With the use of her nail file, Fiona finally pried open the bureau drawer. It had been out of bounds for all of her childhood. Even now, she felt that she was defying her mother. She slid the drawer open with reverence and found the key to the glass cabinet.
Even at this sad time, she felt a smile creep across her face. The long felt desire of handling her mother’s favourite possession made her body shake. She picked up the old lamp and held it close to her chest.
To her astonishment, a genie materialised before her. It stretched and yawned, and finally opened it’s eyes.
“Oh that was a good sleep. Hi Joyce,” the genie paused “You’re not Joyce, you must be Fiona, you’ve got your mother’s eyes.”
Slightly taken aback, Fiona replied.
“Mum died a few weeks ago, I’m clearing her home.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry dear. Can I do anything for you?” the genie asked.
“What do you mean? Like granting me three wishes or something?”
“No that doesn’t happen anymore, our Union put a stop to that. Everybody always wanted to be rich, it was a big drain on our resources. Or they wished for us to undertake labour intensive work, our Health and Safety Representative wasn’t having that.”
“So what is it you actually do now?” Fiona asked feeling slightly bemused
“Our line of work is more of an advisory capacity.”
“Can you pick Lottery numbers or Grand National Winners?”
“No better than you can. A Genie’s role is to offer friendship, to provide a sounding board if you like.”
“Did Mum and you talk often then?”
“Only when there was no one else around. It’s only the holder of the lamp can see and hear us, and the golden rule is that they must never divulge our existence to anyone.”
“She never told me about you.”
“We had some great times together, we talked about everything, and of you of course, and how you were getting on. She was very proud of you.”
After a moment’s pause, the genie asked
“I was wondering if you had packed up the television yet? Joyce and I would watch all the soaps, I wouldn’t mind catching up on them.”
Fiona smiled at the genie. She thought that a sit down and a nice cup of tea with someone to talk to was what she needed.
“Do you take milk and sugar?”
