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There are two ways you can introduce a

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character. They can be static

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or they can be on the move. Um, and it

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can be really fun if you want to meet

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somebody, if you want to encounter

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somebody, if you're bringing on a

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character to just throw them into an

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unfamiliar setting.

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um to make the reader do a lot of the

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work, but by the same token,

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you're making people immediately have to

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figure out what's going on. Um

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here we go. This is this is a book

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called Trigger Warning, and it contains

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in it a short story that I wrote.

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um a sort of a a set of 12

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short stories uh called a calendar of

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tales. Here's the October tale. And I'll

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go through the whole thing cuz it's

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fairly short and it does a whole bunch

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of stuff with character and then I'll

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tell you what I did and I'll tell you

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why I did it. That feels good, I said,

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and I stretched my neck to get out the

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last of the cramp.

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It didn't just feel good, it felt great,

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actually. I'd been squashed up inside

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that lamp for so long. You start to

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think that nobody's ever going to rub it

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again.

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You're a genie, said the young lady with

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the polishing cloth in her hand. I am.

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You're a smart girl, Tootsz. What gave

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me away? The appearing in a puff of

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smoke, she said. And you look like a

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genie. You've got the turban and the

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pointy shoes.

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I folded my arms and blinked. Now I was

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wearing blue jeans, gray sneakers, and a

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faded gray sweater, the male uniform of

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this time in this place. I raised a hand

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to my forehead, and I bowed deeply. I am

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the genie of the lamp, I told her.

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Rejoice, oh fortunate one. I have it in

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my power to grant you three wishes. And

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don't try the I wish for more wishes

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thing. I won't play and you'll lose a

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wish. Right, go for it. I folded my arms

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again. "No," she said. "I mean, thanks

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and all that, but it's fine. I'm good."

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"Honey," I said. "Toots, sweetie,

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perhaps you misheard me. I'm a genie and

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the three wishes. We're talking anything

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you want. You ever dreamed of flying? I

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can give you wings. You want to be

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wealthy, richer than Cus? You want

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power? Just say it. Three wishes,

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whatever you want." Like I said, she

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said, "Thanks. I'm fine. Would you like

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something to drink? You must be parched

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after spending so much time in that

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lamp. Wine, water, tea. Uh, actually,

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now she came to mention it. I was

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thirsty. Do you have any mint tea? She

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made me some mint tea in a teapot that

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was almost a twin to the lamp in which

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I'd spent the greater part of the last

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thousand years.

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Thank you for the tea. No problem.

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But I don't get it. Everyone I've ever

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met, they start asking for things. A

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fancy house, a herm of gorgeous women.

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Not that you'd want that, of course. I

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might, she said. You can't just make

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assumptions about people. Oh, and don't

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call me Tots or sweetie or any of those

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things. My name's Hazel. Ah, I

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understood. You want a beautiful woman,

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then? My apologies. You have but to

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wish. I folded my arms. No, she said.

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I'm good. No wishes. How's the tea?

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I told her that the mint tea was the

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finest I had ever tasted. She asked me

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when I had started feeling a need to

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grant people's wishes and whether I felt

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a desperate need to please. She asked

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about my mother and I told her that she

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could not judge me as she would judge

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mortals for I was a jin powerful and

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wise, magical and mysterious.

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She asked me if I liked hummus. And when

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I said that I did, she toasted a pter

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bread and sliced it up for me to dip

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into the hummus.

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I dipped my bread slices into the hummus

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and ate it with delight.

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The hummus gave me an idea.

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Just make a wish, I said helpfully. And

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I could have a meal fit for a sultan

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brought into you. Each dish would be

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finer than the one before and all served

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upon golden plates, and you could keep

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the plates afterwards. It's good," she

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said with a smile. "Would you like to go

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for a walk?"

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We walked together through the town. It

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felt good to stretch my legs after so

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many years in the lamp. We wound up in a

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public park, sitting on a bench by a

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lake. It was warm but gusty, and the

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autumn leaves fell in flurries each time

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the wind blew.

