All That Giltters Is Not Gold(Debra Jean Walsh) Anna found the brass lamp in a second-hand shop while looking for used furniture. She just moved into the little apartment a few months ago and had only a bed, her drafting table and a lamp.

Anna was used to living the high life as a fashion designer in a well-established fashion house. The owner sold his line to a retail store and suddenly she was out of a job. She had been paid well, but not well enough to sustain her lifestyle for longer than a few months. She watched her savings dwindle down to a few hundred dollars.

She found a tiny apartment on the eastside of town. A studio, just large enough for her, her cat Juliet, and her drafting table and a few bolts of cloth the former owner had given her.

She worked freelance designing wedding dresses, her specialty. It wasn’t much pay, but enough to keep her going.

She just got paid for designing the landlady’s granddaughter’s wedding dress. She decided to splurge on a television set for her and Juliet to watch tv shows together at night. Anna worked hard all day on her designs with Juliet lying on the floor below, but at night, the reality of her situation set in. A TV would certainly take her mind off her problems!

She had walked by the second hand shop several times without taking notice. But on this particular day, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“I could buy a secondhand TV and have enough money left over to buy another bolt of cloth,” she thought to herself.

As she walked to the store, she thought about her life up until now. She smiled remembering how wonderful and fulfilling her life had been. The exciting people she met, the cocktail parties, the lunches and dinners she attended.

“Honk! Honk!” A car horn blared, shocking her out of her reverie. “Watch it lady! I almost hit ya!”

Anna jumped back, she was teetering on the curb. The red light was flashing and an electronic voice could be heard, “Stop. Stop.”

Anna blinked and shook her head, the darkness of the city grew around her as she came back to reality.

The store was across the street from where she was standing. The light turned green and the electronic voice said, “Go. Go.”

Crowds of working people jammed around her, pushing her in a wave to the other side of the street. This was a far cry from the posh surroundings of Manhattan where cabs would ferry you to your destination. Now, she was forced to walk everywhere.

Anna crossed the street and found her way to the second-hand store and stood in front of the doorway, staring up at the sign.

“Timeless Treasures,” she read aloud.

“Anna…” she heard a voice whisper to her. “Anna….”

She looked around but didn’t recognize anyone on the street.

“Anna…” she heard her name again, as though off in the distance.

Anna had a funny feeling as she opened the door of the shop and stepped in. A tingling went up her spine and down her arms. The hair on her arms rose with little goose bumps. The smell of old leather and dusty clothes permeated the air. She took a deep breath, taking in the smell of lives gone by.

“Anna….” She could hear the voice again, softly, gently calling her name. Again, she looked around, puzzled.

She idly walked down the aisles, touching a woolen sweater here, a silky blouse there. Meandering around, looking at nothing but seeing it all.

She slowly walked over to shelves of bric-a-brac. A torn and fading sewing box, an emerald green serving plate, and a few old dusty records.

Something caught her eye. It was shiny… no, brassy but dirty. Standing on her tiptoes, she pushed the rag dolls to the side and saw a brass lamp, just out of her reach. She stretched even further and finally grabbed the handle and yanked it forward, off the shelf.

She felt excited and scared at the same time.

“Why, it’s just an old brass lamp. Why should I be afraid of an old brass lamp?”

Her stomach flickered with butterflies and her hands were shaking. Even though years of dirt and dust dulled the brass, she could just imagine it shiny and new as she rubbed cleaning ointment over it.

There was no price tag on the lamp, so she walked over to where the saleslady stood behind the counter, clipping price tags to newly acquired ladies’ pants.

“Excuse me,” Anna asked politely. “How much is this lamp? There’s no price tag.”

The sales lady took the lamp, gave it a once over and said, “five bucks.”

“It’s a deal,” Anna cried aloud!

She handed a five-dollar bill to the saleslady and headed out the door, anxious to get her newly acquired treasure back home.

“A diamond in the rough,” Anna exclaimed, “Don’t need a bag. Thanks!”

She walked/ran through the city streets, back to her tiny apartment building. As she rounded the corner, a crack of thunder followed by a flash of lightening lit up the sky. Rain began to pour down heavy on the pavement. She quickly put her purse over her head and ran the few steps remaining.

“Wow! Am I lucky! I just missed the storm!”

She flung open the front door to the building and bolted over to the elevator. She pushed the button, and as if almost by magic, the doors opened.

