MY FAVORITE GENIE
by Carycomic
Disclaimer: as usual, if you recognize any characters and/or concepts, I don't own them.
Synopsis: T.J. Nelson and his mom finally learn what happened to his dad. From a source that's literally out of this world!
Foreword: in "The Birds And The Bees Bit" (a second season episode of I DREAM OF JEANNIE), Haji, king of the genies, showed Jeannie and Major Nelson that, if they married, Jeannie would become an ordinary mortal, but both of her children would inherit their mother's powers! Major Nelson called off the engagement, then. After a bit he reconsidered and they got married in the fifth and final season of the series. Yet, she somehow retain her powers. In the 1985 TV reunion movie, I DREAM OF JEANNIE... 15 YEARS LATER, they were also depicted as having only _one_ child! Anthony Nelson, Junior (T.J. to his friends).
Then, in 1991, NBC telecast a sequel entitled I STILL DREAM OF JEANNIE, wherein Tony Nelson, Senior was mysteriously absent due to some top-secret project code-named "Xenon." The following story tries to explain away these contradictions.
BAGHDAD (JAN. 30, 1968)
The tall man called Habib had grabbed Major Roger Healey by the lapels of his military shirt. Lifting him a good two or three inches off the floor and angrily shaking him like a terrier with a rat.
"Why were you trying to steal my genie?" he demanded. "Tell me why!"
Major Anthony Nelson could think of no other way to rescue him on the spur of the moment than to try and swing into the taller man like Errol Flynn. Using a chandelier that looked more like an overgrown Japanese lantern! Unfortunately, as the Air Force officer commenced his swing (unsuccessfully trying to yell like Tarzan, in the process), Habib chose to turn aside at the last second. Trying to shake the "truth" out of Roger from a different angle. Consequently, he flew right past Habib... and out through the translucent silk curtain separating the harem from its anteroom.
There, he collided with the last person he ever expected to see again. Jeannie's insanely jealous ex-suitor: the Blue Djinn!
"What the...?" he began to exclaim.
BLINK!
Tony suddenly found himself bound and gagged. White rope pinning his upper arms to his sides; another white rope around his knees; and a glorified white towel wrapped around his mouth! Thereby preventing any possibility to call for help or demand to know what was going on. But the surprises did not end there. For, a micro-second later, the Blue Djinn blinked again. Only, this time, it was to alter his entire appearance. Now he looked like Tony's identical twin! And, when that had been accomplished, three of the harem girls standing behind Phony Tony -two Caucasian blondes and a Chinese brunette- screamed in perfect unison while simultaneously pushing him back through the curtain. Meanwhile, the fourth harem girl -a raven-haired belly dancer in black- held on to the real Major Nelson, grinning at him with unapologetic amusement as he struggled in vain to escape.
And all of this occurred in far less time than it even takes to tell.
The first three harem girls, their part in the subterfuge accomplished, came running back in. The grins on their faces mirroring the belly dancer's. They muttered some things in Arabic, among themselves, before another female voice in flawless East Coast American called them back inside. So, they did. Dragging the bound-and-gagged Tony with them!
"Ah!" exclaimed Jeannie Brunette (as Tony had mentally nicknamed his genie's raven-haired twin sister). "There you are, Major Baby. No doubt you're wondering what just happened. Quite simple, really. During the forty-eight hours I had you in that bird cage, I went in search of Big Blue, with whom I cooked up a contingency plan! We abducted your friend, Major Arlen, from his little PR trip in Latin America and turned him into a hypnotized semblance of my current master, the real Habib, who, by the way, has extended his ski trip to Switzerland for another month."
"It's Major Arlen who 'ordered' me to blink both Major Healey and Big Blue (disguised as you) back to NASA. When that was done, I returned Major Arlen to Latin America. Restored to his normal appearance, but, with all memory of what he experienced here, permanently erased! This leaves the six of us free to enjoy each other's company completely uninterrupted! At least, for the first thirty days. After that? Well, let's just say that all the real Habib will see, when he does return, is his beloved cockatiel. Safe and sound in that lovely golden bird cage!"
"As for my ditzy sister? I'll have to continue making periodic attempts to abduct her 'master', so as not to make her or Major Healey suspicious by quitting cold turkey. What do you think, darling? Am I not a genius of a genie?"
A series of heatedly angry "mmphs" were the only response he was able to give to that boast. Making her laugh all the more triumphantly!
HOUSTON, TEXAS
(OCT. 31, 1992)
Jeannie and T.J. Nelson gasped in perfect unison as their eyes flew open in shocked realization at what they had just been telepathically shown by Exigius 12.5 (aka "Martin O'Hara").
"So that's why I never lost my powers," Jeannie muttered.
"And why I never had a sister of my own," T.J. added.
The Martian anthropologist nodded. "Because, technically, you married a fellow genie, who, at this very moment, is posing as Colonel Anthony Nelson. Leader of an experimental NASA colony on the surface of Mars!"
The End?