What a Day.

Ashley Thomas continued the long, slow process of clearing out the nooks and crannies of her condo. She had been living there for more than 18 years as her family grew and then disintegrated. The divorce settlement was forcing the condo sale. Ashley sighed and took another box out of the deep end of the closet. The box was not familiar but had some shipping labels on it. One label had a return address in Toledo, Ohio.

Suddenly the memory of her former father in law, Greg, passing away rose from its suppressed place. That was two years ago during the early days of the breakup with Richard. They had traveled to the Ohio funeral and acted through the awkward closeness required to keep hidden the impending collapse of their marriage. What a terrible experience that was. Things only got worse as the truth of Richard’s infidelity was revealed and their marriage progressed to separation and divorce. No wonder she suppressed the memory.

One thing she did remember was the promise by Sheila, Richard’s sister, to send some of Greg’s things when they cleared out the house. This package arrived months later, after Richard had moved out. Ashley now recalls a flash of anger at Richard and stuffing it, unopened, into the back of the storage closet. She never told Richard it arrived. Being the oh-so attentive son, he never asked.

Ashley brought the box into the living room and settling on the couch, she used scissors to cut open the packing revealing a few photo albums among some bubble wrapped items. Opening one album revealed many photos of her and Richard from their early years together when they lived in Ohio. The smiles were genuine, not forced grimaces that showed in his countenance the last few years. They were a very handsome couple. One photo showed them at the beach. The date next to the photo put it shortly before they were married. Richard was so fit and muscular and Ashley noticed that she filled out her bikini very nicely. She wondered, What happened to that body of mine? She looked at the date again realizing she must have been in the early days of her first pregnancy. That thought doused her mood, so she put down the album and went into the kitchen for a soda.

Just then, Heather and her boyfriend, Jim, emerged from Heather’s room. At almost 17 years, Heather was in the prime of her emerging beauty. Heather was flushed and Jim had a self-satisfied smile as he hitched up his jeans. With one look Ashley could only imagine what was going on so quietly in that room.

Jim waltzed into the kitchen, pulled open the refrigerator door and leaned his six foot frame right into it; his eyes casting about for a suitable beverage. After picking up a can of Pepsi, with one fluid motion the tab was popped and the can tilted against his lips. Only after a few gulps the fridge door closed and a broad smile emerged as he faced the two women in his life outside his family. Jim and Heather had been dating for almost two years and he felt as comfortable in the Thomas house as in his own. Ashley had no choice but to approve of this top student, basketball player who was obviously enamored with her daughter. There had been more than a few strained conversations with Heather advising cautions about the consequences of her actions. The response had always been that Heather was careful, on the pill and Ashley should stay out of it.

Shortly after downing the soda Jim said, “Let’s go. We have to get to the movie.” With a quick hug for Ashley from Heather they strolled out of the condo without a care in the world. As the door closed behind them, she flashed back to that beach photo and marveled at how similar Heather and she looked even though there was no genetic connection between them. Heather was adopted at birth almost 17 years ago. With a shudder, she once again questioned the wisdom of never telling Heather she was adopted.

She shook off that thought and, Soda in hand, returned to her position on the sofa and began unwrapping bubble wrapped items from the box. First was a trophy Richard earned in his high school days. Second was a framed photo of Richard’s mom and dad as a young couple. The resemblance to Richard was striking.

Third was what looked like an antique jar with a cork closing the top. Ashley was intrigued with this piece. It was quite dirty especially compared to the carefully packed other items. Turning it over, Ashley could hear something rattling inside. She pulled the cork and looked inside. The smell and fumes released reached directly into her head, making her dizzy and feeling like she would pass out. Fortunately, sitting on the sofa there was no place to fall. She could see the cloud of vapors streaming out the jar flowing directly upward as she leaned over and lost consciousness.

The chiming of the grandfather clock striking 3 times roused Ashley. She sat up, shook her head, looked at the chiming clock, What was that? At least I wasn’t out too long. Heather left at just after 2.

“Achem”, the sound of a throat being cleared, came from the other side of the room. Ashley swiveled her head and gave a surprised jump at a strange man sitting with arms crossed in the easy chair. “I am glad you are awake, please be assured that I am not here to harm you…”

Ashley forced her way through her daze to cut him off, “Who are you and why are you in my living room?”

“As I said, I am not here to harm you. In fact, I extend a million thanks to you for releasing me from that damnable jar.” He looked a bit ragtag wearing what appeared to be an antique suit with wide lapels and a cravat.

