THE MOMENT
"What is your first wish, master?" asked the genie. Gabriel had been ready to find a genie for most of his adult life. They were known to exist, and the chances of finding one were slightly less than winning the lottery, but he had a plan. He was a little too excited and had trouble focusing on the right words, so he blurted out the first thing he could to stall. "I wish for infinite wishes," he said, knowing that he wouldn't get it.
"Your wish is my command," the half-man tethered to the lamp by smoke nodded with a grin.
"Wait, what?" Gabriel asked. His meticulously crafted wishes immediately fell apart again as he was gathering his thoughts. "Isn't there a rule against that?"
"It would seem not," the genie shrugged with a chuckle. "The rules only apply to specific wordings. You wished for infinite wishes, and infinite wishes are now happening across the multiverse," he smirked. "You didn't actually say you wished them for yourself. Maybe if you had worded it slightly better."
Gabriel wanted to argue, but he knew better. There was no winning against a genie and at least he had two wishes left. Still, the genie had unknowingly given him a clue. Maybe he could find the right words to get infinite wishes.
"I wish I OWNED infinite wishes so that I could make as many wishes as I like!" he said.
"Your wish is my command," the genie replied. "You have one wish remaining," he winked.
"Alright...," Gabriel sighed. "Explain that one to me. If I own infinite wishes, how am I down to one?"
"You OWNED infinite wishes," the genie nodded. "Then, you didn't. Who knows what happened? It's past tense. Either way, for a beautiful split-second there, about...," the genie made an exaggerated gesture of checking his watch. "...eight years ago, you could've wished for everything in infinity. You probably should've made some wishes when you had them," he laughed.
"Fine...," Gabriel replied as he closed his eyes to concentrate. At least he knew why the world was relatively normal, even with genies being as common as they were. He realized people were dumb and likely wasting their wishes. His original plans were all given up now, he'd lost faith in his preparations. He only had one left, and he decided to try and make the best of it. He wanted to come out ahead. Not just with the genie, but more often in general.
"I wish to be smarter than I am now, starting now, until I die, however I'm going to die, naturally without any interference from you."
"You should've wished for that first," the genie chuckled, then nodded. "Your wish is my command," he said. Gabriel smiled. He'd finally gotten something right. Except, after a few quiet moments, he was still himself.
"I don't feel any different...," he said.
"How do you expect 'smarter' to feel?" the genie asked.
"I don't know..." he tried to imagine some complicated formula, but the numbers were just numbers and that was as far as he got. "...I should be able to do complicated math in my head at least, I would think..." he said. The genie chuckled and shook his head.
"If you wanted that, it would've been wiser to ask to become a genius instead of just 'smarter'," he said.
"But you did make me smarter... right?" he asked. It occurred to him that the fact he was asking the genie for clarification was probably already the answer. But he at least wanted to know how the genie rationalized this misinterpretation.
"Sure," the genie chuckled. "Now you know that the next time you have some wishes, you should wish to be smarter first. And I threw in the tip about asking to be a genius for free because I like you."