"And... What Do I Do With The Other Two Wishes?" The Genie Asks, Looking... Uncomfortable?

"And... what do I do with the other two wishes?" the genie asks, looking... uncomfortable?

You thumb through the book in your hand, watching the genie flicker like stop motion as you look between her and the book's pages. The deal is done. You close the book and set it aside.

"Well, you could just give them to the next person, right?"

"No, each person gets three. You, the next person, the next. They can't have four or five."

"But I can have just one, right?"

"Honestly... I don't know? From what I know it's more transitory; you can have one wish under the premise that you will eventually have your second and third."

There are things you could wish for. Maybe you could apply the same principle to writing. Or you could as for a nice honey and lemon drink, something to just get the wishes out of the way. But something inside you just... doesn't want that.

"What about you?" you find yourself asking, eyes lowered to the ground. Ashamed? "Does it... does it ever get tiring?"

She heaves a sigh. "If you're thinking about wishing for my freedom, hoping to leverage a friend out of the deal, I prefer to remain in my genie state. (And they patched that bug years ago.)"

"Of course they did," you muse, not giving that part too much thought. You were asking a different question. "But what I meant was, the magic. Do you ever get tired?"

She's quiet for a moment. "What do you mean?" she asks, voice a little whisperier than before.

"Is that a yes?"

Quiet.

"You could - you could stay here. Or everywhere. Wherever. You don't have to not be a genie, you just don't have to grant wishes for a while either. I'm still thinking of my last two wishes." Your heart is beating way harder than you feel is justified. You pick up the book again and open it to some page in the beginning middle, staring down the words until your racing heart slows down.

You close the book to find the genie lost in thought.

She looks at you with a half smile. "I gave you that power, you know. I'm something of exempt from the time-pausing."

You redden a bit. "Sorry."

"It gave me time to think," she says.

You both stand there for a minute.

"And did you-"

"Keep your wishes," she blurts. "Don't use them."

You're both trembling, you because of what you might have just done, her probably for similar reasons.

"Do you want a hug?"

She engulfs you in a huge embrace, still shaking like a leaf. "I'll be back one day," she says.

Then the hug ends, and she turns and goes. Out the door and gone.

You retire to the couch to scrunch up in a corner and process everything that just happened. Time would pass, and...

Well, you had work in the morning. You pick up a book. No matter what you read, it all comes out reminding you of her.

She'd be back one day.

"YOU HAVE THREE WISHES," the genie says grandly. "Oh no, that's fine I don't need all three. I just wanted one." The genie raises an eyebrow. "So what is your 'one' wish?" "I wish for time to stop every time I pick up and read a book—and start again when I put it down, so I always have time to read."