“Huh! For once I don’t have to wait!” Anna exclaimed.

Finally reaching her floor, she got off and reached her apartment, opened the door, and went inside. Shaking the rainwater off her, she placed the brass lamp on the small round table in the room. She sat down on her bed next to the table and sat staring at the lamp.

“How beautiful you’ll be once I shine you up!” she said to herself.

She got up, went to the kitchen, got a cleaning cloth and a bottle of brass cleaner. She had some left over from the old apartment. She had lovely antique brass lamps she had to sell when she moved.

She sat down on her couch, cloth in one hand, lamp in her lap, Juliet curled up next to her. The cat purred ever so quietly as Anna poured the liquid over the side of the lamp. She began to rub the side briskly. Suddenly, the lamp began to shimmer and shake.

“What the…,” Anna stammered.

Anna couldn’t get the last of the words out of her mouth. Her mouth was agape with wonder and fear as the lamp jumped out of her hands and began to twist and turn like a tornado gone wild.

Anna’s eyes grew wide, Juliet let out a fierce hiss and ran out of the room and into hid deep in the broom closet in the kitchen. Anna was paralyzed with fear, otherwise she would have run and hid too.

A giant puff of smoke rose from the mouth of the lamp and swirled about the room. Slowly it took shape and a large man with a turban on his head appeared.

“I am the Genie of the Lamp. You have set me free, therefore I will grant you one wish,” the Genie bellowed.

Anna began stammering and stuttering.

“Ah, ah, ah…I don’t know…I don’t know who or what you are!?” Anna finally was able to form words.

“I am the Genie of the Lamp. You heard my cries and brought me to your home and freed me. Now I must grant you one wish in return. What do you wish for?” the genie glared at Anna.

“I can’t believe this is happening! I can’t believe this is real! I must be dreaming, or…or something,” Anna stammered.

Anna began to back away from the giant standing in the middle of her apartment. He towered over her, over the furniture, over everything.

“Make haste my dear. I have been asleep for many years. I have lots of catching up to do! Are there any magic carpets nearby? I’ll need a way to get around,” the genie asked quizzically.

“Ah, no…no magic carpets around here…around anywhere for that matter. You are in New York City. Do you know where that is? Do you know what century you are in?” Anna meekly asked.

“New York City…New York City…New York City…” the Genie tried to grasp this concept of a new place and a new time.

“Hmmmm…it seems I have some exploring to do. So, make haste child, I have much to see, much to do! What is your wish!!” the genie demanded.

Anna plopped down on the couch trying to take this all in. A magic genie was in her living room, offering her a magic wish.

“What could I possibly wish for?” she mumbled to herself.

“All the riches in the world! Power, gems, castles, are all for you just for the asking.” the genie leered at Anna.

“Hey wait, in all of the stories I’ve read, Genie’s are tricksters. They give you a wish but there is always a catch. So, what’s the catch?” Anna’s eyes narrowed and her lips turned into a frown.

“I don’t think I should trust you. You’ll grant my wish and then I’ll pay for it the rest of my life. No thanks. I’ll take a hard pass,” Anna shook her head, putting her hand up to the genie.

“But you have to make a wish. I must grant you a wish so that I may live again. For years I have lived in that bottle and my legs are so cramped!” the genie was practically begging Anna.

Just at that moment, a knock at the door startled the two of them. They both froze not knowing what to do. Another soft knock, and then a “Hello, Anna, it’s me, Mrs. Tao.”

Mrs. Tao was an elderly woman who lived across the hall from Anna. She befriended Anna the first day she moved into the building. A friendly woman with a wrinkled face, Mrs. Tao said she earned each and every one of the wrinkles.

“The wrinkles in my face each represent a wisdom I have learned. One wrinkle for every lesson,” she would tell Anna.

“Mrs. Tao. Ah, ah, this is not a good time. Can you come back later?” Anna tried to hide the panic in her voice.

“Oh, I think this is a perfect time. Please, won’t you let me come in, my legs are growing tired standing here at your door,” Mrs. Tao pleaded.

Anna looked at the genie and shrugged her shoulders. “What should I do?”

“Let her in,” the genie smiled wryly. He always enjoyed a good challenge.

Anna slowly walked over to the door, turned the knob, and opened it just a crack.

“I’m a little busy right now Mrs. Tao,” but Anna sounded unconvincing.

