The Young Girl, the Salmon and the Genie

This was my entry for the Writers Weekly Summer 24-hour contest, which took place on the same day that grandson Brayden made his appearance into the world. I received an honorable mention for the story as did daughter, Danielle for her story "Something Special." July 15, 2012 was a fine day all around. The prompt for the story was the first paragraph ending with the words, "and she dropped her knife...

Growing up on a fishing boat docked in this small northwest coastal town brought stares from townspeople and jeers from classmates. She desperately wanted to escape but, with competitors driving down charter prices, she knew her dad would never be able to afford a replacement. As she sliced open the Salmon, her eyes widened and she dropped her knife for out of the belly of the fish rose a gentile giant of a genie dressed in a stylish white suit.

“Who are you?” the girl asked.

“Why I’m the genie, of course, come to grant your request. You do want something, don’t you?”

I suppose I do but—but aren’t you supposed to come out of a lamp?”

“And when was the last time you saw one of those. We genies weren’t going to fade into the sunset simply because humans discovered electricity—and for the record you didn’t discover electricity. Tom Edison needed a filament and a genie was nice enough to grant his request.

“You’re dressing better than I remember from the story books.”

“Enough about me, already.”

“So how many wishes do I get?”

“How many you need?”

“I don’t know but at least—”

“I was just messing with you. You get three wishes—no more, no less, just like everyone else. But I must warn you to choose your wishes carefully. I’m sure you are familiar with the story so make your wishes count.”

Having said that he nevertheless waited for her first wish expecting full-well, with centuries of wish granting experience behind him, that her first wish would be to be doing something—anything—else, somewhere—anywhere—else, followed by a second wish to go back to the way things were when the first wish didn’t work out, at which point, in a fit of frustration, she would wish that she never made the first wish in the first place.

At this point he would pack his suitcase and move on to the next poor soul.

Instead she simply said, “I wish we had better weather up here.”

It caught him off guard but he quickly recovered his genie composure and was able to give her small town a climate not unlike what one might find in Bermuda on a sunny day. The winds settled, the ever-present damp chill in the air vanished and the crashing waves turned to sauna water that gently caressed the pure white sand.

People in the surrounding towns hardly knew what to make of it—a 20-mile stretch of Caribbean paradise on the edge of the Canadian border. But in time, the townsfolk ditched their Paul Bunyon garb and tough-it-out demeanor and traded them in for Hawaiian shirts, sandals and an attitude so laid back that they almost had to set their clocks ahead an hour. Then they learned how to make fancy drinks. In time, everyone began moving to New Haven by the Sea, which became the town’s official name.

Tourists from around the world also flocked to the town and so her second wish was to ask for a bigger boat for her dad and a full-time crew to man it.

The genie was astounded. Never, in a lifetime of granting wishes, had he ever met someone who was so unselfish. He fulfilled her second wish and in time, her dad bought two more boats on his own and hired an even bigger crew.

“You are quite a remarkable girl. Usually someone wishes for gold or silver only to discover that neither assures true happiness. Or they wish a curse upon an enemy only to find that one can’t really be happy if someone else—even an enemy—is sad.

“Few people are really good at making wishes but you are different. I know you were unhappy because it was your most secret concerns that brought me to you in the first place. I know you had desires and yet every wish has been for someone else.”

“But it has worked out—for dad, my neighbors and for me, also.”

And did you know that would be the case?”

“I didn’t. But I couldn’t be happy if dad was unhappy; and now that he is happy, I still have one more wish for myself. That is plenty.”

“Before you make that wish I have but one more thing to tell you. As you might imagine, someone like myself has traveled the world over, seen and done everything, and knows probably better than most what the world really needs. If, per chance, a genie were to appear and grant me but one wish that wish would be for a leader such as you.

“Your country could really use someone like yourself—someone who put the needs of others first. Someone who saw their life getting better only if the lives of those around her got better. You young girl would make an excellent president.”

“You may be right, good genie, but as you yourself have pointed out, I am young and I am a girl.”

“And I am a genie or have you forgotten.

Hmmm, she thought. I really was unhappy here and dad does have all the workers he needs. And who wouldn’t want to be president. “I know I would,” she said.

No sooner had she spoken than the genie bade her farewell.

“Good bye, Ms President. And good luck.