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I told Hazel about my youth as a jin, of

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how we used to eavesdrop on the angels

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and how they would throw comets at us if

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they spied us listening. I told her of

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the bad days of the Jin wars and how

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King Sullyan had imprisoned us inside

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hollow objects, bottles, lamps, clay

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pots, that kind of thing. She told me of

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her parents who were both killed in the

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same plane crash and who had left her

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the house. She told me of her job

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illustrating children's books, a job she

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had backed into accidentally at the

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point she realized she would never be a

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really competent medical illustrator,

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and of how happy she became whenever she

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was sent a new book to illustrate. She

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told me she taught life drawing to

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adults at the local community college

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one evening a week. I saw no obvious

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flaw in her life, no hole that she could

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fill by wishing, save one.

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Your life is good, I told her. But you

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have no one to share it with. Wish and I

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will bring you the perfect man or or

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woman, a film star, a rich person. No

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need. I'm good, she said. We walked back

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to her house, past houses dressed for

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Halloween. This is not right, I told

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her. People always want things. Not me.

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I've got everything I need.

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Then what do I do?

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She thought for a moment. Then she

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pointed at her front yard. Can you rake

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the leaves?

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Is that your wish? Nope. Just something

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you could do while I'm getting our

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dinner ready.

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I rad the leaves into a heap by the

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hedge to stop the wind from blowing it

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apart. After dinner, I washed up the

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dishes. I spent the night in Hazel's

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spare bedroom.

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It wasn't that she didn't want help. She

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let me help. I ran errands for her,

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picked up art supplies and groceries. On

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days she had been painting for a long

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time. She let me rub her neck and

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shoulders. I have good, firm hands.

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Shortly before Thanksgiving, I moved out

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of the spare bedroom across the hall

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into the main bedroom and Hazel's bed. I

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watched her face this morning as she

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slept. I stared at the shapes her lips

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make when she sleeps. The creeping

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sunlight touched her face and she opened

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her eyes and stared at me and she

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smiled. "You know what? I never asked,"

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she said. "Is what about you? What would

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you wish for if I asked what your three

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wishes were?"

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I thought for a moment. I put my arm

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around her and she snuggled her head

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into my shoulder. "It's okay," I told

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her. "I'm good."

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So, we only have two people in that

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story. We have the genie, who never gets

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a name, and we have Hazel, who doesn't

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get a name until about halfway through

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the story.

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What's fun with this

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is we start

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literally with a bang. We start with a

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this feels good and him stretching his

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neck. That's a very human moment. We

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don't know who our narrator is.

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But he's stretching his neck to get out

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the cramp.

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And then he says, "It didn't just feel

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good. It felt great. I've been squashed

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up inside that lamp for so long. You

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start to think that nobody's ever going

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to rub it again. And the next line, of

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course, which lands lands that idea for

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anybody who's going, "Hang on, this is

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is you're a genie," said the young lady

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with the polishing cloth in her hand.

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Now we have two characters.

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We don't know anything about them other

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than one is a genie and one is the young

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lady who was just set him free.

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His reply is I am you're a smart girl

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tootss. What gave me away?

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And you're going that Tootsz is kind of

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a bit of a weird little put down. He's

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um and it's also a very odd thing for a

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genie to say.

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So,

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he's patronizing.

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He's uh of another time and hasn't quite

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got up to date with with the language.

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And he feels like a genie

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in my mind, although obviously he's

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probably been in that lamp um for, let's

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say, he's been, you know, imprisoned in

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there for many thousands of years.

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I suspect that probably the last time he

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came out

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and did wishes was probably the 1940s.

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1930s or 40s. So he's uh he he's a mass

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of 1930s and 40s attitudes. And that

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that little tootss which is just so

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completely not of its time and not of

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its place kind of tells you that

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her reply is the appearing in a puff of

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smoke. She said and you look like a

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genie. You've got the turban and the

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pointy shoes and we already know that

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she is practical and sensible.

