Story Competition 2008, winner's story - Jo Jo Macari
The Kettle Genie
by Jo Jo Macari
I always thought going to a psychiatrist was a bad idea. I was right. It all started last Sunday. When my dad went to take out the trash he saw a golden pipe sticking out of the dustbin (and no, my dad doesn't scavenge in dustbins, regularly). As soon as he touched it the dustbin lid slammed down on his hands. He shouted and pulled the pipe out. When he took it out he realised it was actually a golden lamp. "I'm rich!" he said and shouted through the door, "Put the kettle on!" and he tripped over the door step. Since then he's been having the worst luck in the world. His car has broken down, and he's fallen down the stairs several times. So now we are at a psychiatrist trying to figure out why my dad is having the worst of luck.
There I was in the waiting room thinking about what toothpaste is made of, when there was a huge crash. I peeked through the door and all the priceless ornaments that were in the psychiatrist's office had fallen off the shelves onto his head. I dragged my dad out through the wreckage before all the customers had gone to see what the noise was about. We caught the bus home as quickly as possible. My dad said, "If you don't tell mum what's happened, I'll give you double pocket money." So that night when dad came up to put me to bed he had a strange surprise for me. "The golden lamp!" he said in his strange Scottish accent, "Take care of it laddy." He chucked it to me but as he was doing that he tripped over a stool and accidently threw the lamp which hit the light, which fell on his head. He staggered backwards and fell out of the open window into the compost pile. Which left me alone with the lamp. I picked it up and shook it a couple of times. Nothing seemed to happen, although I didn't expect it to. But then slowly, sporadically a mist flooded out of the spout. And there it hung above my head, then suddenly two big, glaring eyes popped out of the mist. "Who or what are you?" I said.
"I am the great genie, Scotch Mist. Named after where I was made. And I will do you a deal. If you can find me a new home I will give you 3 wishes." I ran downstairs, which I regret doing because I fell down. Obviously I had the same bad luck as my dad. I unplugged the kettle and ran back upstairs with it. "Here, will this do?" I said to the genie. In an amazed voice he said, "Wow the Kenwood 360! This is my dream come true. Now, what is your wish?" "I'd like a private plane". In a second, I found myself flying across the French Alps. I was up there for hours. It was great fun. But then, it all went wrong. All the switches and dials went mad and I went into a plummeting nose dive. I then realised I was no longer flying above the Alps. I was coming down straight towards my house. Well, where my house used to be anyway. Now there was just a giant marshmallow with a chimney sticking out of the top. I plummeted straight into the middle of the marshmallow. I had to get out of the aeroplane quickly because I could feel the marshmallow getting hotter. What a sticky mess I had got myself into this time. Literally!
I ate and ate and ate. It must have taken me 3 or 4 hours. As soon as I got outside, the marshmallow was sizzling happily on top of a giant fire. I hopped out the marshmallow and ran away. "Genie!" I shouted. Suddenly the Genie popped up before me. "Yes, yes what is it?" he said. "You got me into this didn't you?" I said. "Maybe," he mumbled. "But anyway, now, what's your next wish?" "I'd like to be head of the government." So this went on very well for a couple of months with a child being the head of the government until the Jo Jo Bolognure case. A French Ambassador committed several crimes against England and was taken to court. He was sent to jail for 16 months. Most of France was now protesting about a child being the head of the government. They certainly didn't think it was the best for the English people so there was a huge row in government about getting me fired. Eventually I shouted "Genie! I've had enough! Get me out of here."
Suddenly I found myself in the south of France sitting on the floor with the genie in a kettle next to me. I started to cry. I'd lost everything, my family, my house, all my wishes, and most of all I was fed up with this genie. But the genie did have a kind heart and to try and cheer me up, he gave me one more wish. I instantly said, "Get everything back to normal. I wish I'd never seen you" That instant an Aquafresh van, well that is Aquafresh spelt in French, skidded up beside us. A man emerged with a big net, caught the genie and said, "Boy, you want to know what tooth paste is made of? Genies, that's what." And with that, he drove off as fast as he could. Then I found myself in all my old clothes with a ferry ticket in my hand, and a limousine waiting behind me. When I got home, everything was back to normal. The house was back to normal, the government was the same and my dad was back to his normal lucky self. He said, "Hey boy. Did you have a good day at school today?" I said back, "Yes dad, I did, I really did."
Download Jo Jo's story as a DAISY book 
Download Jo Jo's story as an MP3
3rd Place: Oliver Holden from Ovingham Middle