A Lucky Find

Every garage sale you come across could be full of rare treasures and lucky finds, but usually, it’s mostly garbage. You may still find a treasure, but you’d have to get up pretty early to find one. That’s for one garage sale anyways, when an entire neighbourhood holds one, who knows what you can find at any time. The issue is, as a college student, this may be your only really good opportunity to find certain things. Bits of furniture or appliances that would otherwise be considered a bit too pricey… if they worked anyways.

Hugh was one such student, and he had found a pristine coffee maker for fifteen dollars, probably a tenth of what it would be worth otherwise. It was probably broken, but at that price, it was worth the gamble. If he could get it home anyways. He was quite a long way from his apartment, and the streets were too busy for the buses to get anywhere near him, so Hugh had a long walk ahead of him. A little overwhelmed by this realization, he decided to have a seat on the curb to consider whether it would be worth calling his one friend with a car. Remembering how much they’d hold that favour against him, Hugh was coming to terms with the walk. After a short breather, and just before he was about to get up, he spotted something sitting next to him by the curb. It looked like one of those genie lamps you’d see in a cartoon, right down to the golden shimmer. Hugh wouldn’t really say that he was superstitious, but he thought that it might be worth a go; you know, in case it actually worked. Which it did. After a little coaxing and polishing, smoke began to bellow from the lamp, gathered together, and faded to reveal what seemed to Hugh to be a genie.

“Hello there kid, how’s it going? Did you know that this would be your lucky day?” the genie said with what can be described as weariness.

“Not really, but I had a suspicion once I found this beauty” Hugh replied, while showing off his coffee-related haul.

“What is that, some kind of drink machine? Whatever. Ok kid, you know the deal, three wishes, and take your time, I enjoy the fresh air. Oh, by the way, once your three wishes are done, you won’t remember this ever happened, ok? Whatever you wished for will just become your new normal. Just keep that in mind.”

Hugh had to think about this, he had seen a few genie stories on TV as a kid, and remembered how tricky they could be. That might not be true with actual genies, but then again, he didn’t want to take that chance. So, in painstakingly precise detail, Hugh wished for $20,000 that had no strings attached that wasn’t going to get him arrested, or robbed, or anything of the like. With a sigh, the genie spoke,

“Look kid, I’m not your enemy here, I’m just here for the wishes. I don’t get any enjoyment out of your suffering, I’m just here to do a job and then get back in the lamp. You don’t have to go all in on the wishing, ok? That was like five minutes of wish, that’s a lot to keep in mind. Alright, let’s make it happen.”

At the wave of his hand, an ornate black notebook appeared in front of the genie with a small puff of smoke, along with an inkwell and quill. As the genie wrote, Hugh couldn’t help but be transfixed by the notebook, it was bound with black leather, with deeper black shapes that seemed to swim across the cover. Finally, once the genie was done scribbling down the wish, he tore out a page and handed it to Hugh. As Hugh looked down at what the genie had handed him, he noticed it was a cheque for $20,000, made out to him, and signed by G.Knee which he thought was a little on the nose. He folded the cheque neatly and put it in his pocket. As he looked up again, the notebook was gone, and the genie asked,

“Satisfied? Now before you ask, nobody will find that cheque suspicious. It’ll deposit just fine, and the money will appear to you with no strings attached. Now, any idea what you’d want for your second wish?”

Hugh had to think about this again, but not quite as long, as he knew he didn’t have to think about outwitting a genie this time around. Finally, he reached a conclusion.

“I wish that I can find any dream job I search for, and that I’ll be happy with whatever I find. Also, before you call me ‘kid’ again, my name is Hugh.”

“that’s great ki-, sorry, Hugh, that’s great, just a couple of things. That wish is a bit of a two-parter, so I’ll narrow it down to ‘I will always be able to find a job I will be happy doing,’ does that sound good to you?”

“Yeah, that sounds about the same, thanks.”

