France and Some Explanations

"Genie?" You call.

"Yes, Master?" The genie appears in a puff of smoke.

"Can you read minds?"

"Yes, Master. It helps me to see if I can work out in advance what a master wants."

You think of a few other things to ask. "Is it true that after the third wish you're set free?"

The genie shook his head. "No, Master. I think you are getting a bit mixed up. My freedom depends on my current master wishing for it."

"How about using a wish to get more wishes?"

The genie guffawed at this. "You're several thousand years too late for that, Master. It used to be that you could, but too many genies were getting Repetitive Wish Granting Injuries. There were numerous complaints to Kazaam! the genies union about adding limitations to what a master could wish for, that one being the main priority. Hundreds of genies threatened strike action if nothing was done."

"Oh," was all you could think to say. "Any other limitations apart from that one?"

"That was the only universal one," the genie replies. "Others are more on a personal note: If a genie feels uneasy about granting a wish, he won't. There's nothing that can be done about that."

"A genie with morals? What could I wish for that you wouldn't grant?"

"Wishing someone was dead or injured in some way. Or cruelty to any living thing. Why do you ask, Master? You don't want anyone dead, do you?"

You shake your head violently. "No, of course not." Fred had been annoying, to be sure, but you wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Astra seemed to think of the same thing and took time out from playing with the sand - she had never seen it before - to ask, "How did Fred and I arrive here?"

"That was me," said the genie. "I noticed my Master had no friends or family that cared for him, so I took the liberty of bringing you two along. I thought that you were the closest to friends he had."

"So were is Fred now?" Astra asks.

"Prior to transporting you here, I realised I had made a mistake. Bringing Fred to this world had been a blunder on my part, so I sent him back to his own."

You gasp in amazement. "You went out of your way to try and make me happy outside of my wishes? Thank you. For that, my final wish is that you are released to do whatever you want."

The genie bows low before grinning widely. "Your wish is most certainly granted!"

He disappears in a puff of smoke and you think that it's the last you have seen of him. Until he reappears moments later. Rather than wearing the traditional garb, he's dressed more for a vacation to Hawaii, or so you think.

"This world is so new and different!" He exclaims. "I must explore it. I have returned to ask if you want to join me, Marc and Astra?"

"Who's Marc?" You ask dumbly.

"I think he means you, silly." Astra says.

You still can't comprehend it. "But my name's -"

The genie interrupts. "Your name is not 'You', it is Marc Grayson," he says. "You are still suffering the effects of Dimensional Displacement Amnesia. This occurs when you are taken from your own world and put into another. You forget your past, and you can only recall being called 'You', so you think that's your name."

"Oh," you say again for the second time in around twenty minutes. You think about asking more, but decide you've had enough to get your head around.

Now on to more pressing matters - or at least Astra thinks they are. "Are there any waterfalls in this world, Marc?" she asks you. "The ones I've left behind in Aqualaria were absolutely stunning."

Let's see... "Well, there's the Angel Falls somewhere in South America, the Niagara falls in North America, and the Victoria Falls in Africa," you say. "They are the only ones I can recall offhand."

1. "Angel Falls sounds an intriguing name."
2. "Victoria Falls? Were they named after somebody?"
3. Let's visit the Niagara Falls."

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