Taking responsibility - Part 4

Svetlana was taking a short break from work in the lobby. It was three days since M. Sprüngli had left for his holiday. If M. Sprüngli had been around, he wouldn't have accepted such sloppy behavior on Svetlana's part. But his nephew David wasn't that strict. And, at the moment, he wasn't even there. Instead, Svetlana saw Amelia talking to a patron at the reception desk.
Svetlana felt her anger rise. Without Svetlana, Amelia would still be a mouse. Now, Amelia had bested Svetlana for exactly the same position Svetlana had aimed for. "The world is not fair!" Svetlana thought. It was time to take care of Amelia once and for all. Svetlana reached into her apron and produced a purple bottle. When she uncorked the bottle, purple smoke streamed out of it and the genie Gregorios took shape.

"What do you want know, Svetlana?" he asked.

"Do you see that?" Svetlana pointed towards Amelia. "Now she's taken my position. It's time to take care of her once and for all."

"What do you have in mind?"

"First, we'll turn her back into a mouse. And then I'll squish her." Svetlana said with a devilish smile.

"Sorry, Svetlana, I won't do that." Gregorios replied.

Svetlana put her fists on her hips. "And why not?"

"First, you tried that before and it failed." Gregorios began to count his reasons.

"Then, I will kill her immediately!"

"As a genie, I can't kill a person, so, I won't do it!"

"You will only transform her. I'll kill that vermin afterwards."

"Technically, that would work, I guess..." Gregorios replied. "But you still forget one point: You already had your three official wishes. Everything extra must get us revenge on Martha. I don't see that here. All you want to do with that wish is quench your hatred on Amelia. Have you ever asked yourself why Amelia has risen from maid to receptionist? She must have used her chance and gotten some education."

"Don't you think she got the job because she's sleeping in David Schnürli's bed?" Svetlana replied.

"That's maybe one factor. But, I'm pretty sure she has gone to some kind of school. Look at her, how politely she deals with the patrons. And, from what I can see, she's doing the paperwork pretty well. You know that I applied for that very position before Martha locked me away as a genie slave. I tell you, she's no longer the stupid and timid maid I turned that mouse into." Greogorios continued to reason. "And what did you do, Svetlana? You didn't get additional education, all you care about is getting your stupid revenge on Martha."

"Don't you want to take revenge on her? She made you a slave. She trapped you in a bottle. Don't you hate that?"

"True, but it's not only Martha I hate. If there hadn't been that blackmail letter, I would have made my last wish that turned me into a genie. I wish I knew who had written that letter..." Gregorios said with an angry smile.

Svetlana backed away. "But you're still a genie."

"Actually, I'm pretty well used to being a genie, now." Gregorios said, to Svetlana's surprise. "If I wouldn't be trapped inside my bottle, life could be quite comfortable for me. Why don't you let me out of the bottle now and then, and not only to make me grant you a wish? We could have gone out together, had some fun. I would even have granted you any wish, if you would have enabled me a normal life. You could have wished for anything that makes your life better. But you didn't. All you cared about was your revenge."

Svetlana thought for a moment. A broad, but frightening smile crept onto her face. Then, she said: "You're absolutely right. I should have used your magic to make our lives better. Instead, I treated you as a slave. But, that's gonna change now. How about this: Tonight, we hit the town together. And then I'll tell you about my plans for the future."

"Sounds good to me." Gregorios said and returned to his lamp.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 1: [link]
Part 2: [link]
Part 3: [link]

Part 5A (with codeword "Goddess"): [link]
Part 5B (with codeword "Mouse"): [link]
Part 6: [link]
Part 7A: Martha's human side has won the argument: [link]
Part 7B: Martha's genie side has won the argument: [link]
Part 8A Check Sylvias State of mind first: [link]
Part 8B Go and ask David or Amelia for help: [link]

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