Week 12 Story: Be Careful What You Wish For
A magic lamp
Ricky, Thomas, Sara, and Kevin all grew up in the same foster home, and though they weren't technically siblings by blood, they were all about to be bonded for life. According to Ricky, there were rumors that a genie's lamp had been found in the woods by some college kids, and if you rubbed the lamp and made an offering, you would be granted one wish. Though these were just rumors, it did help explain how Tom grew 18 inches overnight. Tom was a nice kid, but he never really hit his growth spurt. Everyone at school would tease him that he'd be the only freshman at college who was under 5'4. Sadly enough, Tom went his freshman year to the University of Oklahoma and came back the same Tiny Tom we all grew up knowing. But, out of the blue, Tom grew to be one of the tallest kids in his classes.
"Guys hurry up! I can't wait forever to be rich!" Ricky yelled out to his friends as he raced through the forest. Ricky was the most ambitious of the group, and if Tom's sudden growth meant anything, it meant that Ricky now had the opportunity to become the most brilliant scientist in the world and sell all of his inventions to companies for millions.
"Slow down" Kevin groaned from behind. Kevin loved his siblings, but he was more of a lazy kid and wasn't always up for running after fake genie lamps.
"Hurry up fatass!" Ricky yelled back at him, to which Keven responded with his usual remark that he was "big boned" or "had a big heart" or whatever excuse their mother would tell them whenever he was teased. After walking around the woods for what seemed like hours, Ricky finally found it, the golden lamp. "Guys come here" he yelled.
"Ricky shut up, there's no such thing as-" Thomas cut himself off when he saw the lamp. "Holy shit" he muttered. "We need something to offer it. Quick, pour out some of our water and snacks." But nothing happened.
"No guys" Ricky spoke quietly. "We need a blood sacrifice."
"A blood sacrifice? You've been reading too many comics Ricky I swear to... WHAT THE HELL" Sara screamed as she witnessed Ricky cut deep into his palm. "Ricky that's going to get infected and, where did you even get a knife? Mom is going to be so pissed" she scolded, but Ricky turned back and smiled revealing a glowing lamp.
"She wont be pissed when I make her rich! Oh powerful Genie, bless me with super intelligence" Ricky spoke to the lamp.
"As you wish" the lamp spoke.
Ricky begged his siblings to ask him a question that no kid would know the answer to, and Ricky was able to spit out the answer instinctively.
The group celebrated and all began asking their questions. Thomas asked for sight into the future and Sara asked to be the most beautiful women in all the world. Thomas began to see his future and Sara's face began to glow as clothing and jewelry magically appeared on her. While the group was testing out their new abilities, Kevin was off to the side dozing off from the long trip.
"Quick Kevin, what do you want?" Ricky asked his brother.
"I just want to sleep" Kevin groaned in response. Suddenly, the lamp glowed and Thomas and Ricky realized what was about to happen. They yelled at him in hopes of cutting off the spell before it happened, but it was too late.
"As you wish" the lamp spoke, and with that, Kevin immediately passed out and would not wake up.
Author's note:
When reading about how Ravana became so powerful, I found humor in why our beloved sleeping giant, Kumbhakarna, is sleeping all of the time. When I read that Kumbhakarna misspoke and asked for eternal slumber rather than life, I couldn't help but think of the cliche "Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it" which is exactly what happened to Kumbhakarna (Kevin.) Throughout his life, he was always large and a little lazy compared to his siblings, so I decided to keep his nature the same in this story. I changed the alter to a magic lamp, because I doubted that children would travel to go pray to an ancient god. Also, Ricky (Ravana) just cut his palm, rather than sacrificing his head 9 times because that would be impossible.
Bibliography:
Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia
http://iereadingguides.blogspot.com/2015/05/overview-sisodia-ravana.html
Haha, poor Kevin. Is that really the reason why Kumbhakarna is always sleeping? That's hilarious and I feel like I could probably make the same mistake. "Slumber" is not far from "life," right? I like the modern portrayal of these characters from the Ramayana. Kumbhakarna was always one of my favorite characters because he was that cliche "super strong but carefree" character trope. Great story, Matthew!
ReplyDeleteHi Matt!
ReplyDeleteI loved this story! As soon as it got to the part where Kevin just wanted to sleep I realized which story you were referencing and it was perfect! I had just reread the Ramayana, and I remember that I too was amused by Kumbhakarna sleeping for six months at a time (which sounds super nice right now as finals are approaching).
Hey Matt,
ReplyDeleteI like how mysterious your story sounded. It felt like a folk tale to me in the beginning which I loved. Also, I love when there is a lot of dialogue in stories and your story definitely had a lot of dialogue in it. I liked how you took the original tale of Ravana and added a modern twist to it.