IM

[busy]

[Merlin is pacing back and forth, not looking especially troubled. Just...thinking. That's what happens when he has too much time on his hands. He's also peeling a banana. Blame it for this.]

So my grandpa, yeah? He has this shop full of really weird crap - books and dolls and giant bird skulls. He says a lot of it is haunted or cursed, and tells a lot of stories about things coming from the Amazon rain forest or the mountains of Romania. I think he's going a bit senile because he forgets that I sign for all the packages, so I know that they really just come from Amazon dot com and New Jersey.

But he does have this one thing that's been there for as long as I can remember. And I've seen people try to buy it, but he refuses to sell it.

[Merlin snorts softly and takes a bite of the banana.]

And trust me, we need to sell. It's just a gross old withered monkey's paw, but he says that it has the power to grant three wishes. Only they always go wrong, and that's why he can't sell it in good conscious. The whole "be careful what you wish for" thing. I don't know if I believe it, but two of the fingers are already bent.

[He pauses, eyebrows lifting.]

Thinking about it made me wonder. If you had one wish, what would you wish for?

Oh, and no monkeys were hurt in the asking of this question. If you find one, don't cut off its hand. That would just make you an ass.