“Maybe that’s how the ring works,” Jonah says. “You take it off, rub it, and she appears. You put it back on, and poof, she goes back inside the ring.”
Sounds about right. I make sure the ring is on tight. I don’t want it falling off my finger while Jonah and I are riding the magic carpet.
“I’m climbing on!” Jonah exclaims. He throws himself at the carpet and sits up. “Do you talk?” he asks the carpet.
It does not respond.
“I guess not,” he says, shrugging.
I step over and lift myself onto it, behind my brother. It wobbles underneath me. It feels a bit like a trampoline. “Okay, Prince, your turn. Jump on.”
Prince does not move.
“Prince, you heard Jonah. Come on!”
Prince looks at me and lifts his leg to pee.
“Come on, Prince, be a good dog and jump on,” Jonah says. “You can help me steer!”
Prince tilts his head, barks, and then jumps up onto the rug. He sits down in the center, right between me and Jonah.
“Okay, we’re all aboard,” I say. “Lead the way.”
Jonah holds one arm straight out like he’s Superman. “Go, carpet, go!”
It doesn’t move.
“Hmm,” he says. “It must not respond to voice commands. Maybe if I pull on one of the tassels?”
He pulls one of the tassels and we tilt to the right. I almost fall off. Yikes! “Careful!”
He pulls another tassel and we tilt to the left. He pulls another one and we go forward. “I did it!” he shouts. “We’re moving forward!”
“Good job!” I say, even though we’re moving very slowly. “Is there a tassel for speed? Or to go higher?”
“Um …” He pulls another one and we go up half a foot.
I quickly take off the ring, rub it, and Karimah pops out in the swirl of purple haze. The smoke strings blow a bit in the breeze from the slightly moving carpet.
“Hi!” she says. “What’s up? You’re using the carpet! Great!”
“Does this go any faster?” I ask. “Or higher?”
She shakes her head, her long pink hair swaying. “Probably not. I told you my magic isn’t that strong.”
“So this is the fastest and highest we can go?” I ask. We are now three feet off the ground. We are flying about the same speed that we can walk.
“I guess so,” Karimah says. “Enjoy!”
I slide the ring back on and she disappears.
“At least we won’t get any more blisters from walking,” I say.
And off we go.
It takes us the same two hours to fly through the desert. Eventually we get back through the city gates, past the fountain, past the bigger houses, and then into the market.
“Um, excuse me, sorry,” I say for the tenth time.
The problem with having a flying carpet that hovers only a few feet off the ground is that we keep bumping into people. Magic carpets must not be too unusual around here, because no one starts to scream when they see two kids and a dog on a flying rug. But people are annoyed by the constant bumping.
When we arrive at the street where Aladdin and his friends were playing duckball, a lot of kids are there. But no Aladdin. I hope his nose isn’t still bleeding.
“Watch it!” says the girl with the dark brown ponytail when we accidentally knock into her with the carpet.
“Sorry!” I cry. “Hey, do you know where we can find Aladdin?”
“At his house,” she says with a wistful look. “He’s lucky. Do you want me to tell you how to get there?”
We nod and she gives us directions.
“Thanks!” I call out. “And sorry!” I can’t help but wonder what she meant by lucky.
Aladdin’s house is in an area with lots of narrow streets that crisscross and zigzag.
“Jonah, sharp right!” I warn him when a woman leading a white goat suddenly veers into our path.
“Got it!” he says, and turns left, but at least we didn’t crash into them. “Abby?” he says, looking around. “I think we’re here.”
We see a small stone house that matches the description the girl gave us.
Okay. Now we just have to get Aladdin to listen to us.
But I have a plan.
We pull over and hop off the flying carpet. Prince runs around in circles for a minute. I think someone is very happy to be back on the ground.
“Where do I park it?” Jonah asks. The carpet is still hovering by his knees.
“I don’t see any carpet parking,” I say.
“I wish I had a lock for it. I can’t just leave it here. What if someone takes it? Who wouldn’t want a magic flying carpet?”
“Just roll it up,” I say. “It’s not that big. You can carry it under your arm like Mom does with her yoga mat.”
