LAMP CODE

I’m more than confident when I reply, “Sure I can.”

“Hehe.  Always down for the juicy bits, eh?”

For now, old man Mucha is the only person my parents can leave me with on their busy weekends, since we moved in recently and don’t really know anyone else.  I do his gardening once a week and he lets me have a special arm chair in his study.  His house is quite cozy, so I don’t mind waiting here – and keeping him company.  He says he has two brothers who come around often, so he’s never that lonely.  I haven’t seen any of them since we moved in though.

“Let me in on it already.”

“Fine, chump.  It’s actually an easy tell, but there’s a catch.”

I squint my eyes and accept the challenge, “I am ready.”

“Alright then.”

He heads to his reading table and pulls out a rolled-up piece of shabby paper.  After loosening the yarn which held it, he flattens it on the ground.  I walk up behind him to examine the spectacle.  Three distinct labels are made out on a pictorial form of what look to be ...

“A map?”

“Yes chump,”  he says excitedly.  “Not just any map though.  This is the real world.”

I struggle to contain my expression from showing that he is much crazier than I thought he was.  He lets out a little laugh, probably catching it nonetheless.

“This,”  he points to a part of the map behind one of the labels, “is the lamp, and that’s where we are.”  I mentally register the garnet ring which I have never seen him take off his finger.

“So, we’re in a lamp?”

“Exactly.”

I wipe some invisible sweat off my forehead, not sure what his ‘secret’ will turn out to be.

“And the other two um, places?”

“Oh, those are part of another tale.”  I figure it won’t be a good idea to interrupt him again so I maintain the dreary silence as he starts to roll the map back.  But he doesn’t say anything when he returns it to its place, or when he picks up his little tea cup and heads to the rocking chair which is placed in front of his ornate door today.

“That’s it?”  I finally ask, unable to bear it any more.

“For my part, yes.”

A set of rumpled muscles gather between my eyebrows and I sink into my arm chair. “What kind of secret is that?”

“A pretty big one if you ask me.  You’ll soon get the hang of – ”

Rat tat tat.

We both turn to where the sound came from, which seems to be somewhere behind his brick wall.

“Hmm, faster than I expected.”  He gets up.  “That’s your cue, chump.”  He pushes me towards the door before I have enough time to think about what is going on.

“My duffel.”

“You won’t be needing it.”

In the few seconds it takes for us to reach the door, he somehow manages to pull off his fancy ring and plop it through my right middle finger.

“Now remember to not forget your childhood stories.”

As soon as I step outside, an overwhelming feeling hits me.  I feel light headed, in a rather strange but relaxing way and I surprisingly adapt quickly to it.

“Mustafio!”

My balance weakens at the sudden alarm and I open my eyes, which I now realize, had been closed all along. There is a tall man dressed in a fashion I assume to be slightly weirder than the way he is looking at me.

“Who are you?”  I yell almost immediately, seeing how his gaze is unwavering.

He clears his throat.  “I am Doretilli by name – Doret for short – and I have successfully met all the conditions required to invoke your services.”

Another one of them crazy people.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  My eyes roll subconsciously as I attempt to walk away, just as I notice that my  feet are not on the ground.  I look down and shriek loudly.  “My body!”

It has taken a floppy, pearl white form, with a tapered ending as my lower half. And then it dawns on me: my body isn’t the only thing that looks different, the entire neighborhood is.

“What did you do to me?”

“You definitely do not sound as respectful as I heard genies do.”

“Genies?”

“Ha!  What are you, a newbie?”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

He eyes me with unbelief before replying,  “Whatever, you’re not leaving until my three wishes are granted.”

Three wishes?  That’s it!  Somehow, I must have turned into a genie – since I came out from the lamp.  I grit my teeth, unable to think of any other way to explain the situation.  That sly old man.

“Well then Dora, what is your first wish?”

“Doret!”  Whatever.  He clears his throat again.  “That is not even a question.  Grant me riches, lots and lots of gold, enough to fill this sack.”  He taps a fat, fray-looking bag on the ground with his foot.

I scratch my head as I take in the messy object, wondering how I am supposed to fill it with anything at all.

“Um, any ideas how this thing is done?”

“Do I look like I work at Genie HQ or something?”

Rude much.  I try imagine the gold appearing, but nothing happens.  Then I mumble a bunch of irrational words.  Think, think, think.  Childhood stories… oh yes!

I snap my finger and, in a flash, the sack is sitting upright from the structure of what is in it.

“My gold!” Doret squeals, hugging the sack immediately.

From nowhere, an arrow hits the ground in front of me and I jump backwards.  Doret sees it too and runs behind me.

