Bradbury Collection

Authors of Confusion (Bradbury week 9)

344 words

Jeffrey Crandall was a 20-something man walking along a beach near his home town, kicking pieces of debris with his shoe clad feet. He had awakened early, to get some cardio in. He was the only person on the beach this early in the morning. In a pile of debris, he spotted a piece of metal.

He cleared it from some sea weed and picked it up. It was a brass lamp, the kind you see in films about genies. Jeffrey rubbed the lamp, and a man clad in middle eastern clothing and a turban appeared.

“I am the genie of the lamp. I can grant you one wish, and the wish can’t be reversed.”

“I’m a failed author, I would like to be the author of the Dragon Shade series of fantasy novels! The guy who wrote those is one of the richest authors ever!”

“Someone else already wished for that,” the genie replied. “The man who is currently taking credit for that series is someone who found my lamp.”

“So I can’t wish for that?” Jeffrey asked.

“It’s not that you can’t, but someone else might come along and usurp you. They can do the same thing to you that you want to do to that other guy!”

“What happened to the original author?” Jeffrey asked.

“He is collecting aluminum cans. He is really helping the environment.”

“I wish that he could be the author of another series just as popular as the original!” said Jeffrey.

“Is that final?” the genie asked.

“Yes,” said Jeffrey.

The genie worked his spell, and returned to the lamp. Jeffrey left the lamp with the sea weed pile, and went on his way. When he returned home, he looked up the author on the Internet who originally wrote the series stolen by someone with the aid of the genie.

Jeffrey saw that he had written a new series of novels set in a similar milieu as the Dragon Shade series.The author Jeffrey had helped would never know that reality had been warped due to Jeffrey’s kindness.

The End