Mrs. Tao barged through the door and into the room.

“Yes, just as I smelled…the Genie of the Lamp. I have a nose for these things. I smelled the smoke from the lamp, and I knew it was you!” she pointed her bony finger at him.

“He is a djinn, an evil genie who plays tricks on the unsuspecting human,” Mrs. Tao looked the genie up and down.

“I remember you genie! You tricked one of my ancestors and cursed him to an eternity of hell!” Mrs. Tao yelled, her eyes growing red with anger.

She turned to Anna and said, “my ancestor was a very poor fisherman. He found a strange looking purple bottle in his fishing net one day. He took it home, hoping to clean it up and sell it for food. But instead, the djinn came out and tricked him! My ancestor asked for gold beyond his wildest dreams. The djinn turned him into a goldfish and cursed him to swim in the very river where he once fished.” Mrs. Tao sighed and sat down on the couch.

The excitement at finally finding the genie and the anger she had towards him made her very tired; she clutched at her heart and took deep breaths.

“I only gave him what he wished for,” the genie laughed, remembering the fisherman and how he cried as he shrunk down to a goldfish.

“I could have stepped on him and put him out of his misery.” The genie turned to Mrs. Tao, growing larger and more frightening. “I shall do the same to you!” the genie thundered. The walls of the small apartment shook.

“But you are forgetting, my dear djinn, who put you in that bottle! My mother and her mother before her, back to the time of my ancestors.

Mrs. Tao began her story while Anna and the genie looked on.
Mrs. Tao looked at Anna and then the genie and began her story.

“The fisherman’s wife, Mao Mae, saw what was happening to her husband from her kitchen window. She shook in fear and then in anger as she watched her husband fall for the djinn’s trickery. She sadly cried as her husband fell into the water, a goldfish, and swam away, never to be seen again.

Mao Mae looked around her shack house for something to capture the genie. She grabbed the oil lamp from the windowsill, placed the lamp under her robes and ran out to the dock where the genie stood laughing at the goldfish swimming round in circles, not knowing where to go.”

Anna looked at the genie with disdain. Mrs. Tao patted her hand and continued.

“The genie laughed, “stupid mortal, you are all so willing and eager for your wish that you do not think it through. That’s what you deserve for being greedy.”

Mrs. Tao’s voice grew softer as she continued the story.

“The genie looked up and saw Mao Mae walking towards him.”

“What do we have here,” he jeered at her. “Was this mortal your husband, who now swims in the depths of the river?”

Mao Mae knew she had to stay calm and not show her anger towards the genie.

“You are a grand and mighty genie,” Mao Mae bowed down to the genie. I see you are smarter than us mortals and much wiser. But I don’t understand how you can fit into that tiny bottle? You are so big and strong.” She knew genies loved to be praised and admired.

“I am magical,” the genie said proudly. “I can turn a man into stone, a woman into a tree, I can fly freely like the birds in the sky and swim as fast as the fish in the river,” the genie boasted.

“Would you show me how high you can fly?” asked Mao Mae.

The genie loved to show off and jumped high into the sky, spread his arms open wide and flew through the sky like an eagle. He landed with a thump intended to scare Mao Mae, but she just giggled.

“My that was impressive!” she smiled with a glean in her eye.

“Now can you show me how you swim like a fish in the river?” Mao Mae asked.

Once again, the genie grinned and obliged Mao Mae. He flopped into the water spraying Mao Mae with water as he swam as fast as the fish in the river.

“Magnificent!” applauded Mao Mae. “You are so fast and can fly so high, but can you shrink down like a little mouse and scamper quickly across the wood?”

Without so much as a thought, the genie, whose chest had puffed out so much from all the compliments, shrank down to the size of mouse. Mao Mae quickly took the brass lamp from out from her robe, clamped it on top of the genie who was now a mouse, and scooped him up, shutting the top as fast as she could!

“Now look where your conceit and bragging has got you! Trapped in a brass lamp,” she shouted out!

Mao Mae held the lamp tight in her hand and ran back to her little shack by the water. She put the lamp back on the windowsill where she got it from. Softly tapping the top of the lamp, and smiled.

“For punishment for what you have done to my husband, here you will stay for a thousand years, safe with my family, and my family’s family, for the rest of all eternity. You will remain a prisoner! Never to hurt anyone ever again!”

