Lessons

Djinn in the box original draft

Lauren and Jake Murphy spent the weekend at a quaint bed and breakfast in Milton. They had spent their mornings and evenings strolling down the streets stopping in little shops and watching children play with their dogs. They were pleasantly surprised at how genuinely friendly and nice the people they had passed were to them. Older ladies in smocks and garden gloves smiled and nodded ‘Hello’ while they carved furrows in their flower beds for the new seasons plants, and a teenager mowing the lawn even raised his hand to wave despite the headphones glued to his ears like an extra appendage. This was a new and welcome change from the city where they had lived for two years.

They saw the house for the first time on one of the afternoons when they were looking for a place to eat supper. It was a perfect white Victorian house on Clifton Street with gingerbread trim, a winding brick walkway and quaint lace curtains hung in the windows. It looked inviting, and warm and friendly. There was a ‘for sale’ sign out front and Lauren and Jake teased one another about calling the realtor, just for fun.

When they had gone home, they kept talking about the house, and wondering how much it cost. Maybe they could buy it as a vacation home, or as an investment property. Finally, Lauren called the local office of the realtor and they gave her the agent’s number in Milton. They also told her the listing price. She couldn’t believe what they were asking for the place. It was a very nice-looking house. Maybe it had termites or structural damage. She searched other properties in the area, and found what she expected; this house was over a hundred thousand less than those.

The next Saturday, Lauren and Jake made an appointment with the realtor in Milton, and went back to see for themselves. The realtor was an attractive blond woman in her late forties with a red leather briefcase and expensive sunglasses.

“Welcome, welcome. My name is Janet Williams; I spoke to you on the phone. It’s so nice to meet you.” She said with a genuine smile. “You’d like to look at the Victorian on Clifton Street. Is that right?”

“Yes, we just fell in love with it when we spent the weekend here a couple of weeks ago. It seems like such a perfect house, and well maintained.” Lauren said, “I asked our local realtor the price, and I’m not sure he had it right. What is the owner asking for it?” Lauren just knew that the price had been wrong, and that she was about to be shocked.

“Oh, yes, I spoke to Jonathan, the realtor in your city. No, the price was correct. The person who bought it at auction about three years ago is selling the house. I think he and his family stayed there for a short while, maybe a week or so, but they left and haven’t been back except to list it with my company. I don’t know why. I guess he decided it just wasn’t for them.” Janet shook her head and frowned a little. She brightened as if coming away from a bad thought, ‘Well, would you like to go see it? I have the key right here in my bag.”

They went on to the house. It was everything Lauren had hoped and more. It had a well-appointed, newly remodeled kitchen with current appliances and a lovely walk-in closet in the bedroom. The house was as beautiful and livable inside as it was charming and neat outside. A thought still nagged in Lauren’s mind. “Janet, please tell me something. “ She asked as she peered through the attic doorway; it looked dusty up there.

“Yes?” Janet asked as if she knew what was coming.

“Why is the asking price so low? Is there something wrong with the foundation? Are there termites? Did someone die in here and they covered up the bloodstains with new paint? This doesn’t seem right.” Lauren said with a confused expression.

Janet laughed softly, “Sorry, you’re not the first to ask. I’ve been showing this house for about two and a half years now and I always know it’s coming.” She smiled, “The owner just said, ‘Sell it. I just don’t want it.’ And that was that. He set the price, though I tried to get him to raise it. But I don’t decide, I just sell. All the inspections come out fine, no termites, no rats, no mold. I don’t think there’s any blood, but I haven’t personally checked that.” She laughed again. “No one seems interested in a house that’s too cheap, nobody believes in something for nothing. I’d almost given up hope until I heard how excited your voice sounded on the phone. I’ve never stayed in it, but nothing has led me to believe it’s anything other than the owner’s not liking it.” She shrugged.

