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184
Samantha and Her Genie
“Is he dead?” Rosie asked, squatting alongside Samantha. “Oh, Sam, look at him. I
think he is. His eyes are wide open but they’re just staring. And…oh, fuck, Sam, I think
his body’s smoking!”
“No! He said he can’t die,” Samantha cried, grabbing Lugal’s wrist to feel for a
pulse. “Lugal, look at me. Speak to me!”
“I don’t think he’s breathing,” Rosie said.
Sucking in a sharp breath, Samantha said, “I don’t think he is either. Oh God, Rosie,
what are we going to do?”
“Call an ambulance, I guess. What the fuck happened? How could he just fly across
the room like that?”
“Well, how the hell would I know? I was with you. Lugal, listen to me.” Samantha
held his hand in hers, slapping it. She was afraid to jostle any other part of him in case
she made his injuries worse. “This is the voice of your possessor, Lugal. I am your
mistress, your owner and I command you to breathe. Breathe, dammit! That’s a direct
order!”
Just as Rosie was about to dial 911, Lugal’s chest expanded with a mighty whoosh
and it seemed his lungs filled with air.
A warm gush of tears flowed down Samantha’s cheeks. “He’s alive. Oh, Lugal,
you’re alive!”
“He might be alive but it sure as hell looks like he’s not feeling too keen,” Rosie
noted.
“Say something, Lugal,” Samantha urged. “Tell me what happened. Are you
terribly hurt?” Lugal mumbled something. “Did you hear what he said, Rosie?”
“No. He sounds like the tin guy in the Wizard of Oz when he was trying to say oil
can.” She slanted Samantha a questioning look. “Hey, do you think he’s trying to ask for
an oil can?”
“No.” Samantha tsked. “Why would he ask for that? He’s a genie, not a tin man.
Come on, Lugal. Talk. Tell me what I should do.”
Lugal blinked, but his eyeballs didn’t move. Well, they sort of jiggled a little, but he
just kept staring straight up.
“Electricity,” he said just loud enough for them to hear.
“Holy shit, that’s it,” Rosie said. “That’s why his hair was sticking straight out
when he sailed past us. He electrocuted himself.”
“I suppose a powerful enough electrical shock could propel him through the air like
that,” Samantha said. “I saw it on one of those science shows once. Lugal, is that what
happened? Did you get an elec—”
“Silver paper.” He turned his head ever so slowly and looked at the two women
kneeling at his side. “Foil. I make experiment.”
For the first time, Samantha noticed the two-inch wide cuffs of aluminum foil coiled
around each of his bare arms above the elbow and at the wrist.
185
Daisy Dexter Dobbs
“What on earth did you do?”
“Examination of electrical outlet to see how it works. Metal foil made big shock.”
“Typical man,” Rosie said, shaking her head. “They’re all just a bunch of
overgrown kids.”
Samantha growled in frustration. “Didn’t I tell you not to get into any trouble while
I was gone? Dammit, Lugal, you could have killed yourself.” She was trembling from
combined fear, relief and anger.
He uttered a whisper of a chuckle, then winced. “Nay. Cannot die. Only feels like
dying.”
“Are you in a lot of pain?” Rosie asked.
“Plenty.”
The damn fool chuckled again and pain etched itself across his features.
“Now I understand meaning of conducting electricity,” he said, his power of speech
still not quite back to normal. “I Googled to learn about it.”
Rosie gave Samantha a cockeyed look. “Did he say he Googled?”
“Yeah.” Samantha sighed. “I showed him how.” She shrugged. “How was I
supposed to know he’d go and do something stupid and practically fry himself?” She
narrowed her eyes at Lugal. “I’m very angry with you right now, Lugal. The only thing
keeping me from wringing your neck is the fact that you’re in so much pain. I hope you
learned a lesson from this.”
“I learned you are pretty when you are angry.” He gave her a loopy smile.
She couldn’t help but smile in return. Then she leaned over him and kissed the
corner of his mouth.
“Ow.” He winced.
“Oh…” Her fingers flew to her lips. “I’m sorry.”
“Not to worry, little one. I heal very soon.”
“What’s all the ruckus?”
Samantha looked up to see Mrs. Willoughby inching her way up the sidewalk with
her walker.
“Ooh, Lord a’mighty. Is that poor boy okay?”
“Yes, Mrs. Willoughby,” Samantha answered. “He’s…uh, he’s the electrician I hired
to fix uh…an electrical problem. There was an accident, but he’s just fine now.”
“Electrician, hmm? Guess they’re workin’ bare-chested and sleepin’ over to get the
job done nowadays.” Her wrinkled old face cracked a smile and she winked. “I may be
old but I’ve still got eyes.”
Samantha could have died.
“Wow, you just turned twelve shades of red, Sam,” a giggling Rosie helpfully
observed.
186
Samantha and Her Genie
“Poor guy seems accident prone,” Mrs. Willoughby noted. “Least that’s the way it
seemed when he was playing Tarzan and fell out of that tree out back a while earlier.”
“What!” Samantha gasped and her gaze flew back to Lugal. “You fell out of a tree?”
“Yup, him and his sword. Right on to the roof and then down to the grass. Boom!”
Mrs. Willoughby explained with a sharp thwack of her walker against the concrete
walk. “I was out back watering my azaleas and saw the whole thing. Thought he killed
himself for sure. I was about to dial an ambulance when he suddenly hopped back to
his feet.”
“Too heavy for branch,” Lugal explained.
“What in the hell were you doing up in the tree in the first place?” Samantha
demanded.
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