“Genie with a Bottle”
There was a girl who found a bottle and a Genie was discovered. This Genie was known for his infamous hangovers. A farmer’s daughter never really wanted much, so the Genie made an offer.
“For a young woman marked with a benevolent heart, I bestow you three wishes before we part!” The Genie raised his glass and uttered with a hiccup.
She didn’t think much and thought it was absurd. But for a girl’s curious age, she can’t refuse the offer.
“My town is in drought because the sun’s always out. Our crops didn’t grow and our cows can’t mow. My family is in pain, so now I wish for rain.”
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. First raindrop came and the sun growled.
“A twist in your wish you cannot resist. There is a catch for your wish to last. The sun’s meant to rise in this part of your world. And nature is a friend I cannot hold. So with this for your town to remain with rain, you need to house the sun who will be in pain.
All day, all night the sun is yours. There will be no darkness to your doors.” The Genie continued in his intoxicated shape.
To the girl with a generous heart she didn’t think much and did agree to last. A kiss to her hand was made a pact.
“Prepare some honeydew and I will come for your next request.” And then so the Genie parted and said that no wish can ever be undone.
With a grateful yet a heavy heart, she hurried home as fast. Explained to his father what she must. She must leave town to depart because the sun is on her doorstep and she needs to rush.
“No, Father I must leave. This journey I have been waiting long to keep.” she lied.
The Sun
She started her voyage with a magnificent and shining companion. The sun admired the girl for her positive demeanor.
“Sunny, let us travel far and wide. Let’s discover marvelous places and give them shine. Let’s cure sorrow and help people glow.”
The sun’s natural temperament radiates even more. For never in his existence he encountered a being with a remarkable compassion. The two companions traveled day and night, though not really recognizing the distinction.
One day, the girl noticed a foreign disposition. A tinge of despair clouded the sun’s bright behavior.
“Do you miss them?” The girl asked the sun.
“On some days, my dear.” The sun smiled as he sighed.
“But with your smile all those fade away. I’m happy just looking out for you.”
“I miss the stars, too.
Thank you, Sunny.”
A glass of honeydew was prepared. Smoke emerged with a familiar scent, and then appeared the Genie with a bottle.
“Veni, Vidi, Vici!!! I came, I saw, I conquered!!!” cheered the Genie with his typical intoxicated state.
“As it has been for a while now, what can I do for this lovely maiden?”
“I offer you this honeydew as an indication for my second wish.” proposed the girl.
“Despair has been looming around my companion. I wish for his friend to visit him. The stars have always been his brothers and a visit from one would be so delightful.” The girl continued.
The bright sky veiled, darkness then came. Dusk fell. Supreme shadows appeared. A glimmer of fire surfaced and like a lightning-fast it fell. And then complete brightness emanated again.
“To what service can I offer this fine young lady at this hour?” A fetching young man garbed in royalty beamed as he hunched towards the girl.
With bemusement the girl gazed at the tipsy sprite. In her thoughts, what again this wish-maker have made for larks.
“A twist in your wish you cannot resist. There is actually a catch for your wish to be undone. This fine young man is in fact a Prince. A Prince of Starratia, if you wish to ask. Well indeed, a falling star. A good friend of Sunny, if that I may add. The Prince can only go back to his kingdom if he can keep a secret which with all his might he will tremendously want to reveal.
And be wary Prince, you can only keep one.” The Genie raised his bottle and gulped a mouthful of brandy.
“As my memories can recollect I reminisce about your wishes that cannot be repealed.” probed the girl with doubts.
“In every wish I make my rule. In every bottle I make my reign. You wish, I grant. You just take, you cannot doubt.” The Genie said with a seemingly not drunk manner as he verified his substantial authority.
“You are still inclined to grant my wishes, because if it is otherwise then you will not accord us with your presence.
I cannot yet to fathom if you are a yin or a yang Mister Genie. You rescind a rule I did not ask. Yet you granted me a wish with still another improbable task.” the girl replied.
