I brushed my finger along the wooden mantle’s shelf, coating my skin in a thick layer of dust.  When was the last time this thing had been cleaned?  Naturally, I did not expect something bought at an estate sale would be in pristine condition, but this was a little much.  At the very least, the movers could have dusted it off.  There was no telling what might have piggybacked its way into my house.

At least the dust made it easy to tell where the various knickknacks that came with the mantle were supposed to go.  I did not think they came with the furniture and was prepared to pay just as much for these decorations, so it was a pleasant surprise to have them included in the price.  Carefully I pulled them out of the box and set them where they had stood, most likely untouched for several decades.  The brass cups, about the size of a shot glass, brought a nice bit of color to my drab white walls and added some rustic appeal to my new apartment.

The real treasure, however, went in the middle.  I hefted it out of the box, and my arms shook as I held it with both hands.  It was a foot long and half as tall, made of solid brass, and I grunted as I struggled to lift it to my chest.  Breathing steadily through my nose, I inched forward until its round base was over the wood plank.  With a loud clang I set it down, then shoved it it into place between the cups.  Now I understood why they had rolled it in on a cart.

For all that effort, I still had no idea what this thing was besides heavy.  It looked like it might be an oversized gravy boat, or perhaps a stylish pitcher to go with the cups.  Like everything else, it had a thick layer of dust and had not been used or even moved since before I was born.  Maybe if I cleaned it off there would be a hint to its purpose, or at least an inscription to tell me something about its history.

I grabbed a rag and squirted some cleaner on it, then held the fabric against the vessel’s rounded size.  One swipe cleared away thirty years of neglect, letting the metal gleam in my living room’s lights, and the back stroke wiped off another section, revealing some words that had been inscribed around the lid.  Continuing to scrub it, I leaned in and tried to make sense of them.  They were not from any language I could read, and for all I knew were purely decorative.

To finish, I wrapped my rag around the spout and ran it from the body’s central chamber to its end.  I dropped the rag and stepped back, ready to take a break, when the brass object started shaking.  There had never been an earthquake recorded in my area and nothing else was moving, so I was stumped as to what could be causing it.  A misty cloud billowed forth from the spout, and I quickly dashed for the door, keeping my eye on it.  For all I knew this was an ancient booby trap and I had just gassed my apartment.

Before I could turn the handle, the mist collapsed into the shape of a person.  Out of nowhere a gorgeous woman had appeared in my apartment, standing in front of my mantle with her arms crossed.  Long, dark red hair was gathered into a golden band and flowed down to her waist, and her almond-shaped emerald eyes looked like they could cut glass with a glance.  She had a long, pointed nose and bright red lips, with smooth olive skin taut over her sharp features.  Her shirt was more like a crimson wrapping around her chest while her dark purple pants were baggy, and her long feet were in simple black cloth shoes.  Broad-shouldered and fit, she looked healthy, and I was worried she may not notice me since the top of my head was down at her waist.

“Greetings, and thank you for freeing me from my prison!” she declared in a strong voice.  “I am –“

“A genie from a lamp,” I finished for her, interrupting her exposition.  She looked at me with wide eyes, startled that I had guessed it, and she cleared her throat to regain composition.

“…yes, I’m a genie,” she confirmed.  “Firuzeh by name!  And for freeing me from my curse, I an prepared to offer you –“

“Three wishes, right?”

She furrowed her brow and looked down at me.  “Again, yes, three wishes.  I wasn’t aware my story was so well-known after all these centuries.”

“It’s a common tale,” I told her, stepping away from the door.  “Most people have heard it, but I always thought it was just a fairy tale.  I never expected I’d be face to face with an actual genie, though.”

“I believe you are face to groin,” Firuzeh corrected me.  “However, you can hardly help your stature, and your character and learning far outshines it!  Perhaps one of your wishes will even change it to be more suitable to you?”

“Perhaps it will,” I echoed.  “What are the limits on wishes, anyway?”

Firuzeh’s eyes lit up as she finally got a chance to give part of her long-anticipated spiel.  “You cannot wish for anyone’s death, nor for their resurrection, and I cannot make it so a person is simply unmade.  If you wish for more wishes, instead of congratulating you for catching me in a technicality I will depart, as it is only in my power to grant three, no more.  Within those confines, however, I have power absolute.  I caution you to consider your words well, since your wishes will be subject to my interpretation before taking effect.”