“Oh, yeah,” he says. He pulls one of the tassels toward the ground, and the carpet drops down. Then he rolls it up and stuffs it under his arm. “All set. Good carpet,” he says, patting it.
We walk up to the house and I knock on the door.
A woman answers. She’s around my mom’s age, with curly black hair and dark eyes. She’s wearing a long blue dress and blue slippers. “Can I help you?” she asks.
“Hi,” I say. “You must be Aladdin’s mom. I’m Abby and this is my brother, Jonah. Oh, and that’s our dog, Prince,” I add, glancing at Prince, who is sniffing the air. It smells like something delicious is on the stove.
“Welcome,” Aladdin’s mom says. “My name is Nada. Aladdin is inside. Come on in.”
We walk into a small living room with a tattered gold-colored couch, a rocking chair, and a small wooden table. There’s a thin, faded blue rug on the floor and purple patterned throw pillows. The walls are covered with family photos. Aladdin as a baby. Aladdin with his mom. His grandparents on their wedding day. The house feels well worn and well loved.
His mom sits down at the table in front of a bowl of carrots. She starts peeling one. “Aladdin, your friends are here.”
Aladdin is lying on the couch with an ice pack on his nose, reading a book. He glances at us and sits up. “Hey, you’re the girl and boy — and dog — from the duckball game. You’re the one who hit me with the duckball!”
“I am so, so sorry,” I say, flushing. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he says. He takes the ice pack off his nose to show us a small red bump. I wince. “A little bruised, but no big deal.”
I exhale in relief. “I’m Abby, by the way.”
“I’m Jonah,” my brother says.
“Is that why you came by?” he asks. “To apologize?” He puts a string bookmark in his book and closes it.
I’m suddenly reminded that I gave up on my tenth book for the read-a-thon to come here and I STILL can’t help Maryrose at all. Maybe there’s still a way, though. I have to keep trying, right? But for now, I really have to focus on the mess I made of this fairy tale.
Aladdin is staring at me.
Oops! Focus, Abby! “No! I mean, yes, of course I wanted to apologize, but actually, we’re here because we’d like to introduce you to someone,” I say.
“Who?” he asks.
“The princess,” I tell him.
“Jasmine!” Jonah cries.
“No,” I tell my brother. “That’s not her real name, remember?”
“Princess Badr-al-Badur?” Aladdin asks.
“Yes! Do you like her?” I ask.
“Do I LIKE her?” Aladdin repeats. “She’s amazing! I’ve never met her, but she’s always doing good things for the village. She volunteers at the medical clinic and had a library built and stocked with books. We don’t have a school, but I hear she’s working on that.”
Wow. She sounds like a really great person.
“What would you say if I told you that you and the princess were going to fall in love and get married?” I ask.
Aladdin starts laughing so hard that he falls off the couch. Even his mother is chuckling.
“What?
” Jonah says. “What’s so funny?”
“Hello?” Aladdin says. “I’m just a guy from the village.” He lifts his foot. “I have holes in my sneakers. Dirt on my cheeks. At the moment, I even have a bruised nose. The princess would never fall in love with me. I have nothing.” He laughs again. “You’re funny, though.”
“That can’t be true,” I say. “The girl you were playing duckball with called you lucky. Why are you lucky?”
He blushes. “She meant that I was lucky to have a mother. And a house. She’s an orphan. A street kid. She sleeps at her aunt and uncle’s house, but they don’t really want her there. She spends most of her time hanging around the streets.”
“Oh,” I say. “You are lucky, then.”
“And you’re going to get even luckier,” Jonah puts in.
“That’s true,” I say. I glance at my ring. “I’ll tell you what,” I add. “If you come with us to meet the princess and all goes according to plan, you can keep our genie.”
Aladdin’s dark eyebrows shoot up. “What plan? What genie?”
“Well, if everything works out and we can get back to our home, you can have this magic ring. A genie lives inside it and she grants wishes.”
Aladdin doubles over in laughter again and slaps his knee. “You guys are hilarious. You should have your own comedy show at the theater.”