“No problem. Next, why not be more specific about the job? And why wish for a job at all when you could just have wished for more money in the first place? I would have given it to you.”

Hugh didn’t have to think for very long to find his answer,

“I would have been more specific about the job, if I completely knew what I wanted to do. I just don’t know yet, there’s so much about myself I need to figure out before I can know that. As for the money, I wished for that amount because that would cover my rent for a while, and help wipe down some of my debt. It was mostly a test to make sure that if anyone ever asked how I ended up with it, I could say it was an inheritance and it would be believable. Also, I know I could have asked for more money and have been set for life, but I couldn’t think of a reason why I would want that. Sure, I could live comfortably for the rest of my life, but I wouldn’t have any direction, and I want to help people somehow I think, so if I can do that and be happy, I think I’d be set.”

“That sounds alright to me.” Replied the genie. With another puff of smoke, the notebook reappeared, and the genie scribbled down Hugh’s second wish. This time, however, the genie caught Hugh staring at it as he wrote. He finished up the wish, closed the book, and it vanished once more. Before the genie could get a word in, Hugh asked him,

“What’s the notebook for? I didn’t think that genies needed notebooks.”

“Usually, they don’t, but this is a special circumstance. This notebook has the power to grant any wish you can think of, it just needs to be written down in it. There isn’t a limit of pages, there are as many pages as you could ever need in here multiplied by a thousand… but before you ask, and I shouldn’t be telling you this, but don’t do it Hugh, don’t wish for it, it isn’t worth it. I can say that it holds great power, but please don’t do it. You seem like a smart kid with a future, you don’t want to be tied down with this burden.”

Hugh paused for a moment to think. After a brief silence, he looked at the genie and said in a soft but serious tone,

“You’re not a genie, are you?”

“…No, I’m not… you got me. I’m just a guy that got a bit too greedy. I was human before, but then I found this lamp, which was occupied by my predecessor, a real con man who got me to wish for the notebook to guarantee his freedom. Now I’ve been stuck in here for who knows how long, trapped by this book in that lamp, hoping that someone will take the burden off of me… but I don’t think I can just let that happen.”

“What if I wished for the book to be destroyed?”

“I don’t know if that’d work Hugh, but that would almost certainly erase your wishes, things are a bit iffy until you get the full three in.”

“But if I wish for something else, I won’t remember this, and you’ll still be stuck! I’d feel so guilty if I let that happen.”

“No, Hugh, you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t remember this at all, and you’d be able to live a happy life free of regret.”

“I know, but I can’t leave this be, otherwise someone else could come along and get trapped like you, and then it could keep going like that forever. I can live without my two wishes, I’ll still be no worse off than before, and I’d still have my coffee maker, so it’s worth a go. I wish that your notebook would become an ordinary black notebook… and hopefully that will help.”

“I guess you’re right, it’s worth a go. It’s a bit late for you to turn back now anyways.”

With a puff of smoke, the notebook appeared a third time, and the genie scribbled down Hugh’s last wish. As Hugh stared at it, the swimming shapes began to fizzle and fade, leaving a matte black cover that closed shut before the ordinary black notebook fell to the floor. Hugh watched it fall and flop on the pavement, before crouching down to inspect it with a stick before picking it up. Once it was in his hands, he got back up and looked for the genie. Though he was gone, there was an eerily similar looking man standing in front of him wearing a grey-striped suit and a smile. He looked at Hugh, held out his hand and said,

“Congratulations kid, I think you’ve done it. It seems as though you’ve given me a second chance”.

When Hugh grabbed his hand, the man gave him a hug, and before letting go, he sighed and said,

“I hope I don’t mess it up this time.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great”, Hugh replied

As they began to part ways, the man turned and spoke to Hugh one last time,

“Oh, by the way, I think I was able to sneak something in that book right before it ran out of steam. So, I think you should check your pocket. Have a nice life, kid!”

One more wave, and he was gone, along with the lamp, and Hugh began the long walk back to his apartment; one coffee maker, and $20,000 richer.