Jinny & Cooper: Curse of the Genie's Ring

by Tania Ingram

  ‘No fair!’ Tyrone snapped. ‘Why do you always get to make the decisions? You’re not the boss of me, you know!’ He threw the ring onto the floor and stomped out of the room.

  I reached down to pick it up, but Cooper stopped me.

  ‘Don’t touch it. It’s probably cursed!’ Cooper shuddered. ‘I hate genies. They’re deceitful creatures.’

  I left the ring on the floor. ‘Well, we’d better tell Miss Morgan it’s here,’ I said.

  Cooper and I went downstairs to where Miss Morgan had set the table for afternoon tea. There were three glasses of creamy banana smoothies, a pot of tea and four fresh finger buns.

  Tyrone glared at me as I sat down. I placed Cooper on the table and he immediately began nibbling on one of the buns.

  ‘Miss Morgan, we found a ring in the attic,’ I said.

  ‘I found a ring,’ Tyrone spat.

  Miss Morgan looked with surprise from me to Tyrone and back again.

  ‘You see, Tyrone rubbed the ring and a genie appeared,’ I continued.

  Miss Morgan jumped up from the table.

  ‘You didn’t make a wish, did you?’ she asked in a panic.

  ‘I stopped them,’ Cooper said.

  Miss Morgan placed her hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thank heavens for that. Quickly, show me where it is.’ Miss Morgan grabbed her oven gloves and we went back upstairs.

  But the ring was gone!

  I spun around to Tyrone.

  ‘Don’t look at me!’ he said, raising his palms towards me. ‘I’ve been downstairs. You saw me.’

  I wondered if there was any chance Tyrone could have snuck back into the room and stolen the ring in the time it took me to walk downstairs, but it seemed unlikely.

  ‘Perhaps the genie heard us say we were going to tell you and he decided to go somewhere else,’ I suggested hopefully.

  ‘I hope so,’ Miss Morgan replied, looking concerned. ‘Genies are clever and can put themselves places where they are guaranteed to be found. If the ring turns up anywhere else, you must tell me immediately. Don’t touch it. Understand?’

  Tyrone and I both nodded in agreement.

  ‘Genies are dangerous,’ she continued. ‘They use the goodness inside a person to grant their wishes. So with every wish, a little more of the person’s goodness is stolen. Eventually, all that’s left is darkness and greed.’

  I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. I had no idea that genies were dangerous. In my storybooks genies had always been kind, wish-granting creatures. I shuddered to think what would have happened if Tyrone had made a wish.

  ‘We understand,’ I said. ‘We won’t touch it.’

  Tyrone gave me the stink eye but said nothing.

  ‘In the meantime, I might get some help,’ Miss Morgan continued. ‘I have a friend who specialises in this kind of thing. If the ring is anywhere in this house, he’ll find it.’

  She waved us towards the door. ‘I’ll send him a message now and then we can finish afternoon tea.’

  ‘Woo-hoo!’ Cooper cheered. ‘That’s my wish granted.’

  Tyrone was mad at me for the rest of the afternoon. He refused to talk to me and pretended not to hear when I asked him to turn down the television. He didn’t even laugh when I told Miss Morgan our favourite knock-knock jokes.

  By bedtime, I was feeling pretty angry too. I closed the door to the guest bedroom we were sharing and glared at him.

  ‘You can’t stay mad at me forever,’ I growled.

  Tyrone ignored me and continued sorting through a pile of books on his bed.

  ‘You’re acting like a baby!’

  ‘I found the ring! I should have had a say!’ he spat at me.

  ‘If I left it up to you, you would have wished for a stupid skateboard and who knows what would have happened,’ I said.

  ‘You don’t know that!’ Tyrone replied. ‘I’m not a complete idiot, you know.’

  ‘I never said you were,’ I protested. ‘But Cooper said genies are dangerous and–’

  Tyrone cut me off. ‘Cooper said! Cooper said!’ he mocked. ‘All you ever do is listen to Cooper these days. You never listen to me any more. It’s like I’m not important now you’ve got Cooper.’

  ‘That’s not true!’ I said, my cheeks burning.

  ‘Is so!’

  Tyrone snatched a book from the pile and pushed the rest onto the floor with a loud crash.

  ‘Hey!’ I shouted.

  ‘Leave me alone, Jinny!’ He climbed into his bed and pulled the covers over his head.