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And it's she gives the absolutely

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practical sensible reply. He transforms

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himself.

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He does a full speech. He gets very

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formal and does the I am the genie of

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the lamp. Rejoice, oh fortunate one. I

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have it in my power to grant you three

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wishes. And then

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undercuts it somewhat with his little

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speech about don't don't do the I wish

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for more wishes thing, but it's right.

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Go. And she says, "No, I mean thanks and

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all that, but it's fine. I'm good." And

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now we suddenly have a plot. We don't

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just have two characters

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because we have something that we've

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never seen before. We have a genie

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who is prepared to grant somebody three

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wishes and somebody saying,

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"I'm good. It's okay." And that for me

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was the

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that was the the the little bit of grit

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that I tried to build a small pearl

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around. What happens if a genie shows up

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and tries to grant three wishes to

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somebody who's just fine? They're okay.

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I don't and I'm like I don't ever

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remember seeing that ever as a scenario

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as a genie scenario. That's there are

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lots and lots of genie stories. Most of

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them you kind of feel have been done but

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that one

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hasn't been done. So that might be

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really fun to do.

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And now they start to become people.

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And you get to watch them bump into each

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other. You get to watch her put him in

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his place, puncture his preconceptions.

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Um, you know, when when he says a herm

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of gorgeous women, not that you'd want

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that, of course. And she says, "I might.

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You can't just make assumptions about

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people." Oh, and don't call me Tots or

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sweetie or any of those things. My name

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is Hazel. And you feel like right, she's

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just very gently and very kindly put him

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in his place and he is going to have

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things to learn through the story.

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Long ago, I read an essay by Robert

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Heinline

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where he said that there were basically

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three stories. He said there was the

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little tor. Somebody starts off poor and

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gets rich and famous and important.

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There was boy meets girl with all of the

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things that can go wrong in that. Boy

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can lose girl, boy can gain girl, boy

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all of the the romance stories said and

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there's a man learns a lesson

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and the story in which somebody gets to

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learn better, somebody gets to change

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their mind, somebody gets to see the

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world differently.

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um is a beautiful shape for a story and

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it's the one that isn't done I think

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enough and is one that I always like

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to fall back on. The joy of this story

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is now

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even if you don't know it and even if it

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is I guess very simplistically and very

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simply a boy meets girl story. It's

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absolutely a story about somebody

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learning a lesson.

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And

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from there,

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his attempts to try and get her to make

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a wish, you get to see, okay, she is

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actually content. Now, we have two

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people and one of them is completely in

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her element and the other is absolutely

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out of his element. Okay, he's not going

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to grant three wishes and return to the

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lamp. Well, what's he going to do?

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And the idea of just putting him in the

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mundanest possible situation

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actually at that point you're making the

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mundane

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feel exotic and magical by his presence

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and you're making him feel a lot more

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interesting because he is a fish out of

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water. A a wish-granting genie in an

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Arabian Nights world

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um is just one more piece of set

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decoration. A wish-ranting genie with no

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wishes to grant wandering around a small

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American town shortly before Halloween

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um is an odd thing that doesn't quite

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resolve. It's like a little musical

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passage that you need to keep reading

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because you want to know how this is

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going to end. Where does this end? And

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of course, it ends with him moving in

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with her with him eventually moving in

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as we we know the one thing that she is

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missing is somebody to love. And now he

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is becoming that person without actually

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granting her a wish.

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And you also realize that

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this person who we met at the beginning

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who was kind of full of himself,

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full of attitude,

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very conscious of his status, but kind

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of insecure has also changed when we get

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right to the end when she says, "You

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know what I never asked?" She says, "Is

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what about you? What would you wish for

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if I asked what your three wishes were?"

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I thought for a moment. I put my arm

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around her and she snuggled her head

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into my shoulder. It's okay, I told her.

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I'm good. And that's the moment that you

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realize that the genie's changed, too.