A SMACK OF COMMON SENSE
by
Duckling
Chapter 7
The Chapters
Joe
Hardy stopped in bewilderment as he joined the small group at the end of
the hall. Frank and Vanessa had been standing next to a short, dark-haired
boy when the boy had suddenly and inexplicably huddled down in terror- at his
approach.
Bright
blue eyes glanced from gray to brown before returning to the quivering
mass on the floor.
“This,”
Frank stated quietly, “is the genie.”
“And
a most difficult and defiant genie, too!” Vanessa added in a huff. “He
refuses to go back into the lamp.”
“Why?”
Joe asked.
“They
can’t make me!” The genie suddenly screeched. “They can’t make
me!”
“No,”
responded Frank, “but my brother can. You just said so yourself.”
At
this rebuke, the genie curled himself up into tight ball of misery.
Joe looked from the genie, to Vanessa, and finally at Frank, his face a mask of confusion.
“I
don’t understand,” he replied at length.
Suddenly
the genie threw himself at Joe’s feet. “Please don’t send me back,
please.”
All
at once comprehension flooded Joe. He understood that he had the power to
send the genie back, and he knew why he alone possessed such power.
He
regarded the genie with a trace of compassion in his eyes.
“Please,”
the genie repeated, emboldened by that hint of compassion. “You of all
creatures understand why I can’t go back to that place.”
Joe
stood silent for a few long minutes, regarding the genie thoughtfully.
What should he do? He could very well understand the genie’s reluctance
to return to the lamp, but he could never leave Callie imprisoned there in
its place.
Finally, he looked over at his girlfriend and brother and noted the confusion on their faces.
His
brother met his gaze, his brown eyes searching for some answer to the
genie’s odd behavior in his own.
“I
can send him back because I’m stronger than he is,” Joe stated softly.
“I was wished away forever, and miraculously brought back. That puts me
in a unique position.”
“No
one else has been brought back from a forever-wish,” the genie intoned
reverently.
“That
is why he fears me and not you.” The blond boy added, turning to the
others.
“But
isn’t Callie in the same position?” Vanessa asked in puzzlement.
“No,”
the genie responded. “Like I told you, genie-hood isn’t forever. After
350 years, you get to go free. But to be wished away, and forever . . .
.” His voiced trailed off in horror.
“The
answer to your question, Vanessa, is twofold,” Joe finally stated after
a long, unsettling silence. “You see, I was wished away forever. I was
in a white realm of nothingness, equipped only with the memory of the life
I had lived and the knowledge that I could never go back.”
He
continued, his voice soft. “Most people who live in nothingness never
lived: they either never were born, or were stillborn. Other people, those
who are born alive, usually die. So they pass on over to the world beyond.
I had lived, but not yet died. So, I could never return to my life and I
could never move on beyond.”
“I
was caught between two worlds; caught forever between two worlds.” A
slight quiver sounded in the boy’s voice.
Joe looked up and caught his brother’s anguished glance. “Yes,” he breathed softly, “It was a lonely and horrible experience.”
Let the author know what you think of this story
Home Library Authors Rogue's Gallery Vehicles Chums Message Board Rap Sheet Links Contact
Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.