Chapter Six

"I feel so ashamed," said Tony Jr. He and Jeannie were in Tony Jr.'s bedroom.

"About what?" Jeannie inquired. Tony Jr. was sitting up in bed. Jeannie was sitting on the edge of Tony Jr.'s bed, facing him.

"I'm supposed to be a genie," said Tony Jr. "I should've been able to fight them!"

"You are also half-human," Jeannie reminded Tony Jr.

"And it almost killed me ..."

"You possess capabilities that most genies lack," said Jeannie.

"Like what?" Tony Jr. asked.

What can I do that someone who can kill me just by blinking their eyes CANNOT? he wondered.

"You broke out of a bottle," said Jeannie. "Have you any idea … how many genies would give their eye teeth to be able to do that? To be able to do what you did?"

"Have you any idea what it feels like to be trapped?" Tony Jr. snapped. "What it feels like to be HELPLESS?"

Tony Jr. stopped himself. She was trapped in a bottle for two thousand years, he remembered. She was trapped in a safe one time.

"I'm sorry," said Tony Jr., apologizing. "I … forgot …"

"To answer your question … yes, I do know," Jeannie replied calmly. "I know what it is like to be trapped … to be helpless."

"I have said this before in the past," Jeannie continued. "Being a genie … is not all that it is cracked up to be.

"There is something that you keep forgetting. Powerful as I may seem to you, I am a slave to my bottle … subject to the will of whoever OWNS my bottle.

"I cannot stress this enough," Jeannie concluded. "Whoever owns my bottle … owns ME."

"That's the thing," said Tony Jr.

Jeannie looked at Tony Jr. quizzically. "I do not understand," she said.

"Do you know how it feels to want something … and yet … NOT want it at the same time?"

"What do you mean?" Jeannie asked.

"As much as I'd love having the powers of a genie, there's also the whole thing about being … you know …"

"Stuck in a bottle?"

"That," said Tony Jr. "and going up against … people … like the Blue Jinn."

Jeannie grimaced at the memory. Tell me about it.

"I guess … what I'm trying to say is that … I'd like to be able to hold my own in a fight."

"Anthony, leave the fighting to me," said Jeannie firmly. "I am a genie. This is my job. This is what I have been trained to do. This is what I have done for the past two thousand years."

"They beat me," said Tony Jr. "Look, I know you probably can't see it right now …"

"Anthony," Jeannie said quietly.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"I saw everything," Jeannie said solemnly.

Tony Jr. stared quizzically at Jeannie. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The shoe prints, the bruises on your chest … your dislocated shoulder ..."

A chill ran down Tony Jr.'s spine. "How could you?" he inquired. "The only person who could've even POSSIBLY seen that … was Aunt Jeannie."

Jeannie closed her eyes, shook her head, and said, "It was I … not your Aunt Jeannie … who was in that wine cellar with you that day."

Tony Jr.'s eyebrows shot upwards. "You …"

"I needed to see you … and I wanted you to see me," Jeannie explained. "I disguised myself as your Aunt Jeannie." She paused and then added, "It was the only way I knew how to slip past Maurice's henchmen without being detected."

"YOU healed me …"

Jeannie nodded her head. Yes.

All the breath suddenly left Tony Jr.'s body. "I … I don't know what to say …"

"There is no need … for you to say anything."

"I'm … I'm speechless." Tony Jr. then added, "Thank you."

"You are welcome," said Jeannie with a shy smile. She then added, "It is getting late … and you have school tomorrow."

Tony Jr. lay down in bed and pulled the sheet over his head. "Good night," he said.

"Good night," said Jeannie as she turned off the lamp that was sitting on the nightstand next to Tony Jr.'s bed. She sat for a moment, staring at her sleeping son.

PERSIA

2nd CENTURY, A.D.

The kingdom of Hazan was at war with the kingdom of Nazar.

Jeannie, then (unofficial) court magician to the Sultan of Hazan, entered the dungeon. She wore a green harem outfit with a green veil made of heavy silk.

Chained to the wall before her was an enemy soldier, stripped to the waist. Two of the Sultan's royal guards stood in front of him.

"His name is Suleiman Al-Bashir … he's a Captain in the Nazar Royal Cavalry," said one of the guards. He then added, "Maybe YOU can make him talk."

All that was known about Jeannie at the time was that she allegedly possessed "mysterious powers" (one of which was the power to supposedly "bend men's minds to her will").

"Leave us," Jeannie commanded.

The two guards left the room and closed the door behind them.

"Who are you?" Suleiman asked. "What do you want?"

Jeannie waved her hand in a circle in front of Suleiman's face.

"Sleep," said Jeannie to Suleiman.

"What manner of trickery is this?" Suleiman demanded. His eyes followed Jeannie's hand as she waved it in front of his face.

Jeannie blinked. "You must be tired after being out on the battlefield," she said as Suleiman began falling under her spell. "Sleep, now … Rest."

Suleiman stared transfixed at Jeannie's hand as she continued waving it in a circle before his face.

"Your eyes are dilating," Jeannie said softly. "You are SO tired. So … VERY … tired." She then cooed, "Sleep, now ... Rest."

The now-hypnotized Suleiman stared out into space, a stream of saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Sleep, now." Suleiman's head sagged as Jeannie gently closed his eyes. "Sleep … Sleep ..."

Jeannie got up and walked over to the doorway. She leaned against the door frame, watching over her sleeping son.

There was a time in her life when she regarded mortal men's minds as being but putty in her hands - a thing to be molded and shaped according to her pleasure.

Jeannie crossed her arms in front of her chest and cringed. How could you DO that? she berated herself. The whole experience of hypnotizing Tom had left a bad taste in her mouth.

Impulse? Revenge?

Jeannie stared at the sleeping Tony Jr.. Would you want ANTHONY doing what you just did? she thought. He wishes to be a genie ... what kind of genie would you have him become?

Assuming he truly wishes to BE a genie.

It is no longer just about YOU now. You have to think about Anthony.

She then turned and walked away.

Faisal St. Gregory sat on the floor of a padded cell at the Florida State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, bound in a straitjacket and rocking back-and-forth, back-and-forth inside the cell.

His brother, Maurice St. Gregory, sat on the floor of the cell next to him. Just like his brother, he made the mistake of telling the judge at his trial that a "genie" had assisted him in carrying out the kidnapping of Tony Jr.. Upon hearing this, the judge declared him mentally incompetent to stand trial - just as another judge had done previously with his brother, Faisal.

"JEANNIE!" Maurice plaintively called out to the air. "JEANNIE! JEANNIE!"

THE END