Two Doors

Hannah was hiking her favorite trail when she came across a cave. She didn’t remember it being there before and could not resist going inside.

She found a battered gold lamp atop several rocks within a few steps. She giggled, “I wonder if there’s a genie in there?” She extracted it from the stones, and after studying its design, scratches, and dings, she began to rub it. “If anyone is in there, come on out,” she said, more to entertain herself than thinking something would actually happen. But when the lamp vibrated and lifted from her hands, she fell backward against the cave wall in disbelief. Smoke emerged from the curved spout, and the gray plumes consolidated into a big, blue genie: genie pants, turban, and all.

“Well, dang.”

The genie seemed just as surprised as she was but immediately smiled at her. “Thank you!” he said in a deep, booming voice. “It was tight in there!” He then broke out in a laugh that shook his big round belly. She was terrified but managed a weak smile, leaning hard against the cave wall.

“How can I thank you?” The genie asked.

Hannah, broke, jobless, and feeling the weight of countless bad decisions, went for the obvious.

“Do I get three wishes? You do know about that, right?”

The genie rolled his eyes. “Nah, I stopped that. Too many wiseasses asking for more wishes. That got old quick. I do things differently now.”

“Oh. So…what do you offer now?”

With a flourish of his hands, two doors appeared, a blue one and a red one. Both were elaborate and trimmed with gold. Hannah moved forward a bit, taking in their gaudy beauty.

“Here’s the deal. Blue door - you get to fix all of your past mistakes. Red door - you get 10 million dollars. You get one chance; no do-overs, no backsies. And if you even entertain the idea of choosing the blue door and then considering that not choosing the red door was a mistake to fix, I will curse you.”

“Dammit. So much for that idea.”

He burst out with another belly laugh. Then, smiling deviously with a lifted eyebrow, he growled, “Well?”

She said in a lilting voice, “Mistakes. I’ve made a few…”

The genie glowered at her. “Just…don’t.”

“Hey, it’s a classic for a reason,” she shrugged. “But, ten mil…that’s pretty sweet.”

“It is, it is. And you appear to be a clever girl, so choose wisely. No rush, no pressure. I’ll stretch a bit and think about where I’m going next.”

She leaned back against the hard, cool wall and stroked her chin. She thought about the crappy boyfriends, jobs, and her alienated family. The money wasted on booze, drugs, and other things that further plunged her into debt. The blue door gives her the chance to correct those errors. However, she was no spring chicken. Does any of it matter anymore? Even if she fixed the errors, there is no guarantee her life would be better. On the other hand, ten million dollars is a lot of financial security she does not have now, and a part of that would immediately go to her late rent. But, what happens if she takes it and blows it because ten mil ain’t what it used to be?

She pushed herself off of the wall and walked toward the genie. He asked, “Do we have a decision?”

“Yeah.” She responded, excited and fearful at the same time.

“Okay, stand in front of your chosen door.”

When the door opened, she saw peace and opportunity. She also knew she could not blow it this time. She stepped through while the genie yelled, “Good choice!”

She did not look back.