Chapter Seventeen
"Try some of this," said Jeannie, giving Tony Jr. some soup.
"What is that stuff," asked Colonel Nelson.
"Cream of Yak Soup," said Jeannie. "Made from the best Yak tails in Persia.
"Sick. I don't want any of that stuff."
"It is the only remedy for an overworked genie."
"I'm not a genie anymore."
"Listen to your mother, young man, and eat the soup."
Tony Nelson Junior was laid out on the sofa, with an ice pack on his head, and four or five blankets covering the rest of him. He ate the soup.
"Do you feel your arm," asked Jeannie.
"Yeah, I do. Both of them. My feet too."
"You should feel better in no time. I will give you some Persian peppers, some camel's milk, and some more Yak soup." Jeannie left for the kitchen.
"Meanwhile, we need to have a man to man talk, Tony," said Colonel Nelson solemnly. "You have to forget about being an astronaut."
"Why?"
"You're a genie now . . ."
"I'm not a genie anymore."
"You are, son. We locked that green bottle away in a safe, but your mother told me that whoever controls it from now on will be your new master. Even if you don't blink things up, your reflexes, metabolism, everything is the same as a Jeannie's." Colonel Nelson then took out a snapshot of his son. He showed it to him. It was a picture of a floating ice pack, and some blankets on an invisible person on a sofa. Tony Junior looked at it stunned. "Genies can't be photographed, blurred pictures you can explain, you won't explain why you are invisible for every picture someone takes."
"What if I . . ."
"You can't pass any of the tests. Even if you do, you'll be useless on a survival mission. You won't need food or water the same way an ordinary person does. And if you really want something, you'll be able to blink for it. When your hiking across death valley or skull flats, and you want water, your going to blink it in."
"But . . ."
"I'm sorry, I wanted you try to become an astronaut. You've got to realize that as soon as you blinked in that rabbit it was impossible.
"Yes, dad," said Tony Jr. dejected.
"Another thing, Tony, your gonna have to keep this a secret. Under no condition let anyone find out that . . . "
"Dr. Bellows and Trudy already found out."
"How?" asked Colonel Nelson.
He explained.
"Don't worry, poor Dr. Bellows has seen things like this before. The important thing is that General Peterson never saw it."
"Poor Dr. Bellows," said Jeannie sympathetically, coming back into the room.
"Colonel Healey and Roger already know," added Tony Jr.
"Colonel Healey knew for years about me," said Jeannie. "And once Roger Junior finishes he time as a parrot, he's probably going realize your not just a thing to grant wishes. When Colonel Healey found out I was a genie, he stole my bottle, locked it in his safe, and made me do all kinds of things. Now eat your Yak soup."
"Maybe I'll go into business, like Roger Healey plans too," Tony Jr. muttered to himself.
"Why are you not going to try to be an astronaut?" asked Jeannie.
"Jeannie, we've been through this. He can't try to get in the space program because he's not human."
"He can be. All he has to do is marry a mortal girl, and he will be."
"I'd have to marry in the next five years," said Tony Junior.
"I can ask Hadji if he will take away your powers. Maybe he will take away long enough so you can be an astronaut."
"You know, I didn't think about that Jeannie," said Colonel Nelson.
"I have been all day, Anthony darling," Jeannie said. "After all, my mother didn't raise me to be a stupid genie."
The End