Four weeks later Lauren and Jake were spending the weekend in their new “Vacation Vic” as they liked to refer to it. They’d put their things away and made up the four-poster in the master bedroom. They went to a local restaurant then settled in for the night. The other things they found around the home delighted them. The previous owner had left a good mower and grill in the shed. There was a small weedy garden bed in the backyard, and there was a lot of stuff in the attic that looked like old furniture and boxes. They just peeked up the stairway, but in the backs of their minds, they were hoping to have found valuable antiques, but really knew it was just old junk they were going to have to haul to the dump.

They got ready for bed and Jake stroked Lauren’s auburn hair.

“I think we made a good decision. I really like this house, and you know what? This neighborhood would be great for kids, too.” He smiled, and she laughed and buried her face in his chest and hugged him hard. They awoke at midnight to a rustling that sounded like it was coming from the attic.

“Probably just a pigeon or a bat in the eaves.” Lauren said sleepily as she yawned.

“Mm-hm," he yawned. "We’ll check out the upstairs in the morning.” Jake said as he drifted back to sleep.

They went home the next afternoon. After a few more weeks, they decided they wanted to stay in the Vacation Vic for a longer time. They took two weeks vacation and stayed at the new house, excited at their prospects. They enjoyed it so much they decided to make the move longer term. It was only an hour away from their work, after all. Jake and Lauren could drive the extra bit without much upheaval.

******

“Ugh, did you get the broom? And the vacuum? And the respirators? Lauren asked rhetorically, then sneezed.

Jake laughed.

They’d decided to try to tackle the attic this weekend. This part of the house was not as pleasant as the rest. The attic was dusty and cobwebbed so thickly it was hard to tell if there was furniture in the room, or if the spiders had just piled up all their webs for the last couple of centuries and made a playground of them. They started looking in boxes strewn over the floor. After about two hours and nothing but old electric bills and broken lamp pieces, they were a little bored. There were a couple of decent chairs and a nice dining table though, but nothing too fancy. Lauren walked over to the window as Jake half-heartedly opened a new box. The windows were caked with years of thick dust. Lauren drew a smiley face in one of the panes and grinned.

“Somebody certainly didn’t do windows,” she said as she peered through the clear lines she’d made on the glass. “Hey, look, you can see the whole street. Cool.”

“Nah. This is cool. Come look.” Jake was holding a dusty wooden box. It looked like a small jewelry box. He brushed at the dust and revealed gold inlaid pattern over the top of the box and around the sides. The top was bordered by a quarter inch band of gold, and was patterned with narrow diamonds, small dots, and a thin intertwining twisted rope looping around the diamonds, all in lightly raised gold.

“That’s pretty.” Lauren said as she looked over his shoulder. “Where’d you find that? You know, it kind of looks like the back of a playing card.”

“It does, doesn’t it? There’s something written on the bottom.” He brushed carefully and exposed letters. “’India’, it says. Huh.”

“Well, open it already!” Lauren demanded, giving his shoulder a playful push.

“I was just trying to build up the anticipation.” Jake smirked.

Lauren rolled her eyes. “You’re weird.”

Inside the box was a solid wood space holding a solitary deck of cards. The pattern on the cards matched the box.

“Wonder if they’re all there?” Jake mused as he took out the deck and started thumbing through them. Well there’re fifty-two. See, I just knew we’d find good stuff up here.”

Lauren smiled and shook her head bemusedly; “It really doesn’t take much to make you happy, does it?” She looked in the cardboard box next to Jake. “Anything else interesting in there?”

“Looks like your standard ‘Junk Drawer’ kind of stuff.” He said with a small shrug. “You know, old buttons, screws, a ruler. Oh wow, it’s a Sears blender manual!”

She rolled her eyes. “OK, I think I’ve had enough for now. My eyes are starting to water from the dust. I think we really do need respirators up here. I’m going down to get something to drink.” Lauren said as she stretched.

“I’ll be right behind you.” Jake said as he put some stuff back in the box.

They didn’t go back up to the attic again that day. They enjoyed their back porch and had wine and some take-out Chinese. That night again at midnight, they heard noises in the attic. This time they were banging, scraping noises, like there were wild animals fighting.

