Where are you Mr. Genie?
One day, a genie appeared. It was my birthday. The genie granted me a wish. But a strange thing happened because the genie vanished and the wish was never granted.
(This is a true story. Check with your fact checking authorities. By continuing to read, I shall not be responsible. Toot.)
“Hello there Mister Ben Nile. I can’t call you Master Ben Nile because I am the Master. Don’t mind me because I am about to grant you a wish and you shall be the Master.”
I was surprised but wasn’t amused. I thought to himself: “So a genie is real?” I asked the Genie: “Did you come from a bottle? Did Aladdin put you in a bottle and threw you overboard?”
As an afterthought, I said to himself: “Why me?”
The genie didn’t respond. It had no time for silly questions. Besides, it didn’t want to reveal the truth: That the bottle it lived in stank because Aladdin never cleaned his whiskey bottle.
“So, are you going to ask for a wish, Mr. Nile?” asked the Genie-from-Aladdin’s- bottle.
I was wondering how the Genie knew my full name. “Never mind,” I told myself. I thought about how I could maximize this opportunity. After all, when you are a birthday boy, you could wish anything.
My dreams were about to come through. It was a long wait.
I asked the Genie. “Are you ready, Mr. Genie?” I sounded sexist, but I imagined the ladies would understand because, after all, “ladies are ladies,” and “they are decent beings.” They’d forgive me just as soon as I got my wish (“It’ll make them proud because there would be an endless supply of handbags,” I thought).
“Go ahead, Mr. Nile,” said the Genie.
“For the first wish, I ask that we stop inventing lies,” I started.
Before I could ask the second wish, Mr. Genie stopped me, and then I asked to edit my first wish. He agreed, so I asked again.
“For the first wish, I wish, I had five wishes excluding this one.”
A hard look appeared on Mr. Genie’s face. He moved his turban. But he agreed.
“Thank you, Mr. Genie, for your generosity. I shall continue.”
“For the second wish, I ask that we don’t legitimize lies through institutions and paid scholars.”
I continued asking Mr. Genie.
“For the third wish, I ask that we don’t ignore reason.”
“For the fourth wish, I wish that good replaces bad.”
“And, for the fifth wish, I ask that humanity doesn’t believe in miracles and fiction but morals and ethics and responsibility.”
There was a lull. Mr. Genie then reminded me of my sixth wish.
Thereupon, I quickly asked him to remove the covenant, “Love thy neighbor” because there isn’t such a thing, and at that, the Genie, Mr. Genie vanished.
Till today, my wishes have never been granted because the Genie never returned.
I doubt whether he would ever appear again.
I suspected that Mr. Genie’s sudden departure was his advanced knowledge of me. I think he knew that I wanted him not to be corrupt. A hard request even unspoken.
End of true story. Postcript: The Genie left his whiskey bottle, so I guessed he found a new home, possibly a recycled but clean bottle.
Ben Nile on his 63rd birthday.
Courtesy of Audrey Buttigieg Cardona. Photos by BNDTC.
Courtesy of Audrey Buttigieg Cardona. Photos by BNDTC.
Courtesy of Audrey Buttigieg Cardona. Photos by BNDTC.
Courtesy of Audrey Buttigieg Cardona. Photos by BNDTC.
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Ben Nile’s mission is to promote boxART as a civilization imperative through the establishment of the world’s first children boxART art gallery.