Tell Me What You Get When You Get What You Got

Tell Me What You Get When You Get What You Got

The genie waited for my reply. I had one wish remaining.

I used the first wish to wish for ten billion dollars. The genie said, “Granted.” He then explained the collective wealth, as quantitatively defined on paper, was in excess of the amount I wished for.

“So I do not get the money?” I inquired, already foreseeing the answer.

“You did not indicate in your wish that the money was to be for you. You only wished for it to be.”

I have a smart ash genie on my hands.

“OK then (I inquired tepidly), I wish to own all of New York City, my home town.”

“Granted.” It was all he had to say. In retrospect, I wish he had not.

In an instant, I was whisked away to the New York City criminal court of Lower Manhattan to be arraigned by the judge (the genie) on the charges of tax evasion for all of the properties in my name. “How do you plead to these 2.7 million counts?”

Ok, I understand.

Time for the third wish.

For this one, I thought long and hard. I wanted something the genie could neither pervert nor distort. I wanted something unexpected.

And I told him so.

“I wish for . . “

And I did not finish.

The genie waited for me to finish. I waited for him to wait for me.

It’s not that I chose not to choose, for he would interpret that as a wish.

Perhaps, I wanted a stalemate. Perhaps, I wanted something more.

But what I got was not what I (originally) wanted, but it was more than I deserved.

The genie still waits to this day for closure.

Perhaps that is the best wish of all.