Page 29 - August 2017 Voices

Jack’s Wish

by Phyllis Harmon, DTM

Well Jack, who WAS the poorest man in the EXACTLY did she promise?
kingdom, could not believe his luck. He was Finally he arrived home to find a very large,
about to plant a big kiss on the lips of a very 17-point stag blocking his door. And as far as
beautiful woman AND become a very rich man his eyes could see, there were bucks, shoulder
indeed! For he had told her his dearest wish was to shoulder. In fact—you guessed it —a million
to have a million bucks! of them. Gladys had kept her promise. But not
“MMMWAAH!” he planted a big, sloppy, exactly as Jack had wished for.
overly exuberant kiss on her mouth, while In the end all was not lost. Jack finally got what
enveloping her in a bear hug. He hugged her so he always wanted. To be rich. In fact, he became
hard, that he literally lifted her off her feet and the wealthiest man in the kingdom. He sold a
out of her slippers. few of his herd to neighbor Nick for a goodly
“Oh my!” she tittered! “Not only are you the sum, and invested in a large farm between the
poorest man in the kingdom, you have a very forest and the castle. He bred his herd with a
expressive hug!” very, light footed, airborne variety, and started
As he was basking in the afterglow of his the world’s only open-air, flying cargo service.
performance, right before his eyes, she began As it happens, his busiest time of the year was
to morph from the beautiful woman he saw in December, and old Nick his largest customer.
the road, to Gladys, the kingdom’s one and only And to this day, Jack laughs at Gladys’s
prankster-playing shape shifter. As she danced practical joke, and with a shake of his head,
around gleefully laughing at Jack for falling always says “be careful what you wish for!”
for her practical joke, he reminded her of her
promise to give him a million bucks if he kissed
her.
Well Gladys may have been
the kingdom’s one and only
prankster-playing shape shifter,
but a promise was a promise.
“When you return home, you will
find a million bucks on your doorstep.”
With a hearty guffaw and a wave goodbye,
Gladys skipped down the road to the castle
for a hearty dinner and a nice cup of
chamomile tea before bed.
And because of this Jack hurried home,
ecstatic that a million bucks would be there
for him to hold, and count, and spend in the
years to come. All of his dreams flashed before
his eyes, and he picked up his pace eager to run
his fingers through his fortune.
As he approached his home, he began to
feel a sense of dread. If Gladys was a prankster,
what would he actually find on his doorstep?
But a promise was a promise wasn’t it? What Gladys and the 17-point stag

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 AUGUST, 2017 29