"Genie, I wish that you and Joseph were back in your rightful bodies."
Green smoke rose up around both Genie and Joseph, swapping their minds and placing them back where they belonged; Genie in her green costume with curly slippers and a curvy body and Joseph in his bigger, handsomer form. But Genie had only moments to revel, strangely, in being a woman again, for with the fifth wish made, she was forced once more into green smoke and swirled like a cloud into her lamp which Mrs. Harrison had tucked away in her purse. Per the rules, Mrs. Harrison could receive no more wishes. And as Genie reformed inside, she had to wonder what was to become of her now. True, Mrs. Harrison had intimated that the lamp would go to either Joseph or Mary, but there was no guarantee of that happening.
Genie waited, and waited, feeling the way her lamp juggled and moved on the outside, making it hard for her to stand inside. Time seemed to move slowly now, and Genie couldn't tell why. She never could get a firm grip on the way time moved while she was in her lamp. Sometimes she felt like she was inside it for minutes while months had passed, other times hours went by inside while only seconds did outside. And until she was released, Genie had no way of knowing which was the truth.
But, as always happened, she felt a new Master's call, the lamp and its pillows receded away, and Genie came out to serve once again. But to serve who?