Then Mao Mae turned back to her stove and made her supper.”

Mrs. Tao sighed deeply and glared at the genie.

“My family has held you captive for many years until a robber came and stole the lamp away from my family. I always knew you were close by, but I could never find you,” Mrs. Tao took a deep breath, placed her hands in her lap and bowed her head slightly.

The genie clapped his huge hands together, leering at Mrs. Tao.
“Well done! What a great story! Sorry you can’t stick around for the new ending! I shall crush you like the bug you are!” the genie grew even larger, filling the entire apartment.

Anna took Mrs. Tao’s hand and held it tightly. She wanted to run but Mrs. Tao’s grip would not let her move off the couch. She put a finger to her lips and mouthed, “shhhh.” Anna nodded her head, she trusted Mrs. Tao.

“Magnificent genie! Oh, mighty djinn! You are most terrifying! I tremble at the sight of you!” Mrs. Tao’s eyes were wide with fear.

Seeing how frightened Mrs. Tao and Anna were made the genie’s chest puff out even more! He fed off fear. The genie grew so big that he could not fit into the tiny apartment, his body was pushed against the walls so tightly that he could not breathe! His face began to turn red. The walls of the tiny apartment strained at the bulk of his being.

Suddenly, Mrs. Tao picked up the brass lamp and threw it at the genie’s heart, piercing it! The genie exploded into a million pieces. The pieces, like light confetti, floated down to the floor.

“Well, that’s the end of that!” Mrs Tao nodded her head. “Let’s get a broom and sweep up this mess and put him back in the lamp where he belongs. He will never hurt another mortal again!” Mrs. Tao firmly said.

Anna, not believing what had all taken place in her apartment, didn’t argue with Mrs. Tao, but went to the broom closet, where Juliet, the cat had been hiding. She said quietly, “it’s ok Juliet, it’s safe to come out now.”

Anna took a broom and dust shovel and began to sweep up the mess. Juliet padded out from her hiding place, sat down in the middle of the room, and started grooming herself as though nothing had happened.

Mrs. Tao peeked out from the tiny kitchen.

“Would you like a cup of tea, my dear?" Mrs. Tao smiled like the cat who swallowed the canary.

Anna meekly nodded yes and sat down on the couch. Mrs. Tao came out from the kitchen with two cups of piping hot tea and handed one to Anna. Mrs. Tao blew on her tea to cool it before taking a sip.

Anna looked deep into Mrs. Tao’s eyes and said, “Mrs. Tao, you saved me from that terrible genie. I was about to wish for my job back, to go back to my old life. I don’t know what kind of trickery he would have used on me.”

Mrs. Tao smiled at Anna. You are a great designer of clothing. I know you will do well in this world. I have great faith in you.”

She took Anna’s hands in her own wrinkled hands. “Would you please design my great granddaughters wedding dress. I know you will make such a beautiful dress for my granddaughter, she will be the most beautiful bride in the world.”

Anna blushed and then smiled. “I would be honored, Mrs. Tao. I will make your granddaughter the most elegant wedding dress.”

Anna’s wedding dress design was so beautiful, it was the envy of all the young girls at the wedding. Everyone exclaimed that they wanted a dress just like the one Anna had made for the granddaughter.

With all of the orders for wedding dresses, Anna was able to open a shop of her own.

On opening day, Mrs. Tao sat on the cushioned chair in the shop, greeting customers as they entered, looking for the perfect wedding dress. Beside her sat the brass lamp, never far from her sight. Anna walked over to where Mrs. Tao sat. Mrs. Tao rose from the chair, hugged Anna and whispered in her ear, “you don’t need gold and gems from an evil genie. Your dresses glitter and shine all on their own.”

And with that, Mrs. Tao and Anna toasted each other with the champagne to celebrate their success! Anna had opened a dress shop of her own and Mrs. Tao defeated the evil genie.

“To us,” toasting each other! “And to the evil djin! May you remain prisoner for another thousand years!”

They both smiled at each other, sat down, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Inside the magic lamp, however, the evil genie had plans of his own. He began to call to his next victim, a young boy, who had heard his name being called. The boy picked up the lamp and began playing with it. He ran out the door with the lamp as his mother and sister admired the wedding dress designs.

Suddenly, the walls of the city shook, and an acrid smell of smoke filled the air…and an evil laugh could be heard all around.

---