[Writing Prompt] You discover a genie who plays by a different set of rules: unlimited wishes, but each new wish cancels out the effects of the last
Loophole
I found it in a parking lot. A lantern made of gold with a hand scrawled note attached to the side.
“Leave it.”
I did not abide the note, but took the lamp in my hand.
No sooner had I touched the cool metal then I was set upon by a phantom from its spout.
“My powers are yours,” the ghostly creature whispered, “wish well and often, but know each wish shall unmake the last.”
Once my fear subsided I did not hesitate. I waded into the wishing well.
“I wish I had one hundred dollars, ” I tested, and lo, a bill appeared in my hand.
“I wish I had two hundred dollars,” I said, and lo two new bills appeared in my hand and the first vanished.
The plume of smoke, which I realized by then was a genie, spoke again.
“So you see my words were true. My power is great, but no wish shall be permanent.”
I had a question. “Are you one of those genies who grants a wish but, like, in a way that causes more harm than good? Or are you a straightforward genie?”
The genie laughed. “I am the latter. But no wish shall survive the next.”
I thought about this. I put the lamp in my backpack and walked over to a nearby deli where I bought $200 in lotto tickets. Then I went back to the parking lot, took out the lamp, and made another wish.
“I wish I had two hundred dollars.”
The genie blinked and there in my right hand were two new bills. In my left was a pile of lotto tickets and presumably, in the cash register of the deli, two $100 bills blipped out of existence.
The kernel of a plan brewing, I brought the lamp home and let things stew in my mind for awhile.
Then, about a week later, I brought the lamp out again, after first doing some calculations and clearing a space in my living room.
“What is you wish?” The genie asked.
I cleared my throat. “I’d like 2 billion dollars in unmarked, non-consecutively numbered American hundreds stacked in a cube placed right there where I’ve cleared the space for it.”
The genie was surprised by the specificity of the request, but he obliged.
“Your wish is my command.”
Wide eyed I stared at the giant pile of money in the middle of my living room. It was exactly the size I had measured out, give or take a few inches at the base.
Staring at my giant homogeneous cube of pure cash I couldn’t help but laugh.
The genie chimed in. “Remember, wish again and it will be gon…”
But I wasn’t listening. I picked up the lamp, interrupting the genie mid sentence, and tossed it in a duffel bag. I stuck the bag on the top shelf of my bedroom closet, way in the back. One day, I figured, maybe I’d ask it to cure my cancer or something, but that day was a long ways off.
For now, I had a real estate empire to build.
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