“Are you kidding me?” she said continuing her evaluation. His face looked relaxed, not unpleasant; about her age with a swarthy complexion surrounded by unkempt very blond hair and beard that bordered on white.

He replied, “No, this is not a joke. It is quite serious. If I am going to stay out of that jar certain things must happen.”

Ashley was confused, “You came out of that jar? Get real.”

“Let me explain. When you shook and opened that jar, you released me from captivity in it. Now you see me before you and I would very much like to stay out of that jar. I am Oseca, a genie condemned to the jar many, many years ago for yielding to temptations I very much regret.”

He sighed, “You are my benefactor for freeing me. Therefore I grant you one wish.”

“This can’t be real. Tell me who you really are and what are you doing in my living room.”

“Madam, I am deadly serious and need you to know that if I do not grant your wish within three hours, I will be once again consigned into that jar. Please make a wish for me to grant. Time is of the essence.”

Ashley picked up the jar and shook it, whatever was rattling in there was gone. She looked around on the floor, but saw nothing.

“Madam, the ring rattling in the jar was my ring,” and held up his right hand to display an elaborate gold ring with many embedded jewels, “It gives me my powers to grant your wish. Please, what is it you wish most for?”

Posing the question this way gave Ashley pause… What would I wish for? “I don’t know. I will have to think about it.”

“There are some things you must know: Granting your wish will not only change your future, but might also change your past. You can only wish for one thing; no words like ‘and’ or ‘plus’ can be in the wish. Also, I cannot change a person’s free will. So choose carefully but quickly.”

For some reason Ashley was not afraid of this man. The after affects of whatever came out of the bottle were apparently preventing her from thinking too clearly. She sat back on the sofa and began exploring in her mind what her wish might be. Her mind wandered. How could my life be different?

Her thoughts, as they frequently did, traveled back to that pre-marriage pregnancy when Richard and she were engaged. That ended in a botched abortion leaving Ashley unable to stay pregnant again. Richard had been so loving and supportive through the many miscarriages and complications. He was that caring, wonderful man who wanted to be a father, but just not so soon after marriage. Ashley remembered Richard’s oft repeated words, “We can always have children, just not right now.” She reluctantly agreed to have the abortion and has regretted it ever since. Would I want to change that now?

As it turned out, Richard was good to his word; after it became apparent that Ashley would never be able to have a child, he jumped whole heartedly into adoption. Surprisingly, within a year newborn Heather was welcomed into the Thomas home.

When Heather was a baby, there was no need to tell her she was adopted as she wouldn’t understand. Heather looked just like me: same blue eyes, pale complexion and straight hair. It was so easy to pretend that I was her birth parent. Who would think otherwise? Then as she grew older, there was one excuse after another until now, the thought of actually revealing this essential truth scared the daylights out of Ashley. Who knew how Heather would react, I don’t even want to think about going there. There would be too many questions to answer.

Ashley’s dreamy reverie went on. The years went by, the marriage to Richard soured; and now she was alone with Heather, who looked more and more like Ashley each passing year, The opportunity to tell her about the adoption just never came up. But her doubts about not telling Heather weighed on her.

Would I want to change all that now? Would I want the aborted child? Would our marriage have survived? But then there wouldn’t be Heather in my life?

As the clock chimed 4 times another “Achem”, louder this time, came from across the room. It startled Ashley out of her thoughts. Now he was rolling what appeared to be a gold coin between his fingers with great dexterity, “Have you decided yet? I am growing impatient.”

Ashley sat up straight, “I’m thinking about what I might want. You know this isn’t easy.”

“How about wishing for great riches that will take care of you for the rest of your life? That would be quick and easy!”

“That might be easy for you, but it might not bring the happiness missing from my life.”

“Well, hurry up, time is passing and I don’t want to go back in that bottle.”

Ashley settled back again to continue her contemplations. Maybe great wealth would do the trick. I know it would make Heather happy. Ashley thought about it and realized that while she didn’t have much extra money, but she had enough to get by. If she wanted to wish for happiness, which Oseca could not directly grant, money alone wouldn’t necessarily do it. In fact, she knew in her heart that she first needed to get past this part of her life with the divorce completing before she could think about what would bring her true happiness.

Would she want to get back together with Richard? That free will thing would make it an unreliable wish. Ashley could lose a few pounds, but Richard’s affairs were beyond that. He simply gave up on their relationship. So, what to wish for?