“Show him, Abby,” Jonah says.
I slide the ring off my finger. I rub the side. The sparkly purple haze comes from the ring, and Karimah pops out. She’s still wearing her silver jumpsuit. But this time her long pink hair is in a high ponytail.
“Say hi, Karimah!” I say.
“Oh, hello!” she says, nodding at Aladdin and his mother.
Their mouths hang open.
Aladdin’s eyes are huge. “You really have a genie!” he says. “I’ve heard of genies, of course, but I’ve never seen one up close. Can she really grant wishes?”
“Yes! And if we give you the ring when we go home, then she’ll grant YOUR wishes.”
Aladdin crosses his arms over his chest. “Let me see her grant a wish.”
Oops. “Well, she can’t right now because she’s already granted three wishes today. She has a daily maximum.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not sure I believe you. I mean, a girl did just pop out of your ring in a cloud of sparkly purple, but still. I don’t know.”
“Believe them,” Karimah says. Then she yawns and stretches. Maybe granting our three wishes today made her sleepy. I can relate. I put the ring back on my finger and she disappears.
Aladdin stares at the spot where Karimah was standing less than a second ago. “Wow! She’s gone just like” — he snaps his fingers — “that.”
“Told you!” Jonah says. “She’s a real genie.”
But how are we going to prove it if Karimah can’t make a wish come true right now?
“Look,” Jonah says, unrolling the flying carpet. “She made this for us!”
Of course! The magic carpet! Go, Jonah!
The carpet hovers a couple of feet above the ground.
Aladdin’s face lights up. “Cool! I’ve always wanted one of those! Can I try it out?”
“Yes!” I tell him. “As long as you’ll come with us to the palace to meet Princess Badr-al-Badur.”
“Okay!” Aladdin says, rushing toward the door. “I’ll come. Mom! I’m going to the palace! Be home soon!”
Nada stands up, a carrot in her hand. “You are absolutely not going out at this hour. It’s dinnertime.”
“But, Mom! You heard what they said. Look at the flying carpet! You saw Karimah! She’s a genie and we’re going to get to keep her!”
“Aladdin, your new friends seem very nice,” Nada says. “And it was thoughtful of them to apologize for hurting your nose. And maybe they managed to come across a real genie. A genie who suddenly can’t grant wishes,” she adds skeptically. “But it’s late and you haven’t eaten. You can play with Abby, Jonah, Karimah, and the carpet tomorrow.”
“But —” I start.
“No buts,” Nada says.
I look at the clock on the wall. It’s 8:00 P.M. I glance at my watch — it’s 12:25 A.M. at home.
Jonah’s stomach suddenly growls.
Nada smiles. “Are you hungry?” she asks, looking at both of us.
I’m starving. And Jonah is always hungry. We both nod.
“You will share our dinner,” she says.
“Awesome,” Jonah says. “Thanks!”
A little while later, we sit down at the table. There’s a small plate of lamb stew that would be barely enough for my dad alone, and warm flatbread. Everything looks and smells amazing, but how can we eat their food when they have so little?
Jonah reaches his fork for the meat plate, but I put my hand over his.
“We’re really not that hungry,” I say even though my stomach is growling. “We’ll just wait until we get to the palace tomorrow.”
Nada smiles warmly at me. “I cannot let children go hungry,” she says. “Please, help yourselves. I even have a small bone for your dog.” She goes to the tiny kitchen area and returns with a bone. Prince happily gnaws away on it on the rug.
Aladdin’s mom is really nice. I serve Jonah to make sure he won’t take too much, then myself, then pass the plates to Aladdin. I notice he’s careful to leave his mother a decent portion.
“This is so good,” Jonah says. “It doesn’t even need ketchup.”
That’s his ultimate compliment. Jonah is obsessed with ketchup.
When dinner is done, I look up at the clock. It’s nine P.M. I look down at my watch. It’s twelve thirty in Smithville. So five minutes at home is an hour here. I was right! That means half an hour at home is six hours here. And an hour at home is twelve hours here — half a day!
“What day is it?” I ask. It was a Wednesday at home.