Though I never expected to have them directly fulfilled, I still had a list of three wishes committed to memory that I considered incorruptible.  Now that I had freed a genie, working on them no longer seemed like a waste of time.  “Well, let’s get started,” I said.

“If you wish,” Firuzeh replied.  “There’s no rush, however.  So long as I am in your debt, your wishes won’t expire.”

“I assure you, I’m ready.  First, I wish to always be provided for, and never lack the money for anything I want.”

“So it shall be!” she declared.  “You are now as financially secure as the richest of men, with no one missing their fortune or any limit to yours.”

I smiled, not quite ready to believe it was true.  “Am I?  I don’t feel any different.”

“And why should you?” Firuzeh responded.  “Peace of mind comes over time.  As months pass, you will forget the anxiety of paying bills, loans, and even having to work.  You will be truly free, with all that entails.”

I supposed she had a point.  “I trust in your power, and I’m ready to move on to my next wish.”  She looked down at me and consciously blinked in eager anticipation.  “I wish for a partner for life, who loves and respects me as much as I do her.”

Firuzeh grinned before saying, “So it shall be!”  The instant the words left her mouth, I felt a small weight on my hand and something constricting my finger.  I looked down and saw a gold wedding band on my ring finger.  Shocked, I turned my eyes back to her and saw a similar ring with a massive diamond had appeared on her hand.  She held it in front of her stomach and wiggled her fingers, prominently displaying the jewelry for me.

“Does this mean that we’re…” I began, but sputtered to a stop before I could finish the question.

“Yes, it does.”  Firuzeh knew what I wanted to ask and had given a straightforward answer.  “I’m reluctant to use my power to force someone to love anyone, and in all the world I could find nobody who loves you more than the woman you freed from centuries of imprisonment.  If you’re displeased with the arrangement, you can use your third wish to annul it.”

“No, that’s not it,” I assured her.  “It’s just a surprise, at all.  When I woke up this morning, I didn’t expect I’d meet a genie, let alone end up married to her.”

“I am pleased that you are pleased.  You will find me to be a more than adequate partner.”  Firuzeh reached out with a long arm and tilted my chin up with a finger.  She leaned down so far she almost doubled over so her large face was in front of mine.  As I looked into her entrancing green eyes she placed her lips on mine, and I kissed her back as best I could.  Her tongue slid between my lips, filling my mouth, and she tickled my palate with its tip.  Before I could do anything similar, she pulled away, breaking the seal between our lips, though she kept my chin propped up.

“You still have one more wish, my love.”

It was time for the big one.  Simply wishing for immortality could be twisted in so many ways, but I had come up with a way to word it that should allow me a long, happy, and healthy life.  “I wish to be kept safe from any physical harm or ailment that could lead to my demise.”

“Are you certain?” Firuzeh asked.  “While that is well within my power, before I make it so I must remind you that there is no way to undo this should you be dissatisfied with the result.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” I said.  “This way I can look forward to many years with you.”

“So it shall be!”  When she finished speaking there was a bright flash, temporarily blinding me, and when I could see again I was in a much larger apartment.  Everything in it was suddenly enormous too, as though it had grown to fill the suddenly empty space.  The only aberration was what looked like a gigantic black cylinder in the distance, twice my height and several times as wide.  It took a few moments for my mind to catch up with the situation and realize that was simply one of Firuzeh’s shoes.

I craned my head back as far as it could go, my jaw slack as I took in the gigantic genie.  Just from the floor to her ankles was a greater distance than the building was tall, and her pants were like a long, unfurled banner with threading loose enough for me to slip my hands and feet into.  While that would be convenient for scaling the vast purple towers of her pants, I doubted I would be able to climb the hundreds of feet to her waist any time soon.  As I continued gazing up, I saw a navel deep enough for me to stand inside and, though they were constricted by the wrappings, breasts that would require significant effort to scale.  Though they were farther above me than anything I had ever laid eyes on, a pair of emeralds stared back down at me with perfect precision.

