The Third Wish

by Simon Archer

  “Exactly what is funny about me getting my bones broken by an umbrella?” I asked unamused.

  The girls were laughing so hard they couldn’t speak to answer me. While they continued their barrage of giggles, I started checking my arm and shoulder for bruising. It was then I noticed I was soaked. I had dropped my umbrella while being assaulted and was now standing unprotected in the rain. Finally, Andi caught her breath and could answer.

  “Didn’t go how you expected?” she asked sarcastically, still laughing.

  “I’d say not,” I snapped at her. “Why didn’t it work on her?”

  “Oh, it worked!” Vila piped in.

  “Then why did she treat me like she was a mama bear protecting her cub?” I was getting more indignant about the encounter as the seconds ticked by.

  “You’ll see,” Andi said with one last giggle. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. I was instantly transported to a different sidewalk. This one was free of rain, and I was facing an old, rickety house that looked as though it hadn’t been inhabited in years.

  “Where are we now?” I asked, still peeved about the old lady and the lack of answers from the girls.

  “This is Wickery House,” Andi started. “It has recently been put on the market for sale.”

  “Is it even livable? It looks like they could condemn it at any moment,” I commented.

  “It has solid bones, regardless of how run-down it looks,” Vila answered me. “That is not the issue.”

  “What’s the problem, then?” I couldn’t think of a single reason anyone would buy that house unless they planned on scrapping it and putting up a new structure.

  “The house is haunted,” Vila said matter-of-factly.

  “Haunted? Haunted how?” I was seriously getting frustrated with having to pull every detail out of the girls.

  “There were three families murdered inside during a neighborhood game night,” Andi explained. “The crime was never solved, and the spirits never moved on. They’ve gotten angrier over the years, but nobody has taken much notice because the house has sat empty for so long.”

  “So, you mean to say the house is uninhabitable due to angry ghosts?” I asked for clarification.

  “Exactly,” Vila answered. “The man who owns it currently, the one trying to sell it needs to be stopped. He needs to tear the house down to release the spirits, and then he can sell the land.”

  “Okay,” I replied. “Where do I find this man?”

  The girls turned and looked at the front door of the house just as a squatty-looking man in a grey suit walked out the door with a young couple who looked terrified. The couple walked away quickly without a word, and I saw the realtor’s shoulders slump as he watched them go. I looked back at the girls.

  “Fortunately, he’s had a difficult time selling because the spirits keep messing with people he shows the house to,” Andi informed me. “One day, though, someone will buy it, and there could be deadly consequences.”

  “I get it. Stop the realtor from selling. Can do,” I told her. This task didn’t have a personal connection the way the scenario with the old lady did. This was about a house and people possibly getting hurt, not family betrayal, so I felt much more confident as I approached the realtor.

  “Excuse me,” I called out. The man looked up and straightened himself slightly.

  “Yes?” he replied.

  “Do you own this house?” I asked, in order to strike up a conversation.

  The man’s eyes lit up. “As a matter of fact, I do. Are you in the market?” He scurried over to me and shoved his hand out to shake mine. It was like being pounced on by a hungry beetle.

  “Actually, I had some information about this house that may change your selling strategy a bit. It’s rather important,” I told him. I kept my tone serious but not solemn.

  “Oh? What information?” he asked, suddenly standoffish. He looked me in the eyes, and I saw my chance.

  “The house is really, actually haunted,” I started. “If you sell it and a family moves in, the family will end up getting hurt. The only way to get rid of the danger is to tear the house down. Then you can sell the property.” I took a step back as the same blank look crossed his eyes that I’d seen on the old lady. When the man’s gaze focused again, he looked up at me and smiled.

  “I knew it!” he cried out, clapping his hands loudly. “Nobody has ever believed me, but I knew the place was really haunted!” He started dancing around like he’d just received the best news of his life.

  “You seem awfully happy about having to tear the house down,” I commented, curious at his behavior.

  “Tear it down? Why on earth would I tear it down?” the realtor shouted as though I was utterly ridiculous. I cocked my head to the side and ran through our conversation in my head to see if I was missing something.

  “You have to tear it down to keep anyone from buying it, and ending up hurt,” I reminded him.

  “Oh, posh! I’m not selling this place!” he said. “I’m pulling it off the market today!”

  Finally, it seemed I was getting through to him. “What will you do with the property?” I asked with the intent of wrapping up our conversation.

  “I’m going to set up the best haunted house tour this city has ever seen!” he yelled, clapping again.

  My jaw hit the ground. Once again, I reviewed our conversation. At no point was I unclear about the danger within the house.

  “You can’t do that!” I shouted over his cheering. He stopped and looked up at me.

  “I sure as hell can!” The man’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. “I am going to make a fortune off the very thing that has kept this money pit hanging around my neck all these years. People will come from miles away to see it, and there is no way some random stranger is going to stop me! Get off my property NOW!” He put his head down and reminded me of a bull about to charge, as his face turned red with rage.

  I slowly backed away, seeing that there would be absolutely no reasoning with him. He didn’t calm down until I was back out on the sidewalk with Andi and Vila.

