The royal family and friends sat together in a special box above the rest of the country as the religious leader preached on and on about Genie's life. Actually, it was more of stuttering and getting tongue tied as he tried real, real hard to make Genie's death mean something.
The obituary didn't specify his death, but word around town was that Genie killed himself. Genie had chosen to end his own life-he purposefully took it. Under all those smiles and jokes had apparently been true pain. He'd been lonely, confused and sad the entire time Aladdin and Abu and Jasmine and Carpet had known him; he just didn't tell anybody.
Whether all of this was true or not, Aladdin didn't know, and he tried to put the reason out of his mind so as not to lose it.
What he did know, however, was that the religious leader's speech was dreadful. He stuttered and stammered and hemmed and hawed; it was so cringeworthy that Aladdin bet half of the people in the audience were wishing they could be somewhere else-anywhere with a cool pool and cold drinks. Without any palaces or religious leaders preaching on end.
Aladdin shifted in his seat, visible enough for Jasmine to cast a glance his way. But he couldn't help it; it was all so suffocating; the somber event, the solemn singing, the stuffy speech. It just made him feel so…
Trapped.
"Hi! Where you from? What's your name?"
"Uh… uh, Aladdin."
"Aladdin! Hello, Aladdin, nice to have you on the show. Can we call you Al, or maybe just Din? Or how about Laddie? Sounds like, 'Here, boy! C'mon, Laddie!'"
"I must've hit my head harder than I thought… "
Aladdin smiled faintly at the memory. He would have given anything to be at the bottom of that ventilated cave right about now. With Abu on his shoulder and Carpet by his side, having just met that weird blue guy-hyped up on fresh air and the thrilling promise of new friends, showing no signs of any sadness or distress.
Back.
Well, this was just great; if Aladdin couldn't even keep this from happening, how was he supposed to keep himself together?