  I grabbed my toothbrush from my bag and stormed out of the room. We’d had plenty of fights in the past, but Tyrone had never been this mad at me before.

  Cooper appeared on the basin as I furiously scrubbed my teeth. ‘You should never brush your teeth while you’re angry,’ he said. ‘Teeth don’t like it when you brush them hard like that. You might wake up tomorrow and find they’ve all gone to live with someone else. I once knew a girl that this happened to, you know.’

  I rinsed my mouth and spat into the basin.

  ‘Cooper, I really don’t need one of your stories right now,’ I said, slamming my toothbrush into its case.

  Cooper looked wounded and curled into a ball.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, stroking the wiry fur on his back. ‘I’m angry with Tyrone. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.’

  He uncurled himself.

  ‘Tyrone’s still mad with you, huh?’

  I nodded. ‘He thinks I boss him around all the time and never listen to him.’

  ‘You can be quite bossy,’ Cooper said.

  ‘Whose side are you on?’ I asked.

  ‘Neither,’ Cooper replied. ‘I make it a point never to get involved in family arguments.’

  ‘Even if you’re the cause?’

  Cooper chuckled. ‘Especially if I’m the cause.’

  I sighed and sat on the edge of the bath.

  ‘I’m just so frustrated with Tyrone. He’s such a pain sometimes, and when he acts like this I wish I never had a little brother.’

  ‘Don’t ever wish that!’ Cooper cried in alarm. ‘Especially when there could be a genie nearby.’

  I felt the blood drain from my face. ‘I didn’t really mean it! Cooper, you don’t think the genie heard, do you?’

  Panicked, I grabbed Cooper and ran back down the hallway to the guest bedroom. I could see a shape under the covers of Tyrone’s bed. It was perfectly still.

  ‘Tyrone?’ I said softly as I moved towards the bed.

  There was no answer.

  ‘Ty?’ My hand shook as I pulled back the covers.

  Tyrone was lying on his side with his eyes closed and his book tucked into his chest. He let out a small snore as he rolled onto his back.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and gently pulled the covers back up. I had almost made an awful mistake. What if the genie had heard me and granted my wish? What if Tyrone had never been born? All of the anger I’d felt earlier melted away.

  I climbed into my bed and placed Cooper onto the pillow next to me. ‘Do you really think the genie has gone?’ I asked him.

  Cooper ran his paw across his nose. ‘I wish I could say yes,’ he replied. ‘But you can never trust a genie.’

  That night I dreamt about the genie. In my dream he was whispering to me about wishes and rings but I couldn’t quite hear what he was saying. When I woke up, I was sticky with sweat. My skin tingled with a strange electrical sensation. I had the feeling that we hadn’t seen the last of the genie.

  The next morning Tyrone appeared to be in a better mood. He whistled happily as he got dressed and gave me a big smile as we sat down for breakfast. He was chatty and polite, sharing his food with Cooper and even letting me have the last pancake, which was almost unheard of.

  When he helped Miss Morgan clear the table without being asked, I was suspicious.

  ‘Why are you so happy all of a sudden?’ I asked when we’d gone back to our
room.

  ‘No reason,’ he said innocently. ‘I’m just feeling good today.’

  ‘But last night you wouldn’t even talk to me,’ I said.

  Tyrone shrugged but didn’t say anything.

  I eyed him closely. ‘Nothing else you want to tell me?’

  Tyrone shook his head. ‘Nope.’

  ‘And you’d let me know if you found the ring, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Yup.’

  I bit my lip and stared at Tyrone. Something about him seemed . . . off. He wasn’t his usual self. I left him reading a book on his bed and went to the living room where Cooper and Miss Morgan were playing a game of chess.

  ‘Tyrone seems happier this morning,’ Miss Morgan said.

  ‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘Almost too happy. It’s weird.’

  ‘Perhaps he was missing your mother and feeling anxious yesterday,’ Miss Morgan suggested.

  ‘Maybe.’

  I sat down on the couch and watched Cooper and Miss Morgan play. It was cute the way Cooper pushed his pieces around with his nose, but I had a hard time concentrating because Tyrone’s cheery behaviour was niggling at me.