  “That went well,” Vila said sarcastically, looking at her nails as though the entire situation bored her.

  “What is wrong with that guy?” I asked, flustered. “It’s as though he has a split personality and no hearing ability. People are going to get hurt.”

  “Yep,” Andi agreed. I stared at both of them.

  “What am I missing?” I asked, my own anger starting to well up.

  “Almost done,” Vila said suddenly. She snapped her fingers, and once again, I found myself standing outside a random gas station.

  “What now?” I couldn’t hide my irritation.

  “Tell the next person who walks in the door the winning lottery numbers,” Andi instructed me.

  “I don’t know the winning numbers,” I pointed out.

  “Don’t worry about that. Whatever numbers you say will be the winners,” she responded.

  “Fine,” I spat out. I wanted an explanation for the craziness I’d seen, and if I had to give a stranger some numbers to get those answers, I figured I’d get it over with quickly. Just then, a young couple got out of their car and headed for the doors to the station. I met them just before they reached the door.

  “Excuse me,” I said politely.

  They stopped and looked me up and down. When they’d seemed to determine I wasn’t a beggar, they responded.

  “Yes?” the man said. He looked me in the eye, and I saw my opportunity to get my truth magic to work.

  “This may sound a little out there,” I started. “I have today’s winning lottery numbers, and I’d like to give them to you.”

  I watched their faces for a reaction but got none. They just stood there.

  “Did you hear me?” I asked. The couple finally turned their heads to look at each other before bursting out in hysterical laughter.

  “We heard you, alright,” they told me between howls. “Maybe you should use those wi
nning numbers for yourself. Then you could afford the mental institution you need to be in!”

  I stepped back. That time I had no desire to defend myself further. It was very apparent to me that further explanation wouldn’t be effective, anyway. I returned to Andi and Vila, who were once again laughing. I took a moment and played the scene through my mind, and started laughing too. I guess it was pretty ridiculous to have someone tell you that you can win the lottery and believe them.

  “I’m not sure what the catch is with all this, but it very apparently doesn’t work,” I told the girls. “I’m done.”

  “We figured you would be,” Vila replied, still giggling.

  “Look, it’s not you,” Andi said. “It is them, well, people in general. They don’t want change unless they choose it for themselves. Even when they see the truth, it isn’t their truth. Truth requires belief, and while you can force truth on people, you can’t force belief.”

  I thought about her evaluation of my failed attempts, and it made sense. I could think of a couple of situations in my life where I’d try to justify bad news if someone told me about it.

  “Point taken,” I replied. “Let’s go home.” The girls each put a hand on my shoulders again, squeezed, and then we were sitting at the island in the kitchen at my house once again.

  “That was quick,” Lottie said, looking surprised.

  “Not quick enough,” I told her.

  She lowered her brow and looked at me with concern. “Is everything alright?” she asked quietly.

  I nodded my head and took hold of her hand.

  “Yes, it’s fine. I’ll be calling a press conference tomorrow, though. If I can’t make people see the truth, I’ll do the next best thing.” I grinned. “I’ll broadcast it to them!”

  14

  Jack was on a video call with me the next day, shortly before the press conference I’d called, to discuss what facts we would reveal about the program. We were looking for the best way to discredit Tobin’s claims of irresponsible technological use in the most effective manner possible.

  “How about a ‘what if’ scenario?” Jack asked. “Pick a weather disaster on the island and illustrate how things would be different if we predicted it and prepared better.”

  “That’s a great idea except that the last really horrific weather disaster here was in the fifties. Most hurricanes either miss this place or land as tropical depressions,” I informed him. “There has to be something bigger that will really show them that what we are doing is designed to be helpful.”

  “How many people on the island were born on the island?” Jack asked.

  “That’s a good question. In our area, it doesn’t seem like many natives stick around. Why do you ask?” I had an idea where Jack was going.

  “Perhaps we appeal to their love of family?” Jack suggested. “Just because the island doesn’t suffer the tropical dangers the same way others do, doesn’t mean that the locals can’t sympathize with friends and family who have lost everything due to an incorrectly, or completely unpredicted weather event.”

  “I think that is our best play here,” I told him. “This Tobin guy has the entire area thinking I am trying to rot kids’ brains with AI games and bring box store commerce here. I need to show them that we aren’t about any of that, but we can’t be defensive about it. I think showing our very obvious remote work setup should at least end the concern of needing huge shopping centers.”

  I rolled my eyes, and Jack laughed.

  “Take a breath, Anders,” he told me. “This press conference is just designed to make your life a little easier. In the end, if they don’t believe you, you still have a job, just no friends that live close by.”

  I looked up at my computer screen and shot Jack a dirty look. “You think you are hilarious, don’t you?” I replied shortly.

  “I find myself amusing, yes.” He shot a smile my way and leaned back in his chair. “So, when are Lorraine and I headed down there?”

  “How about you come today? Then you could stand in front of the buzzing reporters with me,” I said sarcastically.

  “Ha. Ha,” Jack mocked. “No, really. When?”