“I came with a bottle, young girl. Of course, I will always give you my whimsical task.” cracked the Genie with an eccentric laugh.
Again faced with another ridiculous twist, but now two companions were instantly three. Though confronted with a predicament, they now gained a new friend to enjoy their journey. Sunny was again his natural glow. He’s happy to reunite with his best buddy. The Prince from Starratia whom he had known for his entire existence will be again his comrade.
“Prepare some raspberry sap and I will come for your last request.
Be reminded that no wish can ever come within a wish. Hence, you cannot wish for the Prince to come back to his land.
And by the way, in 30 days if the Prince hasn’t come back to his kingdom, by then he will be banished from Starratia and will remain in his human form forever…
…or until his human life permits.”
“One secret, Prince.” a kiss to the girl’s forehead was made a pact.The Genie went with a half-taunting smile as he vanished in thin sight.
An unfamiliar trace of irritation was brought at once. The girl could not fathom what it was. Could it be an invisible irony of an approaching dilemma?
The Falling Star
The Prince grew fond with the girl. He admired the fact about the girl’s curious and genuine views in everything around her. He respected the girl’s unwavering compassion. He reminisced about that one day when they came across a poor and grumpy old hermit as they were wandering the damped glades of Apallacia.
“What on earth are you doing here in my territory-ey?!!” yelled the old man with a distinct dialect as they passed by the wide terrain.
“This is private propert-ey! And you’re wandering like there is a part-ey!” the cranky old man walked towards them, still grouchy.
“Oh, we’re very sorry to disturb you, Sir. We don’t want to impose anything here. We were just passing by and noticed your damped terrain as we walked by. Sunny here is very good in shining his rays of sunshine so that some flowers will grow in your ground.” the girl said with an innocent smile.
“Did I say anything about wanting some flowers, eh??! Did I say anything about shining some sunshine, eh??!” the old man became more furious and irritated.
The girl paused and examined the old man’s expression. The girl then smiled brightly and walked towards the old man.
“Can we stay here for a while, Sir?” asked the girl.
And so it seemed that the girl noticed the old man’s pairs of things. The old man had a pair of rusty cups, a pair of old-fashioned chair, a pair of cracked plates, and a pair of passé everything in his old filthy shed. The old man longed for a companion. The old man didn’t have abundance of all things and he lived alone with nothing that much to offer. He lost his wife some years passed and his children left to have families of their own. It was a simple observation and yet only a few will act on a solution. Sympathy is easy. Compassion is demanding. It is sympathy when we feel bad about others’ unfortunate situation. But it is compassion when we act for it and solve the problem of others as if our own. Any being capable of compassion is a sign that heaven exists. The Prince thought.
Tenth day as a human being, the Prince grew weary to some unknown and strange ambiance. There is a feeling of an imminent and inevitable dilemma.
“Sunny, my old friend, I haven’t seen you this happy before. It seems that happiness is always at your door.” remarked the Prince to the Sun.
“I feel like a poet these days. Ecstasy is within my rays. Some smile makes me shiver. Each day I seem to hover.” flushed in a seemingly reddish gleam to the Sun’s bright impression.
Without second thoughts the Prince knew what secret he can never disclosed. A love that was forthcoming was yet to be told, but no way can ever be exposed.
A fact that some decades ago was already told.
“But with every glow my existence has restrictions, falling in love will lose my every glow. A paradox I am forced to exist. A curse I cannot abscond. No love can ever be confessed. No love can ever be declared.” revealed the Sun.
The Sun and the Prince went out one dark moment as the Moon disguised the Sun’s magnificence. They talked about love as they became a spectator to Mars and Venus’ marriage.
But that was not the only clandestine. The looming thoughts and the undisputable affection were certainly evident. It cannot be undone. The approaching agony will struck in countless devastation,
because the Prince too,
was in love.
“Don’t ever tell me about it, okay?” the girl told the Prince on the 18th day.
