Winnie's Wish

"I wish that nothing bad had ever happened to me," said Winnie.

The little fairy-man, hovering in the air at her eye level, pushed back his tiny blue bowler hat and scratched his head.

"Are you sure? Not riches and fame? That's what people usually ask for."

The girl nodded emphatically. "Very sure. I think it's the best wish I could possibly make. Can you do it?"

The fairy-man turned his head to the side and mumbled softly, as if speaking to an unseen person. After a few moments he looked back at Winnie.

"It's big mojo, as they say, but I can give it a go."

Winnie clapped her thin hands in delight. "Cool! But I want to make sure it's done right."

"Oh?"

"When I say 'bad', I mean anything that I consider bad. Like how my cat died, and how my parents split up, and the fire -- all of that. Got it?"

The fairy-man twitched his pointy nose. "It is gotten."

"And don't go reversing that stuff onto anybody else. It just never happened, okay? And don't -- well, here, I wrote it all down." Winnie pulled a slip of paper from the pocket of her jeans and held it up in front of the floating fairy-man.

"Hmph," he said after a minute. "You're certainly thorough, aren't you?"

"I have to be, since I only get one wish, right?"

"Correct."

Winnie stuffed the paper back into her pocket and squared her shoulders. "Okay then, I'm ready."

"Very well." The fairy-man cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. Winnie closed her eyes, beaming in anticipation. In a moment, her life would be all changed for the better. She would never have been teased at school, her boyfriend would never have left her, she would be living in a proper house instead of in a smelly trailer with her aunt ....

She opened her eyes. The fairy-man was still there, bobbing gently in front of her face.

"I said I'm ready."

"Er, I've done it."

Winnie glanced around. She was still in the same cramped, cluttered room in her aunt's trailer. "Done what?"

"Cast your wish."

"But nothing's changed!" Winnie cried.

The fairy-man removed his hat and clutched it in front of him. "Ah, you see, this is what it is. If nothing bad had ever happened to you, then you wouldn't have needed to make the wish, and we would never have met, so I wouldn't have granted it. Ergo, a paradox, which takes precedence and results in nullification."

"What are you talking about?" Winnie said shrilly. "You promised to grant me a wish!"

"I said I'd give it a go. I didn't actually make a guarantee."

"Oh, that's so not fair! But -- can't I change my wish, then?"

"Sorry," said the fairy-man. He jammed the hat back onto his head and began rising toward the ceiling. "You probably should have gone with the riches and fame."

"No, wait! Come back here!" Winnie yelled. But the fairy-man floated away from her, and vanished like a popped soap bubble the instant he touched the bare light bulb.

The girl turned and kicked the wall of the trailer. She felt tears begin to well up, but gritted her teeth and willed herself not to cry. Wasting a wish was a bad thing -- but at least things didn't get any worse! ◊