  “Now that we have the housewarming party over, when would you like to come down? We are totally open. Just remember you have to come back for the wedding, so don’t get too sick of the place.” I shrugged my shoulders at Jack.

  “Not a chance. I’ll talk to Lorraine, and we can chat after the fun you get to have here in just a bit,” Jack replied.

  “Honestly, I’m not worried so much about the press, or even that Tobin is trying to ruin my reputation for some unknown reason. It’s the fact that the tech we are designing is getting a bad name before we’ve even had a chance to present what it does,” I told Jack.

  “I get it, kid. Nobody has seen anything like it, and they can’t see it until we are ready to unveil it. Just remember that,” he reminded me. If another tech company even got a whiff of what we were working on, the race would be on to duplicate it before we even launched it to the public.

  “No letting the cat out of the bag, I get it!” I replied, acting like a frustrated teenager.

  Jack smirked and glanced at his watch. “Time for you to be going,” he said sympathetically. “I can’t get the channel up here, so call me when it’s over.”

  “You’ve got it,” I replied.

  Jack hung up without saying goodbye, as was his habit. I sat back in my chair and folded my hands behind my head. There was very little I could actually say about the program during the press conference, but I knew there had to be a way to let the people know that the program was important without giving them details. I didn’t want them to be mistaken about their impression of 14Tech. That is when it hit me: mistakes. We designed the program to use human error as one of the baselines for its advanced prediction methods. Every person on the planet could relate to human error. I’d finally found my avenue of approach for the press conference.

  I pushed my chair back and stood up. I had just enough time before Glen should arrive to make myself a sandwich and eat it. The girls had offered to make me breakfast earlier, but I hadn’t been hungry. Coming up with a plan to get this Tobin guy off our backs preoccupied me. After talking to Jack, however, I felt like I hadn’t eaten in a year. I headed out of my office and down the stairs and made my way to the kitchen. Andi was standing at the island alone.

  “Hey there. Where is everybody?” I asked her.

  “Lottie is at work, Vila is in the tub,” she answered promptly. Vila had developed a bathtub habit that nobody understood. She’d spend hours lying around in a bubble bath.

  “You’d think with a pool, hot tub, and ocean, she’d find anywhere other than a bathtub to hang out in the water,” I laughed. I walked around the island and opened the refrigerator.

  “What are you doing?” Andi’s voice had an edge to it that made me feel like I had done something terribly wrong but had no idea what it was.

  “Making a sandwich,” I replied timidly, looking over my shoulder at her.

  “Oh, no, you aren’t!” she disagreed. “You already kept us from making you breakfast. You are crazy if you think you’re going to deprive us of making you lunch too!” She was all in a huff, and it really was quite cute.

  “You’re the boss,” I replied, and stepped aside as she came whisking over to the fridge. She was floating today, and her long trail of mist wrapped around my leg as she passed by.

  “Yes! When it comes to taking care of you, you have three bosses! Better get used to it!” she spouted out haughtily. I rolled my eyes at her and sat on one of the nearby stools while she went about making me a sandwich. When she finished, I ate as she cleaned up and thought about the speech I would be giving. Within twenty minutes, Glen was opening a car door to take me to the press conference.

  Standing in front of a room of lights and microphones was never my favorite thing to do. I liked to leave that to Jack or anyone else if I had the choice. In this case, I didn’t h
ave a choice. Lottie offered to stand up with me, but I didn’t want her business to get dragged any closer to the issue than it already had, so I’d told her to just go to work. So, there I was, blaring lights in my face, and a room full of nosey journalists. The galley lights dimmed, and I knew it was time for me to give my speech. I took a step forward and made sure I adjusted the microphone properly before starting.

  “Good afternoon, my name is Bennett Anders. I am the co-owner of 14Tech and a new resident in your lovely city. I’ve had the good fortune of meeting many of you in person, but for those who I have not met, I look forward to doing so.” I looked out over the crowd of cameras and microphones. The lights in my eyes made it hard to see, so I continued.

  “I thank you for taking time out of your day to be here. I felt there was a great misunderstanding that occurred the other day with regard to the local news’ opinion of my newest technological program, my intentions for my work here in Barbados, and my ethics as a business owner. I am here to clear that misunderstanding up.” I heard my own voice get louder and more commanding the longer I spoke into the microphone. An odd sense of power surged through me as I continued.

  “14Tech operates in Barbados on a one-hundred percent remote basis, for those of you who are concerned that a large tech company in your city means large commerce moving in. If you saw my office, which is down the hall from my bedroom, you’d see real quick how there is zero threat of any sort of ‘box store takeover.’” I had balanced the humor and sarcasm in my voice perfectly. A small murmur of laughter whirred throughout the room.

  “Now that you all know I don’t want to make a concrete jungle out of this, our city, I have a question for you,” I started. “How many of you, or your kids, play video games?” I put my hand up to shield my eyes from the bright lights and get an idea of how many people were raising their hands. Most of the room, it looked like.

  “Ah, yes,” I said. “We all know a gamer, don’t we? I have another question for you. How many of you know of a game that learns what your preferences are, as a gamer, and modifies the game to make it more personalized to you?”