Patreon Request 1: Looking for a Lamp

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Timothy is looking around one of the many antique shops in Los Angeles for an old-looking lamp. Particularly a lamp that can be used for his school play Love Found in a Desert Oasis. He's the prop manager and that means he has to find unique pieces for the play to help make it memorable.

He walks down the street lightly fanning himself because it's 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius) outside. Having enough of the heat Timothy pops into a random antique shop and his eye catches the perfect lamp for the play. The lamp sits atop a floral printed side table and is surrounded by brass picture frames. Walking quickly over Timothy views the tag and sees that the lamp is an easy price to pay. Taking a firmer grip of the item he goes to the checkout counter to buy it.

Done with his shopping for the day, Timothy makes his way to his red car so that he can get home and polish the lamp. He knows that once he shows it off to the crew, they'll all be impressed by his find. Seeing his car Timothy unlocks it and puts the bag with the lamp in the passenger seat. Driving home he listens to pop music to keep the drive home from being dull. Nearly forty-five minutes later he makes it home. Pulling up in the driveway he turns off his car. Then he takes his bag from the passenger seat and goes inside the house from the front door.

"Anyone home?" Timothy calls. Leaving his shoes at the front door, he puts on his house slippers. Not getting a reply the young man shrugs and makes his way to his room on the second floor. Opening the door to his room, he sets the bag on his desk and moves to get his metal polishing kit. This isn't the first prop that he had to clean up to make it showtime ready. Getting a hold of the polishing kit, he places it on his desk near the bag. The desk is clean with only his working gloves, the lamp, and the polishing kit on top of the desk. Putting on the gloves Timothy removes the lamp from the bag. He puts the bag on the floor and opens his kit. Picking out a cloth to first rub off the dust that has collected on top of the lamp. Making circular motions the lamp glows teal. Before Timothy can drop it, teal smoke exits out the nozzle of the lamp. From the smoke comes a male genie; just like the ones from Arabian folklore.

With his mouth hanging open Timothy watches as the genie stretches in front of him. Blinking a bit he takes in the man's appearance. The genie looks like he's wearing a Broadway genie costume with his eyes heavily lined with kohl and his hair in a braid that ends below his shoulders. Finally done with his stretching the genie looks at his finder.

"Hi kid, I'm Abdel. You're genie until I grant you four wishes. I know it's usually three but I don't like odd numbers, so it's four you're getting." Abdel said. Taking a look at his finder he notes that the kid is of Chinese descent and his hair is gelled. He's wearing a green button-down with medium wash pants. He is without his shoes, but he has on house slippers.

"I'm Timothy, nice to meet you, Abdel," reaching out his right hand to shakes his genie's hand. Abdel accepts the handshake.

"Now before you make any wishes I have to tell you the rules of wish-making and why I'm stuck in an oil lamp," says Abdel.

"I understand. I'll try not to interrupt while you're explaining," says Timothy.

"Good. Now the first thing you need to know if you can't ask for more wishes. You got four which is one more than the norm. Secondly is that I can't do the impossible. I know I'm magic but that doesn't mean the laws of the world don't apply anymore. For example, I can't make you a great singer, but I can make time in your daily life to allow you to practice thus you'll naturally get better."

Raising his hand like he's got a question Timothy interrupts, "So, you can help me improve my skills but you can't instantly make it so?"

"That's right. I can also sway other's opinions of you in your favor, but I cannot make someone fall madly in love with you. Even more so if you and that individual have never met," Abdel states.

"Next thing you need to know is that you are in no rush to make your wishes. You can hold out making a wish for twenty years. It doesn't matter to me when you make your next wish. Following that is the fact that as long as you still have a wish to make another person cannot be the new finder of my lamp. Unless you die of course," Abdel said that last sentence with a smile on his face.

Timothy can feel sweat build on his hairline. Looking at the genie in the eye he asks, "You're not going to kill me right?"

"Of course not! These cuff bracelets on my arms keep me from doing so! Now back to the rules. None of your wishes can be used to set me free. No matter how much we get along my lamp is my prison and I'm serving my time. Finally, the last rule you must follow is that I cannot directly kill anyone, bring back the dead, or time travel. There is not enough magic in the world to fix any of the problems those wishes can cause," Abdel finishes.

"You can kill someone!" Timothy looks at Abdel in shock.

"Not directly. I can just have them end up in every unfortunate accident until one of the accidents kills the targeted person," He explains.

"Okay, how did you get imprisoned in your lamp?" Timothy moves to a new topic.

Smiling Abdel sits on Timothy's bed to tell him the story. "Nice question! Though now that I think about it, I am required to tell you the truth of why I'm here anyway."

"It was the first time I killed a man," Abdel pauses because Timothy is trying to leave the room, "Not so fast you have to hear me out!"

Before his very eyes, the only door to the room disappears. Snapping his fingers in frustration Timothy goes back to the seat at his desk.

"As I was saying, it was the first time I killed a man. He was a cheat at gambling and he wanted to take all that I had on me at the time. I, of course, didn't want that so I tried to leave, but he wouldn't let me. Then I stabbed him. I kept stabbing him until he stopped twitching. After that first kill, the second one was an easy follow-up. The third was when I got caught. The sister of the third guy knew enough magic to trap me in an oil lamp as punishment. When I'll be free of this lamp I don't know. Only the finder of the lamp knows the answer to that after their first wish and she or he cannot tell me how I can be released," After finishing his story Abdel checks Timothy's eyes.

Seeing that the young man won't run away Abdel makes the door visible again. Timothy's happy that his door is back; he breathes out a sigh of relief. Seeing that he has a genie in his possession he thinks over the information he's just learned.

"I don't need a wish right now, but will you wait in your lamp? Because I need to use it as a prop in my school play," he says.

"I can do that. What's the play call?" Abdel said.

"Love Found in a Desert Oasis is the name of the play," Timothy answers.

"What do you need an oil lamp for?"

"The heroine who is a water spirit owns a lamp that a past lover gave to her."

"Well, my curiosity is satisfied. You can finish cleaning my lamp now." Abdel becomes teal smoke that re-enters the nozzle of the lamp.

Knowing that he has a lot to think about, Timothy goes back to cleaning the lamp and tries to wrap his head around the thought of a genie living in it. He'll think about wish making after the play is a success until then the lamp is just a prop for Love Found in a Desert Oasis.

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