The Wishing Coin: A Modern Fairy Tale by Antara Mann Read Free Book Online

offer his help.
    “Can I help you, sir?”
    “Yes, we must get her outside.”
    They both caught Jackie under her arms and took her out of the restaurant. As we ceremonially passed the place, I heard a woman tell her friend, “They must put an age limit on alcohol consumption. It’s scandalous to see elderly people getting drunk.”
    We went out to the street. Lewis waved at the first taxi and shoved Jackie into the car.
    “Butterfly, Madame Butterfly,” Jackie was groaning while her son was seating her.
    “What? What kind of an address is that, guys?” The driver sharply turned round to Lewis.
    “No, no, that wasn’t for you; we should have been going to an opera but our plans changed.”
    Inside, I was smiling at the thought of Jackie showing up in Metropolitan opera in this condition.
    “So where should I drive you to, then?”
    “Central Park Hotel,” Lewis instructed and the taxi started.
    I watched them leave and then I walked down the street. Despite the unexpected issue, the evening had turned out to be successful. I was proud of myself for making Jackie a different person. What would I have done without the coin? While I was walking, I saw an illuminated advertisement placed on a building. “Be careful what you wish for” was written on it. Below, there was the name of a real estate agency. I walked on determinedly toward Lewis’s apartment when suddenly it hit me – I had touched the coin with my right hand! That vendor had explicitly warned me to touch it only with my left hand. In the bathroom, I had been hurrying because of the woman who entered, and by mistake I put it back with my right hand. What would happen? What if Jackie had or faced unpleasant consequences? I remembered the numerous times the vendor had told me to touch the coin only with my left hand – that meant there must have been some kind of consequence. I shook my head; it all seemed impossible to me. For Christ’s sake, it was just a coin! “A coin that fulfills all your wishes, no matter what they are,” I added aloud. Where did this coin come from and, if it was really that powerful, why had it been given to me? I had already reached the front door of the apartment. I entered it gloomily. He hadn’t arrived yet so I was alone. I took the coin out and stared at it. What if I made a new wish to erase the previous? I discarded this idea; I had been counting on the piece of crap too long already. I had to take responsibility for my actions and decisions. If Jackie felt really bad the next day, I would wish for her to get better. I had to wait and see what would happen.

Chapter 7
     
     
     
     
    I was sitting in my office, rereading the lines for the following episode of my show, when the door sharply opened and Lewis stormed in.
    “Something’s going on here. There must be some supernatural intervention. It’s just not right! My mother has gone completely crazy!”
    “Oh, what has she done again?”
    A week had passed since that unfortunate evening at the sushi restaurant and luckily for me, Jackie did change. She wasn’t pestering us all the time and it appeared that she’d started to like me. Or at least she didn’t hate me. A few days ago she had gone back to Seattle and we hadn’t had a single argument. That was all I’d wanted from that damned snobbish woman – a little respect.
    “You just won’t believe it! First she went to the Chairman of the Social Democrats and offered her financial support if they made her a party member.”
    “What?”
    “Incredible, right? She told them she’d changed her political views and she was begging them to let her join the party. She promised to help them with money, connections –with everything she could.”
    “Your mother, a Democrat?” I was dumbfounded.
    I remembered how fiercely she had spoken against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Even my wildest imagination couldn’t create this picture. “So what will happen to the meetings at that club?”
    “The