Outside, it was another scorching hot summer morning in Arizona. Ned slowly rolled out of bed to prepare for yet another horrible day. After making his way through all the clutter, he was finally able to reach the bathroom. He looked into the mirror and saw an overweight, bald, tired, and depressed looking man staring back at him. This was just one of the many things that Ned hated about his life. After he was done showering, eating, and putting on his clothes, he was finally ready to start work. He slowly walked down the stairs that lead to his tiny apartment dreading the day ahead of him.
When Ned arrived at work, he was pleasantly surprised to see that he had been given a very small workload that day. Usually, he is stuck with the most work among all the other mail man. After only a few hours of work, Ned was done and ready to go home. At least that’s what he thought. Just as he was pulling away from the last house and breathing a sigh of relief that his day was over, a piece of mail slid out from under his seat and into sight. It was from a town he had never heard of before. He pulled out his map, and found that it was way out in the desert and was going to add another four hours to his day. Most people would have screamed and cursed after discovering this but Ned was used to this type of thing happening to him so he just went along with it without saying a word.
After two hours of driving, it was getting dark out and Ned had no idea where he was. It seemed like he had been driving in circles and there was no where in sight to ask for help. He finally pulled over his car and got out to try and get a better look at the map. As he walking around and examining the map at the same time, he felt his toe hit something causing him to fall down.
“Ouch!”, he screamed as his face hit the ground. He turned around to see what it was that he tripped on and couldn’t believe what he saw. Half-buried in the ground, was a tiny lamp. He was very curious to get a better look at it so he got up and dug it out of the ground. It wasn’t very big and was very oddly shaped but to his surprise, it was made out of gold. His eyes lit up at the sight of this and began to brush off all the dirt. Just as he was doing this though, the lamp began to shake and glow. Terrified, he let go of the lamp, but what he saw then, only scared him even more. The lamp didn’t fall to the ground as expected. Instead, it floated in mid-air. Ned was white as a ghost and couldn’t move a muscle. All the sudden, a man appeared from the bottle. He was wearing very odd looking shoes and pants and wasn’t even wearing a shirt. The man turned to him and said, “You have freed me from that prison. I can now grant you three wishes.” Ned was still very shaken up and didn’t know what to say at first. Although he still didn’t truly believe what was happening, he blurted out, “Well, I hate my life and I hate my job. If I could wish for anything it would be to change those two things.”
“Your wish is my command,” the magical genie said and before Ned could even blink an eye he was lying in his bed. When he opened his eyes, he couldn’t believe what he saw. He was in a very big and clean room, nothing like his apartment building. The bed he was laying on was very soft and the sheets were clean. He got up and headed straight into the bathroom. He was even more shocked when he looked in the mirror. Instead of a depressed looking bald man staring back at him, it was a young and happy looking man. He was starting to get very excited and after he showered and put his new clothes on, he headed out to go to his new job. He didn’t know what it was yet, but when he stepped into his car, it was as if he had been doing this for years and knew exactly where to go. After about twenty minutes of driving he saw where he was headed and a smile appeared on his face. His dream ever since he was a kid was to be a UPS man, and he saw that his dream was about to come true.
When he walked into the building, every person he walked by greeted him and shook his hand. He was practically like a movie star there. It wasn’t until he put on his uniform until it really hit him that he was finally a UPS man.
His job as a UPS man was a lot better than when he was a mail man. Everybody respected him and he always had the best routes. He also enjoyed being able to deliver the packages to people. He finally had the perfect life….. At least that’s what he thought. As time went on, he became a very self-centered person. People started losing respect for him and he began to hate his job. He hated having to get out of his car every single time to get packages. He stopped showing up for work so his boss fired him. He was still able to live in his house for a couple of months, but without work, he quickly ran out of money and had to sell it. He was now broke, and had to live on the streets.
He had lived on the street for years until one day when he was begging for money, a mysterious man approached him. He was wearing a very nice suit but his face was very familiar.
“I have been looking for you Ned,” the man said, “you still have one wish left.” Ned’s eyes lit up. He had completely forgotten about the magic genie and there was only one thing that he wanted now.
“All I want it my life back.” Ned said. Just like that he was lying in his bedroom in again. He opened his eyes and was happy to see that he was back in his rundown apartment in his messy room. He went straight to a mirror to look at himself and sure enough, he was back. After showering and eating, he walked out of his apartment and headed off for his job looking forward to the day.
