Magical Interlude
"Ye found me pot o'gold, Colleen. 'Tis only fittin' I give you three wishes in exchange."
"Hey, listen, little green dude. I found the gold. I'm keeping the gold. It's real and wishes always turn out bad with you Leprechauns. You're tricksters and my name isn't Colleen, it's Agnes."
"Agnes, me lass — "
"No. No wishes for me, Buddy. I had enough of that when I was a kid. Life's a bitch. The earth is being destroyed by industrial pollutiion. Rain forests are decimated. War still exists, although they say the Powers That Be have decided not to annihilate us in a nuclear holocaust. People are starving. Children are dying. AIDs is killing people like flies." Agnes sighed morosely and sank down on the dewy, emerald grass."Hell, even the gold in that pot wouldn't be enough to save the world. Keep it, tiny man. World's problems can't be solved so easily."
"Ah, lass, 'tisn't so easy. I got me rules to follow, don't ye ken? Iffen ye won't accept the wishes, I got to take ye to fairy land with me."
"Great. Take me away. One less person to fight the good fight. What happens to fairyland if the world dies?"
"It dies too."
"See? You're in the same boat as me."
"Ye kin use yer wishes for good, lass."
"Wishes won't put everything right and keep it that way. Other people will make wishes and the mess will get worse."
"Yer depressin' me, lass."
"Can I use my wishes for hope? Give us all a triple dose of hope?"
"Aye. 'Tis a right unusual lass ye are to be sure, Agnes."
"Well, leprechaun, here goes. I wish trebly for hope for all of us."
"Granted. An' there won't be nae tricks on that. Ye have my word."
Agnes blinked.
The leprechaun was gone.
As the sky lightened, became dawn, the sunrise was breath-takingly beautiful.
Agnes began the long
walk
home, smiling just slightly, perhaps there was hope, after all.
Three Wishes
"Three wishes, eh?"
"Yes, Mistress. No more, no less."
"Can't wish for
morewishes?"
"Exactly."
"Unfair. What else?"
"Pardon, Mistress?"
"What other limitations are there?"
"None, Mistress."
"I could bring John Lennon back from the dead or make Brad Pitt fall in love with me?"
"Well . . . no, Mistress."
"Just as I thought. More rules. Should have known. No thank you."
"Mistress?"
"No. I decline. A negative response. Not interested. Wishes never did any good for any one."
"But, Mistress — "
"Peddle your wishes some where else, Genie-Boy. Vamoose. Hit the road."
"Mistress —"
"Okay, you want a wish? I wish there was no such thing as wishes or Genies."
And then, there
wasn't
and the world has been a dreary, unmagical place ever since.