“You shrank me!” I shouted in protest.  “This isn’t what I asked for!”

“Isn’t it, though?” Firuzeh replied coyly.  Her strong, deep voice reached new heights now that she towered over me.  Each syllable was like a force on its own, making my bones rattle from its sheer power.  It was unnervingly low, like her voice had slowed to a snail’s pace while still somehow going at fully speed.  “At this size, I can protect you from anyone who would ever want to harm you, and with you safely indoors no disease can reach you, either.  You are absolutely safe, so long as you’re in my care.”

“I don’t want to be small, though!”

“You were small before I got here,” Firuzeh shot back, then smirked.  “If you’ll remember, I gave you ample warning.  I told you that your wishes would be open to interpretation, and because I love you, I even asked you if you were sure!  You insisted, so here we are.  And my powers are expended, so like it or not you’re stuck this way.”

“This is just a lot to take in, especially so suddenly.”

“You seem surprised by many things happening suddenly,” she teased.  “Perhaps you could cope with it better were you not on the floor?”

Firuzeh leaned forward, bracing one hand on her knee while extending the other down to me.  Her thumb and index finger pressed together and slipped behind my head, coming to rest atop my collar.  They pinched together, firmly grabbing the small tab of loose fabric, then she plucked me off the floor.  She stood quickly, and the sharp, rapid ascent made me feel ill.  I could not even calculate the force applied to my body as I rose six hundred feet in a second, but it was enough to make me feel lightheaded while dark spots appeared in my vision.  The abrupt stop was almost as jarring, but with the movement over I started feeling better.

The black spots dissipated, and when they cleared I saw a tremendous green eye in front of me.  At this size, Firuzeh’s iris was a work of art.  Hundreds of thin lines spread from her pupil like a bicycle’s spokes, and tiny flecks of gold were littered throughout.  As she focused on me, I watched her pupil retract, letting the amazing green field spread.  Through the opening I could see the complex inner workings of her eye, and when she blinked I heard the soft click of her eyelids coming together.

“It seems you did wish for a more suitable height after all,” she said.  Firuzeh’s voice was a tempest this close to her face and I did my best to bear it.  “Compared to me, you were about this powerful to begin with.  This is about what I expected a human husband to look like, anyway.  However, you have nothing to fear.  I still owe you a great debt for freeing me, though I have no more wishes to grant, and feel a large amount of affection for you from that.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”  I really did not know what to say.  In the space of a few minutes I had learned genies were real, married one, and been shrunk by one.  However, if this was going to be my life from now on, I might as well accept it.  Over time, I would probably even come to appreciate her as a giantess.

“It should be.  Now, if I’m going to live in your modern world, I think I should go buy some more modern clothes.  Luckily, as your wife I will enjoy the same financial security you do, and nothing I want will be beyond me.  I’ll try to pick out some things you’ll like.  I just need to figure out where to put you while I’m out.”  She looked over her shoulder, and when she turned back to me a devious smirk pulled her lips to the side.  “Actually, I know just the place.”

Firuzeh turned, and the world spun around me.  She took a single step forward, and the vibrations from her footfall ran through my body, making me start swaying in her grip.  I heard metal clinging together, and a moment later her other hand brought a large brass disk into view, still ringing from her moving it.

“Don’t be afraid,” she cooed.  “If I could survive in there for untold centuries, you can last a few hours.”  She moved me away from her face, and inertia made my legs kick up against her thumb.  The movement stopped almost as soon as it started, and I began swinging beneath her fingers.  As I dangled above the vessel’s opening, she puckered her lips and made a kissing sound, then opened her fingers.  I dropped into the brass ornament, landing in a crouch, and Firuzeh leaned forward to see me.  Her face loomed above, filling the gap completely, and as she slid the lid back into place, the last thing I saw was her brilliant green eyes.

The huge metal chamber rang from it sliding into place, subsiding just in time for me to hear the door closing.  A small spot of light filtered in from the spout, and I moved to stand inside it for warmth.  I sat down in the middle of it and considered everything that had just happened.  Although I was tiny, I would never have to worry about anything again and had a beautiful, gigantic wife whose powers extended beyond merely being large.  Even if this brass vessel became my new part-time apartment, I figured I had come out ahead.