The clock chimed 5 times. Ashley had a sudden thought, she sat up, looked at Oseca, “What happens if I can’t make up my mind?

The gold coin disappeared into his large fist. Oseca grunted, “But you have to make up your mind!”

“Yes, but what if I don’t ask you for anything?

“Unfortunately I cannot lie. After three hours I will involuntarily return to the jar to await my fate from a future handler of it.”

This gave Ashley pause. She looked at the clock, amazed that almost 3 hours had passed since she opened the bottle. Oseca was loosing his patience, “Woman! Make your wish!” He stood up, alarming Ashley with his physical size, well over 6 feet. He took a step forward, fists clenched and growled, “You don’t want your wish to be for me to stop hurting you. Do you?”

For the first time, Ashley was frightened and jumped up, “Get away from me!” as she backed away and ran for the nearby bathroom. Behind the locked door she could hear Oseca. He pounded on the door shouting and chanting. It didn’t sound even close to English.

Unfortunately, there was no clock in the bathroom so she couldn’t be sure of the time. Ashley waited. After a while, all was silent, so she opened the door. The room was filled with a smoky mist that smelled like incense. There on the coffee table stood the jar with cork in place. She picked it up and gently shook it. Sure enough, Oseca’s ring rattled around inside.

Ashley let out a large sigh of relief. Then suddenly realized she had lost the wish, but right after that wondered whether she had been intoxicated by whatever was in the jar and dreamed the whole thing.

Ashley went into the kitchen to get out of the misty smoke and clear her head. It was time for her normal solitary Saturday dinner: A salad with some protein found from whatever leftovers were in the refrigerator. This night a glass of wine was added to help contemplation of what she just experienced. When she was half way through the wine she thought about whether it really happened. Was there really a genie in her living room or she imagined the whole thing? There was no way to know without opening the jar again, which she wasn’t going to do. Either way, I am glad I didn’t make a wish. I can always open the jar when a wish is really important to me. She would find out then.

As she was cleaning up dinner, Heather and Jim returned, through the kitchen door chattering about the movie. Heather looked up, took a few sniffs and said, “Mom, what have you been smoking in here? I didn’t know you were into that!”

Ashley, suddenly remembering what was in the living room, rushed in there and grabbed the jar. Heather and Jim followed, Heather asked, “What’s that?”

“Nothing really. Just some stuff from your Uncle Greg I found in the closet”, and jammed it deep into the box, “The smell must have come from the box.”

Jim was looking around and spotted the photo albums. “What are these?” he asked settling into the same place Ashley sat earlier. He patted the cushion next to him for Heather to sit. Heather responded, “Just a minute, I have to pee.” and moved toward the bathroom. Ashley was glad for the distraction from the jar, but instinctively wanting to shield the past from Heather, started to gather the albums back into the box, taking the one from Jim saying, “These are just some old photo albums.” Adding to herself, Nothing to see here.

Heather walked back into the living room holding a gold coin, “What’s this? I found it on the floor outside the bathroom”.

Ashley’s head was spinning now and she grabbed the coin stammering, “More stuff from the box.” Oh My God! This is Oseca’s coin! It really happened!

Jim jumped up and tried to grab it from Ashley, “Let me see that. Is it real gold?”

Ashley put it in her pocket and with a defiant look stated, “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not for you two or”, looking at Heather, “your father, for that matter.”

Jim knew Ashley well enough to read that look. To break the tension, he pulled Heather next to him on the sofa and grabbed a different album out of the box. It fell open to photos of a Christmas tree with Richard, Ashley and Heather standing next to the tree in the very room in which they were seated. Jim gushed, “Aww, Heather, you looked so cute here.” He looked at the date carefully written on the page, “You must have been 4 years old.”

Ashley tried to grab the album but Jim kept leafing through it, “Heather, here you are at the beach when you were twelve. Not a bad shape for a twelve year old.”

“Jim!” Heather protested, “Am I just some ‘shape’ to you?” She grabbed the album and handed it to her mom.

But Jim was just getting started and took one more out of the box. This album seemed to be of Ashley and Richard before Heather joined the family. He opened it to the beginning and saw photos of the two of them moving into the condo commenting, “A very handsome couple.” He flipped towards the end of the book and saw another beach photo of Ashley in her bikini laying on a beach blanket. The date next to the photo was almost seventeen years ago to the day. A puzzled look crossed his face and he raised his eyes to meet Ashley’s full on saying, “Why aren’t you pregnant in this photo?”

The color drained out of Ashley’s face as she slowly collapsed into a chair.