[ WP ] A genie tells the story of the worst wish he 's ever granted .

( I love this prompt! ) =D PART ONE 
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 Genie's do n't keep regular schedules. Often by the end of a weekend, a genie's wish user has burned through the wishes and the Genie is free until it picks up the next job. And they **hate** being bothered when they are off the clock. That's why maybe on an overcast Monday, while storms stew and rain readies to rinse the nighttime blend of mousse and booze out of the pubs and headed for home, it might just be a good time to see a few genies in a casual setting. 
 
 There's this pub I know, a little nook in the wall called `` The Soggy Dwarves Beard.'' It's an antiquated kind of fresh. Real niche joint, a polarized lounge of this and that, ambiguous definition with not a lot of shrugs or `` meh'' moments, a quiet little place that leaves your judgement no inbetween: you either love it or you're confused. That's where I saw them last time. 
 
 Four of these guys, confident ethereal presences that walked and talked a penchant for poise and whose strut was cut of a ghostly gait that bounced more body than mine. Genies. They took a table near the back, out of sight and candlelit, a quiet corner earmarked for quiet corner affairs. But it's an overcast Monday, and save a tight-lipped barkeep and pensive prowler, their corner may as well have been a spotlight. 
 
 They all knew each other already, but context said it's been a while. I did n't get all their names, but I scratched a squib of descriptions for each of them. 
 
 The blue one was called Ali, his goatee seemed unnaturally dark. 
 The two green ones were pretty quiet, one wore bracers, the other a necklace, the necklaced one was Damon. 
 And the eyes of the red looked coffee fed, jaundiced with a healthy does of carmine coloured vein that blended with his crimson skin colour. 
 
 
 The red one spoke, `` I had the worst week. Probably the longest grant I've ever done. I picked her up last Tuesday, one woman, one wish, and I was n't done until 2 hours ago. She wanted shoes that were perfect for every situation... These teenagers'' 
 
 `` I only have ever had one teen before.'' Ali piped in, before taking a swig of ale. 
 
 `` What? How do you swing that? Smart genie, Ali, you are a smart genie... Anyway, her lamp was going to be found at a construction site, the job post description was,'Genie needed to occupy ancient buried relic found in modern world.' interviewer said it was a deserving soul gig for a construction worker. I figured it would a safe and simple job. Turns out she's 16, working weekends to help pay her divorced mom's mortgage.'' 
 
 `` What a trap. Did she at least ask for her parents to get back together first?'' 
 
 `` Yeah, of course she did, Ali. Her next try was shoes though. Truly torturous. That's the last time I take a gig from MAGE without an extremely comprehensive briefing... How in the hell have you only ever had one teenager?'' 
 
 `` After the first one I tell all my employers I wo n't do another. The first one was way too devastating on me... Let's see, it was right out of academy. So that would make it... 1870?'' Ali was interrupted by one of the green necklaced one. 
 
 `` Oh right! I forgot you're a newbie at this.'' 
 
 Ali and the red genie simultaneously gave the green the same annoyed look of a fed-up coworker, Ali responded derisively, `` Right. Thank you Damon. May I continue?... So anyway, right out of academy, I pick up a'lucky museum cataloger' job. An easy one, supposed to be right? But course it is n't, because of COURSE it is n't, you know what I mean? 
 
 
 `` So he's named Brock. I go through the whole'oh wow, I have n't seen outside the lamp for a million billion years! Yay!' deal. He gets his wish, I figured he'd want a dog or something fun, like maybe a magic prank for his friends. But nah, he wants his mom to find love.'' 
 
 `` Ahhh I hate these bullshit romantic types. These arm-chair fuckers that assume they are the best thing for some girl even though they ca n't win her over alone. Like you love somebody so much you want them to just magically be in love with you instead of giving them the chance to decide.'' 
 
 `` No, he said he wants his *mom* to fall in love.'' 
 
 `` Oh. That's strange.'' At this point red rested his hand on his chin, captured by the story just as I was. 
 
 
 `` So naturally I give him the run down, tell him I ca n't mess with free will or anything too obviously magical like giving immortality or change the past or yada yada, I tell him to ask for another wish. Turns out, he did n't want it to be magic *anyway*, and he does n't need the guy to reciprocate just for his mom to fall in love; this kid says, and this is an exact quote,'If my mom falls in love with a guy, he would n't even be able to resist.' 
 
 So again, I tell this kid that I ca n't just make somebody fall in love against their will, I ca n't make her love a guy.'' 
 
 The green one with bracers spoke up. `` Use the Abu-gina clause. If the wish is conditional to somebody's reaction, you may only allow for three failed attempts before the wish is terminated with no wish recompensation. He'd hear that, think about how quickly his reserved mother will turn down three guys and he'll be begging for a bicycle in no time.'' 
 
 `` Right. Abu-Gina. In hindsight maybe I should have, and maybe I could have convinced him changes the wish. But this was my first grant and I really wanted to make a name for myself. So being young and stupid, I figure, look, she only needs to fall in love and he's happy, so I think,'ah hell, I can do this myself.''' 
 
 `` No.'' Gasped the red one. 
 
 `` Yeah. I mean, he's a smart kid, he works in a museum, he knows that wishes are n't always what they seem, I just need her to fall in love with me, then I get to leave. His wish is fulfilled, employers are happy, all is right... 
 
 `` So I squeeze into a human disguise for the first time since 7th year of academy, and I've totally forgotten how small these guys are. So I'm just falling out of this thing, like I'm so bloated I was mistaken for a stagecoach, I kid you not.'' 
 
 The genie's all shared a laugh. 
 
 ( Continued )
