you, but he is a dog and hardly responsible for his actions.” He smiled nervously. “You know how they can be. We'll just be on our way.” With that, Aladdin took off running along the base of the rock wall at a pace that normally meant freedom for him.

As he looked back to check the location of the creature, he was surprised to find the spot where the Genie had been just a moment ago
genieless
. Surprise quickly turned to pain as he crashed headlong into the same genie at a dead run- the genie who had had now moved directly in front of him. Aladdin tumbled into a small fresh water spring that contained runoff from the rocks. He painfully rolled over and stared at the Genie yet again.

“Wow, I thought I hit the wall. I hit you?” he said. “How did you…” Aladdin paused to gather his thoughts. He was shaken by the fact that he’d never been caught by anyone. He was also in great pain because that collision had felt like he’d been hit by a cow.

“If, you could just stop running, talking and otherwise obeying your quite flawed instincts, I could perhaps, tell you why I am here? Now, if you feel the urge to interrupt me again, please be aware that I am quite powerful and easily able to not only catch you but to cage you if I please. I don't feel that urge currently, but you are making it quite difficult to grant you your wishes.”

“Oh, so you're a
magical
genie? And you've popped out of your little jug there to grant me
magical
wishes?” Aladdin still looked leery.

“It’s a lamp, but yes, maybe you’re finally starting to understand our situation. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” said the Genie.

“Let's see, you grant me wishes and I come and live with you in your little bottle there. No thanks. Look, I am a thief, sir. No one gives me anything. It is why I have always had to take the things I needed. I'm not interested. What's the saying about something being too good to be true?”

Again, Aladdin began to walk away.

“I never thought it would be this hard to grant wishes,” said the Genie. “Has this planet devolved while I've been entombed? Is everyone now as thick as you are? I'm trying to help you. PLEASE STOP!”

With that command, Aladdin again froze.

“Now watch!” The Genie snapped his fingers. One moment he was there and in an instant, with just a slight audible crackle as the air moved to replace the space he had previously occupied, he was gone.

Aladdin just stared dumbfounded, his mouth agape. “Genie? Where are you sir?”

A voice rose from within the lamp. “I am in the lamp.”

Aladdin picked up the lamp, and stuffed the cork back into it. “So, oh great and powerful being, you are trapped in this jug until such time as I see fit to let you out?” Aladdin thought he was funny.

“Please rub the lamp now!” said the Genie.

“Oh, I'll need more than feeble promises and a pathetic magic show to let you out. I wasn't born yesterday. You've got all the powers in the known universe, yet you haven't yet mastered your way through a layer of cork?” Then he spoke to the trees in front of him. “Is there someone hiding out there trying to make a complete fool out of me? Is there some sort of bet whether or not I’ll rub the stupid bottle?”

A now exasperated voice emanated from within the lamp. “It's a magical
lamp
and I am a magical
genie
. Do you notice that you're still hearing me, yet you're no longer seeing me? That's because I'm now in the lamp begging a complete idiot to free me so that I can grant him three wishes.”

Aladdin smiled and playfully taunted his prisoner. “A talking lamp would fetch a nice price at the markets.”

“Rub the lamp and I'll grant you three unlimited wishes for anything you desire! Is your life really so perfect that you could live without three unlimited wishes?”

For some reasons, those words made Aladdin reconsider. What could be the harm and hearing this person out?  With that, Aladdin began instantly polishing the lamp. “Is there a certain motion that feels better for you?”

Brilliant supernatural lights and an explosion filled the air and the Genie was again face to face with the young man. He continued. “My son, I see that you are not that bright. Perhaps you've fallen and hit your head numerous times but it is not so hard to comprehend. What I am offering is simple. I can grant you three wishes for whatever you may want. You need only ask and I will grant them with no strings attached.”

Aladdin smiled. “So, if I were to ask you to stop insulting my intelligence and being such a sarcastic clod, you'd have to grant my wish?”

The Genie now smiled warmly. “If you want to waste one of your three
unlimited
wishes on improving my manners, it will be done. I would think that most men would be interested in wealth or power, but if you are content to teach me a lesson, I will grant your first wish.” He began to snap his fingers.

“WAIT!” said Aladdin as he threw his arms up to stop the Genie. “I guess we can move forth without my teaching you a lesson.”

“Very well,” said the Genie. “Think hard, young man. Three wishes could change a man's life dramatically; for better or worse. Before you choose your wildest dreams, I suggest you consider all ramifications.”

“I wish for one hundred more wishes” said Aladdin proudly.

“Wow, you put almost two seconds of thought into that.” said the Genie. “I can grant you only three wishes; no more, no less.”

“Well, that's disappointing” said Aladdin. “Guess I'll have to trim down my list of wildest dreams.”He again began to ponder his situation. “So, if I wished for food, you'd give it to me?”

“Yes” said the Genie.

“If I wished for a palace in the middle of this forest you would give it to me?”

“Yes” said the Genie. “As I said, anything you want.”

“If I wanted a mountain of solid gold in the shape of duck, deposited on the doorstep of the king?”

“Yes, believe it or not, that too falls under the category of
anything,”
the Genie was starting to look impatient.

“Very well, I think I understand now,” said Aladdin.

“As I said, consider your choices wisely my son. There is no time limit to make your choice.” The Genie watched as Aladdin thought hard and then brightened visibly as his first thought registered.

“My first wish is easy. I want Princess Enna to fall in love with me, marry and have wonderful children while we rule the kingdom as husband and wife.” Aladdin then smiled and nodded his head in satisfaction.