  I eventually gave up on watching the game and decided to read instead. I went to the guest bedroom where I’d left my book. As I neared the bedroom, I could hear Tyrone talking. I crept up to the closed door and turned the handle as quietly as I could. When I stuck my head through the gap, I saw Tyrone sitting on his bed with something between his fingers. I swung the door wide.

  ‘What have you got there?’ I asked.

  Tyrone quickly stuck the object under his pillow.

  ‘Nothing.’

  I rushed over and lifted the pillow. Underneath was a small gold-coloured soldier about the length of my thumb.

  ‘Is that a gold Commando John?’ I asked Tyrone.

  Commando John was a toy popular with the kids in Tyrone’s class at school. You bought the toy in blind-bag packets for a few dollars and could swap any doubles you had with friends. The ultimate Commando John was the rare gold toy, which was a limited edition. Only twenty gold Commando Johns had ever been made.

  Tyrone didn’t say anything.

  ‘Where did you get it?’ I asked him.

  ‘Mum gave it to me before she left. Now give it back!’ He snatched the toy from my hand and put it in his pocket.

  As I turned away from him I saw something sticking out from under his doona. I reached down and pulled out a new Nintendo console.

  ‘Did Mum give you this as well?’ I said accusingly. ‘You found the ring, didn’t you?’

  ‘I didn’t steal it!’ Tyrone shouted. ‘It was under my pillow when I woke up this morning.’

  ‘We need to give it to Miss Morgan,’ I said, holding out my hand.

  Tyrone stared at my open palm, his face bright red. ‘You just want it for yourself! The genie told me you’d try to take it.’

  I stared at Tyrone in disbelief. He looked as though he was about to explode! He had a furious snarl on his face, his mouth twisted into a horrible grimace. I thought about what Miss Morgan had said yesterday – how a genie takes a person’s goodness until all that’s left is anger and greed. I wondered how many wishes Tyrone had already made.

  Miss Morgan and Cooper appeared at the door. ‘I heard shouting. Is everything all right?’

  ‘Tyrone has the ring,’ I told her. ‘And he’s used it.’

  ‘Oh no!’

  Miss Morgan handed me Cooper then stood in front of Tyrone. Closing her eyes, she raised her hands and cast a spell.

  A jumble of items slid out from under the bed – two Trick Master skateboards, a brand-new Xbox, a laptop, an iPad and a mobile phone, a water-blaster gun, four new pairs of sneakers, a footy and several packets of lollies and chips.

  Tyrone leapt off the bed and started scooping up his treasure. ‘No!’ he shouted. ‘They’re mine. You can’t have them.’

  Miss Morgan put her hand on Tyrone’s shoulder. ‘I know it’s hard to give up the things you’ve dreamt about,’ she said. ‘But they come at a great cost. They’re not worth losing your goodness for.’

  ‘They’re mine!’ Tyrone repeated, pulling away from Miss Morgan. ‘Genie! I wish for you to stop her!’

  The genie appeared next to Miss Morgan and blew a floury powder into her face. Miss Morgan cried out and tried to turn away but it was too late. She sank to the floor.

  ‘No!’ I yelled, running to Miss Morgan. My heart was thumping in my chest. ‘Please, wake up,’ I said, shaking her desperately.

  The genie smirked. ‘It’s no good. She can’t hear you. She’s taking a little nap,’ he said.

  ‘What did you do to her?’ I asked.

  ‘I only did what I was told,’ the genie replied, gesturing to Tyrone.

  ‘I didn’t mean it! I only said it to stop her from taking my stuff.’ A tear rolled down one of his cheeks. ‘I just wanted a Trick Master so bad,’ Tyrone sobbed. ‘I was only going to make one wish . . .’

  I pointed to the stash on the floor. ‘Ah, yeah?’

  Tyrone looked ashamed. ‘I couldn’t help it,’ he whispered. He pulled the ring from his pocket. ‘Once I started, I couldn’t stop.’

  ‘That’s why you have to give me the ring,’ I said gently.

  ‘Beware, Tyrone. Your sister wants your ring for herself,’ the genie interrupted.

  ‘Tyrone, don’t listen to him. He’s lying,’ I pleaded. ‘It’s not too late to fix this.’

  ‘Your sister doesn’t really care about you,’ the genie continued. ‘In fact, only yesterday she was wishing you away.’

  He waved his hand in the air and before him a grey cloud emerged. My face appeared within the cloud.

