Photo by: J. Hardy Carroll
Tanya sat nearby, her camera rolling for the documentary. Jennylee the voodoo priestess plied her wares. The stand by the roadside was made with weather beaten wood. The words, “Potions for sale: 25 cents” were hand painted. The bottles were old, some antique. All of them appeared empty.
Despite the poor-looking nature of the stand, Jennylee drove to the spot in a brand new Jaguar. She wore jewelry that could buy houses. Tanya asked her how she became so rich.
“Stupid people,” explained Jennylee. “People never ask for what they really want. They ask for the worldly things around the edges, not for what matters.”
“What do people really want?”
“Love. It’s always love. They ask for money or a better body or sex, but what they’re looking for is love. They should just ask for that.”
A customer arrived.
“Do these work?” said the man.
“Every time,” grinned Jennylee.
“But the bottles are empty.”
“That’s ’cause they’re real magic. But now you be careful. Ask for what you really need!”
The man paid, tipped the bottle back and said, “I want money. A ton of it!”
Heavy bars of gold flew out of the sky and landed on his head, killing him instantly.
“Ohmigod, ohmigod!” shrieked Tanya, staring at the battered corpse. “What do we do?”
“Same thing I always do,” sighed Jennylee. “Take the stupid man’s money home!”
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Written for Sunday Photo Fiction: https://sundayphotofictioner.wordpress.com/2017/02/05/sunday-photo-fiction-february-5th-2017/
EagleAye
Momus News 
Now I see why she doesn’t ask for the money herself. This works out much better — for her, at least!
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What’s funny is she set out to help people find love. She did help some, but mostly she just ended up with greedy people’s money. And thus. she only charges a quarter to grant wishes. Oops. š
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Makes sense to me. The people with good intentions get what they deserve, practically free of charge. Subsidized by the people with greedy intentions, who also get what they deserve. š
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They want love, she says… the way these potions work, one might ask for love and immediately get attacked by a very horny gorilla.
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Haha! Well if they’re genuine about love they get the kind that lives in history books for centuries. Not genuine? They get the gorilla. š
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Who could possibly want to fake wanting love when they could get a ton of money?
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LOL what’s that old saying? “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Oooh boy š
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Haha! Yep. He got the money he wanted, and it hit him like a ton of bricks…gold ones. š Thanks Lyn! š
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she’s like the genie come out of the bottle to have some fun with unsuspecting humans – nice story but sobering too – we can’t have all we wish for – some may kill us if we are in the wrong place at the right time!
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That’s the trouble with wishes: there’s a cost for getting something so quickly and easily. Jennylee actually intends to help, but she can’t do much about the greed of people. She’s quite accidentally getting rich off of it!
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A nice little morality tale! š
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Glad you liked it. Thank you! š
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Dont know why I liked it!!
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I hope that’s a good thing?
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Some improbable/surreal scene, yet interesting! Thank you.
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Note to purchasers: Be specific. Ask for paper currency. š
Really liked this, it gave me my morning chuckle. I wrote a story something along this line once, in response to a “genie in a bottle” prompt. Like yours, it was a fun write. In “The Hazards of Wish Counseling” a teenage girl finds genie,
People don’t always appreciate being told the truth about what they really want — and what it’s going to take to KEEP it. Even love.
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That sounds like an awesome story. Do you still have it around? It is true that people don’t want the “real” truth, and they can be nasty if it’s offered. Thanks for your thoughts!
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You’ll find it here:
https://christinecomposes.com/2014/07/07/the-hazards-of-wish-counselling/
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I loved it! I left a comment there.
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A clever and magical scam.
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Works out well for Jennylee, doesn’t it. She stumbled upon it with the best of intentions. At least her business overhead costs are covered. š
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lol. That’s funny. Takes be careful what you wish for to a whole new level.
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Yep. And after making a wish, pay attention to the sky. š
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Very effective cost-benefit analysys, fictional style.
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Right. She’s quite the clever businesswoman to keep her overhead so low. š Thanks much! š
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A good cautionary tale. Poor guy.
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Yeah, he let his greed get the better of him. Oops. Thanks much! š
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Haha that is fantastic. I love it. Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. I remember when I was running a D&D game many years ago. They were taking refugees somewhere. There was about 1000 refugees they were protecting, and one of them managed to get themselves a wish.
“I wish we had enough for the refugees. That was easily transportable”
So they had all this food laying around and all the refugees ended up in these wire thigs with wheels and the runes “WALMART” written on the handles š
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Haha! That is so awesome. Sounds like one of the games I ran. I should’ve been playing in your games. Thanks Al! š
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Haha they were awesome. The players had me in hysterics so often with what they tried to do to get out of situations. And of course, when yu think you have covered every eventuality, they come along with the one you hadn’t thought of.
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I know the feeling. I always thought I had all the bases covered and then they would do something insane. Of course, I just went along with it. š
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Oh course š I saw something once that said “pay your opponent a complement, they will go mad wondering what you have planned. So one Sunday, I said “Susan, I really like your character” and she responded with “What are you going to do to him?” haha
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It’s really magic when you can get money through other people’s wishes. I thought maybe she’d make the body disappear. Creative use of the prompt and good writing, Eric. š — Suzanne
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Oh yeah, it really is magic. And it could work as advertised if only folks wished for what they “really” want. Trouble is, most folks don’t know what that is. *shrug* Thanks Suzanne! š
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