“Are you crazy?” I scream.  He tries to tug the sack, but it’s too heavy.  “Just wish for me to save you.”

“No! I can’t waste my wishes,” he says distastefully.  Another arrow jets our way and I stumble, making Mucha’s oversized ring slip off.   This time, our attackers are visible and they begin to surround us.  I quickly pick it and wear it back.

“Doret!”

“Fine, fine.  I wish for a fleet of horses all under my control.”

“Ughh.”  There’s no time to think anyways, so I snap my fingers again.

But nothing happens.

His hands are practically scrubbing his face.  “Hey newbie, now’s not the time for this.”

“I swear, it worked for your first wish.”  Was there some kind of rule for each of the wishes?  I snap my fingers again and again, then I snap my left fingers.  A black mustang appears and the sack is somehow hurdled over its back.

“Is this a fleet?”  Doret yells, his whole face contorted.

“Sorry, I didn’t exactly imagine that.  But at least he can carry all your gold,”  I reply angrily as he hops onto the horse and I hover beside him.

He leaves me behind, galloping as fast as he can and before I can even see it to dodge, an arrow passes through me, leaving me more than horrified – and grateful to whoever invented genie body.

“It’s a genie,” one of the attackers shouts.  I gasp, turning to assess the danger from my position.  They run towards me, suddenly unleashing small pouches of white powder which they begin to throw at me.

Not good.

I hover as fast as I can, eventually catching up to Doret.

“You weren’t touched by the salt, right?”

“I doubt. That’s what they were throwing?”

“Yes.  And you don’t want it to touch you.”  I sit on top of the sack facing the direction we had run from.  One more wish.  “Figured your wish-granting yet?”

I have, in fact.  Rubbing the ring is the key. I had placed it on my left finger after it fell.  But I definitely can’t tell that to someone as greedy as Doret.

The horse suddenly backs up frightfully and I swerve to the front.

A heavily built, bare chested man comes forward and points a scabbard at Doret as he opens his mouth to speak:

“Doretilli Dunconando, return Master Chao’s lamp to me,  or I shall have you hung before dusk.”

“I’d rather die an honorable thief, Shingi.”

It’s hard to believe what I just heard.

“You stole the lamp?”

Doret kicks the horse but it knocks us to the ground instead if charging as he had planned.

I rub my eyes as the new threat takes his next steps towards us.

“Hope you’re prepared for my next wish,” Doret signals.

I look at my finger and confirm that the ring is – not in place!  My eyes screen the earth, which was still recovering from the sandy mist caused by our fall.

“It’s not here,” I whisper.

“What’s not here?”

“My ring.  I need it for the wishes.”

He gets up and starts to move backwards with a hand to his left side, obviously where he hid the lamp.  When Shingi walks past my shaking body as though I am non-existent, I hear Doret’s voice again:

“I’ve seen it.”

He really has.  And he holds it up to prove it before throwing it my way.  But it goes far beyond my reach.  I trace the projectile with my eyes.

“Go grab the ring already!”

I do as he says, and as soon as I grasp the ring, the light feeling takes over me again and I begin to fade.  The last thing I see is a Doret’s muted figure, shouting what I make out from his lips to be:  “No! my last wish…”

Hibiscus tea.  I open my eyes and sure enough, old man Mucha is standing in front of me with a steaming mug.

“Here you go, chump.”

I shake my head, trying to get rid of the leftover dizziness before taking the mug.

“How did it go?”

“Awfully.  I couldn’t even snap my fingers to fulfil a wish.”

“No, you have to pet the ring.”

“All my fairytale books say the genie snaps his fingers.”

“Oh dear, they really should be corrected then.” He laughs out loud and gives me a big pat on the back. “Warm up and tell me how it went,” he says, walking back to his rocking chair.  The ornate door suddenly opens and another old man, who shares a striking resemblance with Mucha rushes in.  

“It got clogged again, Much.  What do I do now?” His higher pitch makes him sound a bit cheerier than Mucha.  “Oh?  You have a guest.”

“Yes, I do.  He’s my latest neighbor, Louis.”

“Pleasure to meet you sir,”  I say with a curt nod.

“This is Melins, my brother.  You can make acquaintances while I resolve the matter.”

Even his name sounds cheery, I reckon as Mucha crosses the door to his brother’s side.

“Hibiscus tea?”  Melins chirps, watching my mug.

“Yes sir.”

“Oh? Then you must have been out of the lamp.”

“Yes sir.”

“And you must have seen the other two regions on the map.”  I smile positively, trying to avoid the monotonous response.  

With that, he circles an arm half way around my neck and his eyes twinkle all too familiarly.  Oh no, I say in my head even before he repeats the exact question Mucha had asked at the beginning.

“Can you keep a secret?”