THE MOMENT
"What is your next wish?" the genie asked. The half-etherial djinn man had his arms crossed as he stared down at his meek Master, who'd just made his first wish. They stood on a sandy beach at golden hour with gentle waves lapping the shore and no one else around.
"I'm just kidding," Carl laughed in a moment of clarity and shook his head. "Who needs wishes when I'm always right, right? I've got enough money to live comfortably now, I know I'm right about that. Tell you what, can I just give my last two wishes away? I don't need them, and it feels unfair to keep you around in case I change my mind. Can I spend the wishes to help out a stranger each?"
"That is definitely possible. Just wish to help someone, and the magic will find whoever needs it," the genie nodded with a smile. The magic never worked the way his Masters expected it to.
"For my second wish, I wish that someone gets the help they need. For my third wish, I want someone else to get the help they need," Carl replied quickly, and the genie nodded.
"Your wishes are granted. Good luck," he chuckled as he lost cohesion and flowed back into his lamp as wisps of smoke.
From that moment on, Carl had a miraculously easy life. Things just seemed to fall into place for him, and whenever he made a decision or had an inkling that things should be a certain way, he was always right. He married the right woman, and had the right family, and lived his life never again needing to argue with reality, much less anyone else. He somehow always knew the right answer.
After being right about his longevity and living well over a century, he was starting to think about his death and the life that came before it.
He was alone again, he'd been right that his wife would die first. His children were all respectful adults because he'd raised them the right way, and they had their own lives to live. It was a cold winter night with a gentle snowfall when he decided it was the right time. He bundled himself in bed, smiled at his wife's picture on the nightstand, and sighed.
He knew, any minute now, he'd take his last breath. He began to think about that fateful day when he made his wish. He'd had so many plans to capitalize on the first one if it worked. And, it had, but he lost interest in his goals immediately; they just didn't seem important anymore. He never quite reached the top of the world that he'd imagined, but that was okay.
"Son of a bitch...," he sat up suddenly as an epiphany came to him. His whole life, he'd been right about everything. Except, he wasn't so sure anymore. In fact, on further review... he'd never questioned anything that wasn't already okay. And, most things had been okay.
A distinct, annoying thought took shape moments before his final breath, as if to rub it in that he was right about this, too. It wasn't anything he would've noticed, and it should've been difficult to put into words, but the idea was there fully formed and standing proudly in his mind.
"Free will's a scam...," he sighed and fell back to get comfortable again and wait for the end. At least, he had one final thought to keep him occupied. He'd wished to always be right. But, 'being right' was only determined by hindsight.
When he planned his wish, he was confident the universe would bend to his every whim. Except, he had the sense that things were always going according to plan and never had to exercise his wish in distinct ways; he was more than likely to choose an option already present. He never considered that he could be bent to the universe's every whim, and still be right. He guessed that was what had happened, and he was usually right about things.