“I’ll go see.” Jake said, taking in Laurens half-frightened expression. “You don’t need to get up.” He went to the door, turned on the light and peered up into the attic. “It’s quiet now. Must’ve got out.” He went up the steps and looked around. Nothing looked different from when he had been up earlier in the day. He noticed the gilt box still lying on the floor where he’d left it, and picked it up and brought it downstairs.

“What was it? Lauren asked.

“Dunno, Didn’t look like anything was up there.” He shrugged and went back to bed. He set the box on his nightstand and kissed Lauren good-night.

Lauren went to the grocery store in the morning to get some things while Jake stayed and poked around the yard. The day was starting to get warmer, so he went in to change into a short-sleeved shirt. He picked up the box and turned it over in his hands. Shaking his head he took it downstairs with him and sat at the counter. He smiled to himself. He hadn’t played solitaire in a while. He opened the box and took out the cards. He shuffled them quickly, but then dropped them as they started to give off red sparks. His eyes widened.

The sparks became red smoke that coalesced into a vaguely human shape, then into the shape of a beautiful young woman with raven-black hair in a long braid below her waist and tilted dark eyes that drank in one’s soul and seemed wiser than the woman’s years.

“Thank you for freeing me, kind one. I owe you gifts. Please make a request of me, and I will gladly grant it.” She bowed deeply showing assets well formed and enticing. He noticed she was wearing a gilded belt with the same pattern as on the outside of the box.

Jake just stared with his mouth open. He backed up from her, his eyes widening still farther. “You… You... Uh. Wow. Are you real?”

“Yes, I am real. I am a Djinni, bound into this box and released by the movement of the cards. I am now at your service to give you your heart’s desire.” She nodded graciously.

His initial shock under control, he said quietly, “Wait until Lauren sees this.”

She heard him and her eyes narrowed so slightly he nearly missed it.

“Can I get you something? A drink, or something? We have some good wine, or maybe a sandwich?” He blurted, but felt relieved as he heard the gravel in the driveway crunch. Lauren was home.

The Djinni’s head snapped toward the sound, her eyes flashing. Then she reversed into smoke and sparks that swirled into the box with a ‘Pop’ then grew eerily quiet.

“Hey, Mrs. Simpkins at the market said there’s a big yard sale on Saturday.” Lauren began as she started putting the food into the refrigerator. She noticed him still standing there with his strange shocked expression, cards strewn on the floor. “What’s the matter? Are you okay? Concern crept into her voice and her face became worried. “Jake? Jake! You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

He stared vacantly at her a moment longer then seemed to rally. As matter-of-factly as he could manage, he said, “No, not a ghost, a Djinni.”

“Don’t tease me like that. I was scared for a minute.” She sighed, shaking her head, and went back to putting away the eggs. Then she smiled a half-smile “You haven’t found something in that dried out garden and decided to eat it or smoke it or something, did you?

Jake took a deep breath, debating whether or not to tell her and make her think he was crazier than he thought himself at the moment. ’Ah, well, might as well bite the bullet.’ He thought, and then told her the whole story of how she appeared in a shower of sparks and offered to grant his requests.

“You mean, like three wishes and all that? Hah, you must have been smoking something. Besides, you have to have a magic lamp for one of those.” She smiled. “You probably just fell asleep at the counter and dreamed it. So it was a girl Djinni, was it?” She jibed, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

They picked up the cards and put them back in the box. They spent the day working in the yard and cooked dinner on the porch again. They didn’t talk about the Djinni again, Jake was beginning to think he had fallen asleep after all, and imagined it all.

That night at midnight the noises came yet again. This time they were from downstairs in the kitchen. Banging and screeching sounds crashed up the stairs. Jake and Lauren both got out of bed and ran down the stairs together. When they got there they saw nothing.

“This is weird. I know I wasn’t dreaming this time.” Jake said heatedly. “We need to find out what’s going on for real, now.’

He sat down at the counter. Lauren watched with arms folded across her chest and a put-upon expression on her face.

He carefully opened the box and laid the cards on the countertop. “Ok, here goes.” He said and twitched his head to the side in a mini-shrug. He took the deck and fanned them out, picked them up and began shuffling. Nothing happened. No sparks, no smoke. He smiled sheepishly at Lauren and shrugged.

