The Christmas Genie Read Online Free PDF

the most famous men in history, this jolly guy who brings joy and happiness to millions of people all over the world. Do you know what I’m famous for?”
    â€œWhat?” we all said.
    â€œYou got a computer in this class?” Genie Bob asked. “Go to Google and do a search for the word ‘genie.’ See what pops up first.”
    We all gathered around the computer at the back of the class. Ava went to Google and typed in GENIE . We all crowded around the screen.
    â€œGarage door openers?” Ava said.
    â€œThat’s right!” Genie Bob exclaimed. “You search the entire Internet and the thing I’m most famous for is a company that makes garage door openers.”
    â€œThat’s just sad, man,” said William. “I feel your pain.”
    â€œGarage door openers are cool,” David said. “I like to put water balloons underneath ours and crush them.”
    I wasn’t sure if I was more surprised by thefact that Genie Bob and Santa Claus went to school together, or the fact that a genie who had been trapped in a meteorite for thirteen million light years knew how to use a computer.
    â€œIt sounds to me like you’re just jealous of Santa Claus and all his success,” Ella said.
    â€œMe? Jealous of that fat slob?” Bob snorted. “No way.”
    â€œMay I say something?” asked Mrs. Walters. “This is all very interesting and we are sympathetic. But Mr. Bob here has given us a strict one-hour deadline to come up with a wish. I’m beginning to think he’s just stalling for time to avoid granting it. So I propose we get back on task and talk about Mr. Bob’s relationship with Santa Claus another day. And I hope you kids will wish for something that doesn’t involve candy, trucks, giant bowls, or swimming pools.”
    She picked out the next index card.

WISH #4:
I WISH I COULD LIVE TO BE 100 YEARS OLD.
    Huh! When I was trying to decide on my wish, I pretty much just made a list of stuff I wanted to
have
. It never occurred to me to wish for something else. Something you couldn’t hold in your hand.
    â€œThat one was mine,” said Ava in the front row.
    â€œThat’s a
terrible
idea,” William said.
    â€œWhy?” said Ava defensively.
    â€œLots of people already live to be a hundred years old,” William said.
    â€œMy great-grandmother is a hundred and two,” said Isabella. “And she still takes exercise classes twice a week.”
    â€œSee? That proves my point,” said William. “Why wish for something that you might get anyway? You’re wasting the wish.”
    â€œOkay,” Ava said, “then what if I wish to live
two
hundred years?”
    â€œWell, that’s a different story,” Mrs. Walters said. “Nobody
ever
lived to be two hundred years old.”
    â€œIt would be cool to do something nobody ever did in history,” said David.
    â€œLiving two hundred years is an even
dumber
wish than wanting to live to be one hundred,” William said. “If you live to be two hundred, you’re going to be
old
for more than a hundred years.”
    â€œSome old people are healthy and happy,” said Sophia.
    â€œYeah, and some are lying in a bed with no bladder or bowel control,” said William. “You want to wish for a hundred years of
that
?”
    â€œOkay, how about we wish to be young and healthy forever?” Ava said. “Or to live forever.”
    â€œAha!” said Genie Bob. “The fountain of youth! An eternal quest. Peter Pan syndrome. Never grow up.”
    â€œI don’t want to be young forever,” Mia said.
    â€œWhy not?” Ava asked.
    â€œYou want to go to school for the rest of your life?” Mia replied.
    Hmmm. I’d have to think that over.
    â€œIf we stay kids forever, we won’t get our driver’s licenses,” Mia said. “We’ll never vote. We’ll never go to college,