Aladdin’s mom raises an eyebrow. I guess it is a weird question. “Monday,” she says.
Okay. I do the calculations in my head. If Jonah and I want to be home at six forty-five A.M., that’s six hours and fifteen minutes from now in home time. If one hour at home is twelve hours here, then we have three full days and three hours left here.
That should give us plenty of time. Hopefully.
“Uh, Abby?” Jonah says. “If we’re not going to the palace until tomorrow, where are we going to sleep?”
Good question. Maybe on the flying carpet. Sure, it’s wobbly but so are waterbeds, right?
Nada eyes us. “You don’t have a place to stay?” she asks.
“No,” I admit.
“You will sleep here,” she says.
Yes! “You don’t mind?” I ask.
“It will be our pleasure.”
“Thank you,” I say.
Nada offers me a long, colorful nightgown, and Jonah a pair of Aladdin’s pajamas.
“Comfy,” Jonah says. “Do you think I can bring this home?”
I yawn-laugh. “We’ll see.”
Nada unrolls an extra mattress on the living room rug. Then she and Aladdin say good night and Aladdin climbs a short ladder to a small loft that holds only a thin mattress and a shelf with just one book. Nada goes behind a beaded curtain to her room.
Prince curls up on the rug with his bone. Jonah and I stretch out head to foot on the mattress. We haven’t slept head to foot since we were in the story Snow White. I hope he doesn’t kick me in the face again.
“So tomorrow we just introduce Aladdin and the princess and hope they fall in love?” Jonah whispers. He sounds unsure.
I swallow hard. It’s true that in a lot of the fairy tales we go into, the characters don’t fall in love. Sometimes that works out for the best.
But what if Aladdin’s right? What if the princess won’t even talk to him because he’s so … not royal?
And what if Karimah’s magic isn’t strong enough to make jewels and a grand new palace? Aladdin will never win over the sultan. He’ll never marry the princess. And i
t’ll be all my fault.
“That’s the plan,” I say, trying to stay positive. I flop over onto my stomach. “I just hope they don’t hate each other.”
Bright and early the next morning, we’re off via flying carpet to the palace: me, Jonah, Prince, and Aladdin (oh, and Karimah, who’s in my ring). It’s a little squished, but we manage. I’m feeling much more rested and alert. Jonah did kick me in the chin twice in the middle of the night, but I was so tired I was able to fall right back asleep.
“Can’t we just wish ourselves there?” Jonah asks now as we narrowly sideswipe a man leading two children down the road.
“Sorry, Mr. Donkib,” Aladdin calls out with a wave.
Ruff! Prince adds.
“I don’t want to waste wishes when we have transportation,” I say. “Even if it’s bad transportation. Besides, we’re almost at the palace.” I can see it in the distance.
We fly low through the village and swerve our way through the cobblestone streets and between date trees and even a few camels.
I can’t help looking down and admiring my new outfit. I didn’t know that Aladdin’s mom was a seamstress, but she sewed us new clothes to wear this morning. I’m in a purple silky jumpsuit that almost looks like Karimah’s silver one. Jonah’s jumpsuit is dark green and the billowy material of the pants puffs out in the slight breeze as the carpet flies. Both of us have matching shoes that curl up at the toes. And Aladdin’s mom gave me a drawstring purse and a pretty red flower to tuck into my hair.
Aladdin is wearing a spiffy outfit, too. His jumpsuit is dark blue with a gold belt and a gold vest. If you look closely you can see that the outfits are sewn together with leftover materials, maybe scraps from his mom’s job. But from far away, you can’t tell. I’m glad Aladdin dressed up to meet the princess. I’m sure we’ll need to convince her to like him.
Jonah steers the magic carpet around some trees, and we come into a clearing. There’s a golden walkway lined with tall palm trees leading up to the palace. The palace itself is massive and topped with gold domes and surrounded by lush gardens.
The magic carpet hovers behind a huge date tree near the golden walkway.
“So what now?” Aladdin asks. “Do we ring the doorbell?”
“Would they let us in?” Jonah asks, holding one of the carpet tassels in pause mode.
Genie in a Bottle Page 5
