A Gaslight fantasy novel. Elijah Weatherspoon's world is turned topsy turvy when he unknowingly releases a genie from an old clock he had just bought. Just a plain old windup clock in a brass housing which is formed in the shape of a castle. Who would have known what was inside the old clock?
But now here he was sitting on a park bench, and on a bench across from him, the strangest of characters. A genie, so it turns out. But now that the genie is free from the clock which had been his prison for more years than he would tell, he owes Elijah the customary three wishes. But will he pay up?
Genies are not all the legends and old stories tell them to be. One can not always expect them to fulfil their promises. Three wishes? Elijah Weatherspoon was soon to find out the true nature of those promises. A comic tale of facing mizerhood head on, and learning what really matters in life.
When one is fortunate enough to find a mysterious lamp, rubbing the lamp will free the genie who has been imprisoned within that lamp for a thousand years. Out of gratitude, the genie is empowered to grant you your desires in the form of wishes. Usually three wishes.
But what happen if the genie has a whole different idea about gratitude for his release and your wishes are turned upside down? Instead of good fortune, you receive the opposite. And the genie seems more interested in playing tricks on you than on granting your wishes.
That's what Elijah Weatherspoon found, to his dismay. Seeming all misfortune contrary to the wishes he asks for. He asks for riches. He asked for good health and a long life. He asked for prestige and influence within the circle of important men.
What comes his way seems to be the very opposite. Now his world is turned topsy turvy. And he wishes he had never bought that cursed clock. A gaslight fantasy novel.
(An excerpt from the book)
---------
“You never answered my question. How long was I trapped in my prison?” he asked.
“Aye. I did answer. I said I din’t ken how long ye’re in there. That’s an answer,” Elijah answered, with irritation in his voice.
“Ah, I suppose that was an answer,” the other one sighed. “I will not tell you exactly, but it was for many years. Do you know how old that clock is?” Elijah did not know.
“More than your lifetime. Years more. I was imprisoned in its first year.”
That struck Elijah’s curiosity, and he wondered how the being he was speaking with came to be imprisoned inside. “What fell fortune caused ye t’ be locked inside? If I may ask.” And he did ask.
“I am not free to tell you,” the other one answered. “But I am now grateful to be free. I owe you a gratitude for my release.”
For a space of some seconds, he looked straight at Elijah while saying nothing. Then a strange grin began, and it grew on his round face. Then he spoke.
“I know. You believe that I owe you three wishes in return for your setting me free. Well? Is that not the law of the genie? Pray tell, your three wishes, Sir.”
Elijah briefly opened his mouth to speak, but no thoughts came to him to speak. Surely the old fables and stories were not true.
Genies were the product of the story tellers, and nothing more. The thing he held on his lap was a clock. It was not a magic lamp.
It was not even a lamp. Surely it was not magic. It was merely a clock. A clock in the shape of a castle. And it was not made of precious materials. Rather it was simply brass. And common brass at that.
