Free Wishing in the Wings by Mindy Klasky

necessary here, though.” When I merely stared, stunned into submission by all the jargon, Teel dusted off her hands. “Of course, the actual contract language is a little more complex, but those are the general ideas that we covered in our break-out session at MAGIC.”
    I was beginning to gain a little more respect for the administrative nightmare that must have taken place at that conference. I sighed. Bottom line, if most wishes could be granted in less than a day, and my climate change wish would take six and half centuries, give or take… “Okay,” I said. “Forget about global warming.”
    “Thank you.” Teel nodded firmly. “Do you want to try something a little more manageable?”
    I chewed on my lip. Money. That was the root of all my problems. If I wished for enough money, I could pay back the Mercer, buy myself a condo, replace all of my possessions, and guarantee that I’d have a diet more satisfying than flash-fried noodles in over-salted broth.
    But money would get Dean off the hook.
    Sure, the cops would still track him down. They’d arrest him. He’d go to trial. But any lawyer worth his astronomical hourly rate would get Dean off if no one could prove any lasting financial impact from his misdeeds. I didn’t want to do anything to help that lying, cheating, sack of…
    I cut my mental tirade short. For now, I’d use my wishes to take care of myself. Of my immediate problems.
    “Okay, then. I need a place to live.” I started to suggest a rent-controlled apartment, the Holy Grail of Manhattan tenants, but I could be a little more extravagant than that, couldn’t I? I mean, genies had to have some way of covering up their actions, right? Teel had to have some secret magic that would make everyone forget that I’d been terrified and homeless only an hour before.
    I steeled myself and elaborated: “A condo.” No negative reaction from the genie, so I must still be on track. “Two bedrooms? And an actual kitchen, not just a galley?” She still wasn’t saying anything, wasn’t shutting me down. I decided to push for even more. After all, this was one of my wishes, one of the four total. If I could have asked Teel to invest centuries managing climate change, I could certainly elaborate a little bit on my new home. Couldn’t I? “And could it have a view of the river? And a doorman? And, um, two bathrooms, do I have to specify that?”
    “I get the idea,” Teel said dryly. “You have to phrase your request in the form of a wish.”
    I felt like I was a contestant on some obscure new game show. Any moment, there would be flashing lights and blaring music, and a secret studio audience would be revealed behind a curtain. “You’re kidding, right?”
    “Do I look like the type of genie who kids?”
    Not with that perfect haircut. Not with those pumps and that expertly tailored suit.
    I took a deep breath and said, “I wish that I had a condo with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a view of the river, all in a doorman building.” I barely remembered to exhale, as I waited to see what Teel would do.
    She nodded once, and then raised perfectly shaped fingers to her right earlobe. Flawless nail polish highlighted her pearl earring. I watched, hypnotized, as my genie’s tattooed flames caught the light. “As you wish,” she enunciated, as if she were speaking to a judge, a jury, and a courtroom full of spectators. Then, she tugged at her ear twice, hard enough that I winced in reaction.
    An electric shock jolted through my body, stronger even than the current I had felt when Teel had manifested from the lamp. My lungs were frozen between breathing and coughing; my heart bucked in my chest as if I were a patient in some lousy television medical drama. The jagged electricity hurt, and tears sprang to my eyes.
    And then all of the jangling power dissipated, flowing into the space around me as harmlessly as wine pouring from a bottle. Teel nodded, a satisfied smile turning the