  ‘I wish I was an only child. I wish I was an only child. I wish I was an only child,’ my image in the cloud chanted, on a loop.

  Tyrone looked at me with a hurt expression. ‘Did you really say that?’ he whimpered.

  ‘I didn’t mean it. I was just mad.’

  ‘And what about this one then,’ the genie said, waving his hand again.

  The image in the cloud changed to Cooper and me standing in the bathroom.

  ‘I wish I never had a little brother. I wish I never had a little brother. I wish I never had a little brother.’

  ‘That’s not what I said!’ I cried. ‘You’re twisting my words.’

  ‘But that is what you said,’ the genie replied, leaning towards me. ‘Word for word.’

  Tyrone’s bottom lip trembled and he turned away from me.

  ‘She didn’t mean it, Tyrone,’ Cooper said. ‘The genie’s just trying to turn you against your sister.’

  Tyrone stared at the ring in his cupped hand.

  ‘It’s yours,’ the genie whispered from behind. ‘You can have anything you want.’

  Cooper suddenly leapt from my arms and lunged for the ring, but Tyrone was too quick for him. He pulled away his hand and Cooper went tumbling to the floor.

  ‘See!’ the genie roared. ‘Thieves! They’re trying to steal what is rightfully yours.’

  ‘We’re not!’ I shouted. ‘We’re trying to help you, Tyrone.’

  Tyrone let out an angry snarl and placed the ring back into his pocket. ‘Genie, I wish for you to get me out of here,’ he commanded.

  The genie bowed. ‘Of course, Master. Where would you like to go?’

  ‘Anywhere!’ Tyrone barked.

  There was a blinding flash of light and the room hummed. I ran towards Tyrone, but it was too late.

  Tyrone and the genie were gone.

  ‘Tyrone!’ I yelled as I looked around the room.

  I turned to Cooper, who was now sitting on Tyrone’s bed hanging his head sadly.

  ‘Cooper! Where is he? Where did the genie take him?’

  ‘I’m afraid he’s gone to Anywhere,’ Cooper replied.

  ‘Anywhere? What do you mean? There’s no such place.’

  ‘Of course there is,’ Cooper said. ‘I believe it’s somewhere between Nowh
ere and Everywhere.’

  ‘That makes no sense,’ I said, frustrated. ‘They’re not places, they’re only words.’

  Cooper frowned at me. ‘You really don’t know anything, do you?’ he said. ‘Just because you’ve never heard of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.’

  I took a deep breath. ‘Okay, so say Anywhere is a place. How do we get there?’

  Cooper shook his head. ‘I don’t have the slightest idea. I’ve never been to Anywhere.’

  I knelt next to Miss Morgan who was still lying asleep on the floor. ‘Perhaps Miss Morgan knows,’ I said hopefully. I gave her a gentle shake and called her name, but she didn’t stir.

  ‘She’s under a genie’s sleeping spell,’ Cooper explained. ‘It could be days before she wakes up.’

  I couldn’t wait days to get my brother back! I needed to find him and tell him I didn’t mean what I’d said about wishing I was an only child. Besides, how was I going to explain it to Mum? She’d never believe that a genie whisked Tyrone away to a place called Anywhere.

  ‘We need to find Tyrone another way,’ I said.

  Cooper thoughtfully stared into the air. ‘I guess we could always find another genie,’ he suggested.

  ‘Great,’ I said. ‘So how do we do that?’

  ‘I could send word out that we’re looking for one. It should only take two or three days to get a response.’

  ‘Two or three days!’ I shouted. ‘Don’t you understand that we don’t have days? We need to get Tyrone back now! That horrible genie is going to steal all his goodness.’

  ‘I know,’ Cooper sighed. ‘It’s quite the pickle.’

  He smacked his lips together. ‘Since we’re speaking about pickles, how about we have something to eat.’

  ‘We’re not speaking about pickles!’ I cried. ‘And how could you possibly want something to eat at a time like this?’

  ‘I just happen to think better on a full stomach so if you want me to come up with an idea to rescue Tyrone, I need to eat. Do you know that I often have my best ideas after eating?’

  I rolled my eyes and sighed.

  ‘It’s true. For example, I once had a smashing strawberry jam sandwich and afterwards I came up with the idea to make a jammy biscuit. No one else had ever thought to put jam in a biscuit before,’ Cooper said.