Nothin' but a Can o' Worms!

Everyday, I would wake up and hurry down to my lap top to find out all the new happenings on my favorite website, writing.com. I was especially excited this week in particular because it was the nine year anniversary!! I jumped out of bed, threw my covers off and with a jaunty skip in my step, I made my way to the computer.

Ahhh...Life is good, I thought as I heard the familiar tapping of my fingers on the keyboard typing in my username. E-M-S-4-1-...I pressed the 3, but nothing appeared on the screen. 3...3...3333. I pounded the button with my index finger rapidly but nothing seemed to work.

I fiddled with the computer, but not being quite familiar with all the ins and outs of its inner workings, I seemed to have pulled an essential wire straight out of the back. Whoops! The screen went black. I started to melt down. I needed my daily dose of Writing.com to stay sane! Well, you’ll just have to find someone to fix the computer, one of the smarter little voices inside my head explained to me. I stood up from my chair, and with a shaking hand, grabbed my coat. I headed down the street lacking in my normal sunny disposition.

I stuffed my fists inside my coat pockets and grumbled as I walked. An empty can of pea soup was sitting right in front of me. I disposed some of my anger by kicking it half way up the street. It was quite satisfying until a little girl up ahead, glared at me and ran to pick it up. She placed it in a trash can and made her way along. I muttered as I passed the trash can that she’d disposed it into. “Hey you!” I turned around to see who had called, but no one was there.“Yeah, you. The guy who kicked me.” The voice seemed to be coming from inside the trash can. I peered inside and sitting right on top was the can of pea soup. However, It looked different...almost glowing. The same voice from before erupted out of the can. “Pick me up!” I did so because I didn’t want to make it mad.

As soon as I made contact with the can, I felt an instant shock. I dropped it out of surprise, and it landed on its side. I was expecting something big to happen, something magical or otherwordly. But instead, 9 worms crawled out. I’m insane, I thought. It’s nothin' but a can o' worms. I was about to walk away, when I heard the voice again. It was as if all 9 of the worms were talking together.



“WE ARE THE 9 SACRED BOOKWORMS. WE WERE CREATED FOR WRITING.COM'S ANNIVERSARY. WE EACH ARE GENIES THAT POSSESS A SINGLE WISH. YOU MAY HAVE THEM ALL IF YOU FOLLOW THE RULES..."



I stopped listening at this point. Wishes? I could have whatever I want. My dreams could come true, my wishes could be fulfilled! I closed my eyes and spoke to the worms.“I wish to have unlimited wishes!” POOF!“I wish to have a million dollars.” POOF! “I wish to be immortal!” POOF! “I wish to be the ruler of the world!” POOF!

I opened my eyes expecting to see everything changed, but I was still standing in the same position talking to 9 worms. Absolutely nothing had changed. Wait a second, I thought. 1...2...3...4...5...there’s only 5 now!



“YOU DIDN’T LISTEN TO OUR WARNINGS YOU FOOLISH HUMAN! RULE 1: THERE ARE ONLY 9 WISHES!! RULE 2:YOUR WISHES MUST BE ABOUT WRITING.COM!! AND THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE; RULE 3: IF YOU MAKE A WISH THAT DOENS’T COMPLY WITH THE RULES, THAT WORM AND THAT WISH WILL DISAPPEAR!!!”



Ohmygoodness! I was down to only 5 wishes. How could I be so careless? It’s still more than the average genie (if you can call finding a genie “average”), but I would have to be more particular before making these last wishes. “Let’s see...Writing.com, that does limit me. But, say! Can you fix my computer...so I can go on Writing.com?” A more plesant sounding ‘POOF’ came while a worm disappeared. I thought for a second, and then I asked, “If I can’t have a million dollars...can I have a million gps?” The same pleasant ‘POOF’ made the next worm disappear. I would now have 1 million gps to spend on writing.com on my now fixed computer on my free membership... “I wish for an Unlimited Premium Membership!” ‘POOF’ Wow, how lucky can a writer get, I thought. I seemed to be having issues lately with getting people to review my work, so... “I wish for reviews on all my items in my portfolio!” ‘POOF’ My last wish. It’s very important. These days I had been having writer’s block, or writer’s cramp, so that gave me an idea. “I wish for inspiration!” ‘POOF’

The last worm was gone, and I was left alone in higher spirits. Who knew worms could make me so happy? I didn’t waste any time. I ran home and logged onto my computer. This time the 3 worked, and I was in. I clicked on my email because I had ___ new messages.

The first one read ***YOU HAVE RECEIVED GIFT POINTS***. An anonomous source had sent me exactly 1 million gift points. I shrieked giddily. The next email read, You’ve received a gift! And sure enough, I had been given by a premium memership from an anonomous user. I was so excited I couldn’t contain myself. The next 10 messages were reviews of my work, but I didn’t take time to read them just then because the final message was different. It was simply a link. To something called The Writer’s Cramp. I clicked on it, and I realized where I would be getting my inspiration!







Prompt: A genie pops out of your magic bottle and says that because Writing.com is having its ninth birthday this week, instead of the usual three wishes, you get nine. Only there are some additional rules . . . What are the rules? What happens?