“Well, since we’re up anyway, I’ll make a pot of tea and we can put those cards to good use in a game of gin.” Lauren smiled. They played a couple of games and then went back to bed after about an hour.

The Djinni had decided to bide her time. She was patient. She was three thousand years old for Pete’s sake. Jake would learn.

For many nights after that, it was quiet. No noises, no crashing, or shrieking. Jake thought it had been his imagination. He came home from work early one Friday afternoon a few weeks later and got a soda from the fridge. He saw a magazine on the counter, and was about to take it outside to read on the porch, when he noticed the gilt box. ‘Maybe just a game of Solitaire’ He thought. He sat at the counter with it and opened it slowly. The shape coalesced immediately into the Djinni. Jake was taken by surprise. He thought the cards had to be shuffled; that was what she’d said…”

“Ah, Master.” She smiled a sweet and welcoming smile that never reached her eyes. “So good to see you again. I have missed you greatly. It has been so lonely, here in my box, since I was able to bask in your radiance so briefly.” She moved closer. “Whisper your desires to me and you will never be lonely like that. I will make you wonderfully happy. Please let me serve you.” She undulated in a tiny, perfect camel, exhibiting her sinuous form and mesmerizing his senses. She spoke to him softly, hoping to entice the request that would set her free. She could then kill him and eat his flesh. She was so hungry. But her bondage had to be broken first. There was only one way to do so, and it would have been easy for her with most men. She didn’t understand why this one kept balking her. He should have tried to be alone with her long ago.

She heard Lauren coming home. She growled to herself, but to Jake she said “Our time must be secret, I cannot serve more than one. Please, keep my confidence.” She pleaded.

Jake was sorely confused, now. He didn’t want to tell Lauren, because she’d think he was fantasizing about another woman... Or, then again, she might just tease him about imagining things again. Either way he thought he’d let it go for now. He was just not going to open the box again. It wasn’t that simple.

In his dreams she came, enticing and offering. Pleading. Demanding he come to her. She was determined. He would not succumb. Not even in his dreams. He was Lauren’s and Lauren’s alone. It had been that way since they’d met.

After a couple of weeks, his sleep became fitful. He tried not to sleep. He became more tired and irritable. Lauren finally convinced him to tell her about the dreams. She listened to his experience and her eyes became hard and her mouth narrowed.

“Are you angry with me? I really don’t know why I keep seeing her. I love you so much. I don’t need anyone else.” He broke down desperate not to hurt her by his weakness over this woman who kept appearing to him.

Lauren’s face softened for a moment. “I’m sorry, I’m not angry with you. I’m angry at me for not believing you before. This WILL be fixed. I promise you.”

She kissed him. “Now, we’re going downstairs. I want you to think only about the Djinni. Then I want you to make her appear. Don’t let on that I’m there. I just want to see for myself. Don’t worry.” She smiled.

The sparks came again, just as before. The Djinni appeared just as she had been earlier. She looked a mite pissed, he thought.

“Ah, good Master.” The annoyance seemed to leave her features. “You have returned to me. You may request of me what you will. I was missing you. I can feel you are here to ask me something. Will you make your request, now? Anything you desire. I will give you bliss beyond your wildest dreams.” Again she bowed. Lauren had been watching in silence, but at this she cleared her throat.

The Djinni, startled, thinking Jake was alone, snapped her head around and took in Lauren’s stony countenance. “You are not welcome! Go from here, now!” The Djinni commanded Lauren, who just stared at her in silent rage.

“No, my evil little Djinni. It is you who will go. He is mine and will always be mine. He is my path to immortality. Not yours.” She waved, her eyes flashing with a fierce fire and the Djinn screamed. She dwindled and flattened into a size and shape of a playing card. “Jake, be a dear and take the queen of hearts out of that deck, will you? It doesn’t need two.”

You see, Lauren’s maiden name had been ‘Fay’. Her mother was the Queen of the Fairies.

Word count: 3462

IdaLin