THE GREAT GADFLY:

Sudden Fiction Nine



She screamed and punched his shoulder until he finally stopped the SUV. "Come on!" she screamed. "I saw it just a few yards over, by those rocks!"

She stuffed her handbag under the seat and tumbled out, onto the beach. She ran toward the rocks, where she could see the shiny golden object winking at her in its reflection of the sun.

He watched her retrieve the object. He heard her squeal with delight. "What is it?" he asked.

She flung her tan plaid scarf around her neck triumphantly and held the object up like a trophy. It was a golden oil lamp, encrusted with jewels. She did a frenzied little victory dance. He laughed as he ran toward her.

She began to rub a smudge off the lamp with her scarf, and, of course, a genie materialized from the spout of the object.

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed. "A GENIE! A GENIE!"

The genie looked around, awakened from a 3,000-year sleep. It looked at her. It looked at him. It looked at their SUV.

"I'm really sorry," the genie said, "but there's not a whole lot I can do for either of you."

The couple gasped in dismay.

"Have a good life," the genie said, retreating back into its lamp in a puff of lavender smoke.

In a rage, she threw the lamp into the ocean.

Nothing interesting ever happened to them again.


2003-10-14 - Last Haiku
2003-10-09 - Don't Cry Out Loud
2003-10-09 - Sit Down, You're Making Me Nervous
2003-10-08 - I'm Sure Miss Thing, I'm Sure
2003-10-07 - Carbonated Water, Caramel Color, Aspartame

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