WISHING STAR INCORPORATED
by
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“Just something
small to get started...no need to go overboard.” He looked up from his pondering and asked,
“Now, when I make a wish is there some way I’ve got to go about it to let you
know that I’m actually wishing for something?
That way if I say, ‘I wish,’ by accident, or out of context, you don’t
grant the wish.”
“Whatever is most comfortable for
you, Randy.” It
was a common request; a security code to prevent me from granting wishes that
might be made unintentionally. In the
contractual outline it states that any and all wishes made in my presence must
be granted, regardless of format. I
never promised that I would only
grant wishes if they were accompanied by certain other words. I just nodded my head and gave the client as
much security as they needed to make the first wish.
“Ok, than whenever I say, ‘my
wish is,’ that means I’m making a wish that I want granted. That way it’s all official.” Randy scratched his head, and I nodded mine
accommodatingly.
“You got any ideas for the first one. I can’t really think of anything I need right
now.” He didn’t understand that my help
was the last thing he wanted, but he soon would.
“You don’t have to need what you wish for. You can wish for anything. Wish for something you want, Randy. What is it you want?” My shtick seemed to
be returning to me.
“I told you, Ben, I’m a
minimalist, I’m not big on wants.”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair, glancing over at the filing
cabinet listening to the full bottle of vodka in the bottom drawer calling to
me. Before the whisper from the cabinet
got louder, Randy hopped out of his seat and smacked his hands together
joyously.
“I’ve got it! My wish is this, Ben. I want a cheeseburger...cheddar cheese...cooked
medium rare, extra pickles and no onion on it.”
Randy returned to his seat when he’d finished placing his order and
licked his lips in dramatic anticipation.
I felt demeaned granting Randy’s
wish. I had given him the power to have
anything he desired, and he desired nothing more than a short order cook. Begrudgingly I opened the top drawer of the
desk once again and withdrew the hamburger from inside, offering it to
Randy. He smiled and took the sandwich
from me, inspecting it for accuracy. His
smile was quickly inverted.
“No ketchup or mustard! Oh, come on, Ben! What kind of a burger dosen’t come with ketchup and mustard on it?! I know you told me to be specific, but there
are just some things that go without saying!”
Randy sat the remainder of his snack down and stood up.
“Nothing goes without saying,
Randy. Anyway, I thought you were a
minimalist. Why does a burger need
ketchup and mustard to be complete? Seems a bit hypocritical to me.” He shook his head and traipsed off toward the
door.
“I assume that you’re doubts have
been vanquished?” He glanced back at me
after opening the door and stepping into the hall.
“Who ever heard of a burger
without mustard and ketchup? Later, Ben.” Randy
shook his head in disappointment as he shut the door behind him. With a bite of a hamburger, the strangest
battle for eternal rites to another man’s soul I’d ever embarked upon had
begun.
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Book Details
About the Book
Wishing Star Incorporated is in
the business of making dreams come true, and Ben is the head of
operations. His job is to grant the
wishes of individuals who believe in the legitimacy of supernatural phenomenon;
leprechauns, fountains of eternal youth and beauty, magical lamps with genies
inside...or a Wishing Star.
During his ten year tenure, Ben
has found that it takes a special kind of person to buy into such a fantastic
concept...mainly a power hungry, greed consumed, unscrupulous kind of
person...which makes collecting payment for services rendered all the more
satisfying.
While Ben doesn’t charge anything
to grant a client’s wishes, his interpretation of the wish is rarely what his
customers expect, and Ben’s employer has a non-negotiable policy regarding the
reversal of granted wishes. The only way
to reverse a wish and do away with any undesirable effects stemming from it is
contract annulment...a gentle way of phrasing, “forfeiture of one’s eternal soul
to the owner of Wishing Star Incorporated.”
And Ben’s boss isn’t a guy anyone
would want in control of their destiny post-mortem. He goes by the name of Bub, and aside from
being the sole shareholder in Wishing Star Incorporated, he also rules supreme
in the bowls of hell.
Unwittingly duped out of his own
soul a decade ago, Ben made a deal with Bub in order to regain it. In return for procuring the souls of fifty
other unfortunates, Ben would regain the opportunity to circumvent an afterlife
of brimstone and hellfire. However, upon
reaching number forty-nine, Ben now has doubt that the means justify the
end. Even with the questions of
conscience, Ben is eager to complete his fiftieth assignment...if for no other
reason than to escape constant contact with his nauseatingly amiable employer,
Bub.
Not looking forward to Ben’s
retirement, Bub has decided to try and coerce Ben into staying on the Wishing
Star team for another fifty souls.
Knowing that Ben will assuredly turn down a straightforward offer, Bub
decides to make the possibility of Ben fulfilling his contractual obligations
highly unlikely by tossing a barracuda in the bath water. That barracuda’s name
being Randy Salyers; the apathetic by-product of consumer driven society. A young man with nothing to
loose and no interest in gains.
Ben’s problems don’t begin and
end with Randy, a customer uninterested in his wares. There’s also the fact that Randy Salyers
ex-wife is Bub’s new mistress and she thinks Bub hired Ben to kill Randy. This might not be a problem in
About the Author
RS Sanscrainte
is a freelance writer who was born and raised in