Rick couldn’t believe it actually worked. Nor could he believe he had wasted the first two wishes. He would have to make the third one count. And, to think, he had resented the very thing that stood to change his life.
Rick’s grandfather had been a collector of rare books. Upon his death, he bequeathed the bulk of his collection to his alma mater – Stanford University. Rick’s parents had died in a plane crash when he was only eight years old. He and his brother were the only surviving heirs and they waited with great anticipation to hear the executor, an expert in rare manuscripts, read the will that outlined their inheritance. Three valuable items from the old man’s collection remained. They were a Gutenberg Bible, a ninth century illuminated manuscript of the Holy Gospels and a comparatively pedestrian 17th century diary that belonged to a Portuguese missionary named Manuel Marques.
The will, written in the florid prose of a bygone era, stated flatly that the Gutenberg Bible would remain in perpetuity as a part of the estate. Provision had been made to establish a trust that would oversee the maintenance of the special vault where it was housed and to allow access to the document, that was valued at $28 million dollars, by appropriately qualified scholars. The trust would be overseen by the most preeminent expert in the field, the man who read the will in a voice that was simultaneously authoritative and reedy.
The illuminated gospel was left to Rick’s brother, Ted, who was advised by the executor that it was worth $400,000. Ted, who had expensive habits to feed, offered it for sale without even waiting for the executor to specify Rick’s inheritance.
Rick wondered how many hundreds of thousands of dollars he stood to gain, but the executor announced that it was valued at $8,000. Rick was stunned. He lived in the Bay Area of California. That was only a couple of month’s rent.
While the other items were kept under lock and key, Rick was given his 400-year-old book to carry home in a vacuum-sealed bag. He went out to see if he could find a better offer.
He wished he had gotten the bible. A homeless man came up and pressed a book into his hands. It was a Gideon’s bible purloined from a hotel room. He threw it to the ground. He wished he had some hand sanitizer. He turned the corner and a representative from Purell was giving out trial samples in front of the CVS. Holy crap!
He bought a Powerball ticket, but wished that he had one off the winning numbers so that he would only win $400,000. His numbers were 5, 8, 48, 62, 63. The winning numbers were 6, 9, 49, 63, 64. The diary hid a Sanskrit coin that had been given to the missionary to test his faith. Rick’s grandfather had wished that his son’s ailing marriage would last for life.
Literature in Small Doses 