“How did the fair young lady know about yours truly finally having a secret?” the Prince wondered as he asked.
“I can see you sigh so many times these past few days. But you smile every time you watched the Sun shined his rays.” the girl noticed.
“A friend’s happiness is indeed a remarkable feat, my lady.” the prince smiled.
The value of an enigma can never be truly measured. And yet another mystery loomed to be discovered. A wanderer came one fine morning and told the girl stories of a life yet to be learned. The wanderer talked about nature, about living with herbs and pleasure.
The Wanderer
“Live today like nothing else matters! Live like today is your last day! Make mistakes while you’re young. Some people said you can learn from it. Others will reprimand your peculiarity. Some will judge you for being eccentric. But a famous artist once said ‘Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.’ Carpe Diem! That’s my mantra!” the wanderer spoke as though convincing the girl to live like his ways.
“If you live like there’s no tomorrow, wouldn’t that be greedy? If you live like you no longer exist the next day, wouldn’t that be selfish? There will be things today that you can only do tomorrow. There will be people you cannot love today. There will be those people who will still love you the next day, but how can they do it if you no longer exists? If you think only about today, how about those who want to live their lives with you even when your hair is already gray?” the girl smiled as she shared her hesitations to the wanderer.
“Be that as it may, but there are things you cannot really speak of. Seeing things a hundred times is not the same as living it once. Experience is a euphemism for living. You cannot comprehend what you obviously lack.” the wanderer teased.
“And what is that?”
“That I will tell you soon enough.” was the wanderer’s taunting reply.
The journey continued with now four. The Girl with an appealing heart was accompanied by the Sun of a positive lore. Second, like a falling star, a Prince appeared with a martyr heart. And last, a peculiar wanderer joined the band.
The Genie
“I need to know this girl.”
The genie was dreaming again. The bourbon did not kick in tonight, he guessed. For more than three hundred years of granting tipsy wishes he never encountered a being who wished for something so trivial yet so eminent. He granted wishes of filthy treasure and some childish revenge. He even granted a delusional romance. In every wish there was always a distinct resemblance, it was all selfish. It was all for themselves.
The genie knew everything about his curse. Why he was stuck in a bottle with stipulated condition. A cliché and a wicked witch turned a handsome playboy into an imp. A spell was cast and for centuries the curse will last.
“Every little thing you can never miss. Every wicked intention will make you sick. You will see through every soul. You can comprehend every feeling they hold.
But the day of haze will confuse a stone. Some unfamiliar kindness will come to appall. You can understand all, but not your own.”
He lived his life and paid his dues for all those centuries but he never felt anything for it. He didn’t even regret it. He was just too lazy to care, too lazy to even feel anything.
“Yeah, I get the lesson. Figures.” He thought.
There was always evil looming around every wish he granted. All those wicked intentions made his insides churn. And as decades passed all he knew was that whiskey was the solution. It was all better to drink up and get wasted than to be sober with everything else intoxicating.
Yet again it bothered him. It bothered him profoundly when that girl made her wish. It was the first time after all those wicked years when he felt the kick of the alcohol again. He was just plain wasted. There was no hint of darkness.
His insides were just drunk,
not cursed.
Her wish was just genuine.
Unbelievably so.
“No, not possibly.” He argued to himself.
So he came up with a little ruse. A trick only he can pull. “Why not a passing wanderer shake a genuine and noble soul?” was his scheming thought.
Now masked with a curious façade, the genie befitted a wanderer. Not only did he disguise himself to be another being but within him impends a concealed and an unsettled heart.
“To be shaken by this intriguing lass is truly unbecoming. A little ploy won’t hurt a jaded soul.”
The Girl, The Sun, The Falling Star, The Wanderer and
The Genie with a Bottle
Unlikely beings united by an unfamiliar pull, could be a tragic love or a happy ever after lore. A deviant setting of lovers in disguise will be revealed in just moments hold.