Read Online The Christmas Genie by Dan Gutman, Dan Santat - Free Book Online

dead within three months.”
    â€œParty pooper!” shouted Logan.
    â€œHow do you figure that, Mia?” Ashley asked.
    â€œWell, if you had a birthday every day, in one month you’d be thirty years old,” Mia explained. “In two months, you’d be sixty. In three months, you’d be ninety. And you’re ten years old now, so that’s a hundred. You’d grow old really fast. Chances are, you’d be dead three months from now.”
    â€œI never thought of it that way,” Ashley said. “I just figured I’d get presents every day, people would bake me cakes all the time, and everybody would always be nice to me.”
    â€œOh, they’ll be real nice to you,” said Logan, “especially when you’re an old, senile, wrinkled ten-year-old.”
    â€œIt was a dumb idea,” Ashley said. “Tear that one up, Mrs. Walters.”

WISH #14:
I WISH I HAD A DOG.
    Everybody turned and looked at Isabella. We all knew that had to be her wish, because she loves animals. She always says she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.
    â€œDon’t you already have, like, a dozen pets at home?” asked Madison.
    â€œI have two cats, a bunny, a parakeet, a hermit crab, two turtles, and some fish,” Isabella said. “But I don’t have a dog.”
    â€œSo go to an animal shelter or a pet shop and get a dog,” said Ethan. “Problem solved. What’s the big deal?”
    â€œI’m allergic to dogs,” Isabella said.
    Oh.
    â€œAh, it’s the same old story,” said Genie Bob. “Humans always want what they can’t have. If you were allergic to elephants, you’d want an elephant.”
    â€œI would not,” Isabella said.
    â€œWhere would you keep an elephant, anyway?” asked Alex. “I guess you could wish for an elephant house in your backyard. But on second thought, you only get one wish. So if Isabella wished for an elephant house, she wouldn’t get the elephant. And what would you do with the elephant house if you didn’t have an elephant to put in it?”
    â€œI don’t want an elephant!” Isabella yelled. “I want a dog.”
    â€œI believe there are some breeds of dogs that people aren’t allergic to,” said Mrs. Walters. “You might want to look into that, Isabella.”
    â€œInstead of wishing for a dog, why don’t you just wish there were no such things as dog allergies?” Ella asked Isabella. “Then you wouldn’tbe allergic to dogs and you could just get any dog you want.”
    â€œGood idea, Ella,” said Mrs. Walters.
    â€œLook, anybody can get a dog,” said Alex. “But nobody can get a
talking
dog. Let’s wish for
that
. If my dog, Bella, could talk, I could have a regular conversation with her.”
    â€œTalking animals are cool,” said David.
    â€œI think part of the reason why animals are lovable is because they
can’t
talk,” said Olivia.
    â€œParrots are lovable, and they talk,” said Ella.
    â€œIf animals could talk,” Mia said, “some of them would be annoying. Just like some people are annoying when they talk. I don’t think I need to name any names.”
    â€œYou know what?” Logan said. “
You’re
annoying. Why don’t you shut up?”
    â€œWould you like to go the the principal’s office, Logan?” asked Mrs. Walters.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat if your dog could talk and it told you that it hated you?” asked Ashley. “That would be a royal bummer.”
    â€œI wish I had a
flying
dog,” Alex said. “A flying dog that talked.”
    â€œThat would be cool,” said David.
    â€œI wish I had a pet dragon that would take me to a magical rainbow,” said Madison.
    â€œI wish I had a unicorn that would fly me anywhere,” said Natalie.
    â€œI wish I had my own zoo all to myself,” said Isabella.