The Christmas Genie Read Online Free PDF Page A

said.
    â€œYou can’t get a
truck full
of candy at a store,” said Matthew.
    â€œWhere would you put it, anyway?” asked Ella.
    â€œPut what?” asked Matthew.
    â€œThe
truck
,” Ella said.
    â€œWho cares where you’d put it?” Matthew asked.
    â€œWell, you’ve got to put it
someplace
,” Mia said. “You can’t just leave a truck out on the street all the time. The police would give you a ticket.”
    What a party pooper that girl is.
    â€œMy dad would take the truck after we ate all the candy,” said Matthew. “His truck is a piece of junk.”
    â€œWhat if
my
dad wants the truck?” asked Logan.
    â€œWhat kind of a truck are we talking about?” asked William. “One of those little pickups? Or an eighteen-wheeler? We would have to specify the type of truck in the wish.”
    â€œYou know,” Mia said, “if a truck full of candy was parked anywhere, people would find out and steal the candy.”
    â€œWe would lock the truck!” Matthew said, slapping his forehead. “Look, it doesn’t even
have
to be a truck! That’s just a
container
to hold the candy. I could have wished for a giant
bowl
full of candy.”
    â€œThen we would have to worry about what to do with the bowl when the candy was finished,” Mia said.
    â€œAt least we can get some use out of a truck,” said Madison. “You can’t do
anything
with a giant bowl.”
    â€œSure you can,” Jacob said. “You can turn it into a swimming pool. Then we could go swimming.”
    â€œIn that case, we might as well just wish for a swimming pool filled with candy to begin with,” said Natalie.
    â€œI don’t like swimming,” Ashley said. “I’m a terrible swimmer.”
    â€œAnd the first time it rains, our candy would be ruined,” said Mia.
    â€œNot if we covered the pool,” Ella pointed out.
    â€œWe could cover it with a
truck
!” Alex suggested.
    â€œI wish we had a swimming pool filled with root beer floats,” Josh said, “and it never runs out of root beer no matter how much we drink. And the ice cream never melts.”
    At that point, everybody started yelling at one another. Genie Bob was rubbing his forehead like he had a headache.
    â€œMan, Santa Claus has it easy,” he muttered. “He just sits there and kids tell him what they want. What a life! Some people have it made.”
    â€œHey, what is it with you and Santa Claus?” I asked. “What did Santa ever do to you?”
    â€œWhat did he do to me?” Genie Bob said, sneering. “What did he to do me?”
    â€œYeah!” we all said.
    â€œI’ll tell you what he did to me,” Genie Bob said. “He ruined my life! That’s what he did to me!”
    â€œHow did Santa Claus ruin your life?” Elizabeth asked.
    â€œYou really want to know?”
    â€œYes!” we all shouted.
    â€œClaus and I go way back,” Genie Bob said. “I grew up at the North Pole. We went to school together. That guy is a jerk. When I was a kid, he used to beat me up and take my lunch money. Him and his boys.”
    â€œHis boys?” I said. “You mean . . . the elves?”
    â€œThat’s right,” Bob said. “Those short guys he hangs out with. His posse.”
    â€œYou let a bunch of elves beat you up?” asked Christopher. “That’s pathetic, man!”
    â€œHey, those elves are tenacious,” Bob said. “You’ve seen ’em work.”
    â€œWait a minute,” Ella said. “You’re just making all this stuff up. Santa Claus doesn’t even exist. Everybody knows that.”
    â€œDoesn’t exist, eh?” said Genie Bob as he lifted up his little shirt. “You see that scar?
    That’s where Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer bit me! Claus told him to do it. I
hate
that guy! And look what happened. Claus grows up to be one of