Wish For a Day Was Granted

She was sitting on the edge of the bar stool Not wearing anything but her wings. I found it curious that no one else seemed to want a peek and I could not stop peeking. “What will you have?” the bartender asked. She was a short, mean-looking, lined woman. Her face had x’s and stars like the palm of an old hand. “I ummmmmmmm…..I……..” My mind went blank. The faerie laughed. Not a tinkling, sparkly, cutesy laugh But the laugh of a trucker who had smoked a thousand Lucky’s. How a fog-horn oldster laugh like that could come out of something With such a lovely backside like that, I will never know. I caught her eye, and she said, “Have a Bud Lite.” “Bud Light,” I said, as if my mind had mushed itself. A brown bottle was plunked down in front of me Seconds later, minus lid. If I had wanted it in the bottle, I would have brought my own. “Eight dollars,” said the bartender. What? I was askance! I was not trying to pay income tax or anything. Just buy a beer. Which I figured should have cost around sixty-three cents. “Give her a tip,” the faerie said. Her voice was lovely this time. I looked at her, and she winked. She had the most remarkable blue eyes. Suddenly wanting to impress her, I gave the bartender a twenty And my traitorous mouth said “Keep the change.” What the H? The bartender brought me another bottle, plunked it down And said, “Eight dollars.” I did not dare look at the faerie. I looked down, at my hands. “I did not order another one,” I said. Weakly, ineffectively, unsure of myself now. The faerie laughed. “Mom, this one’s on me,” she said. I was suddenly in a terrific mood again. “This is your mom?” I said. She nodded her golden curls, and I fell in love with those blue eyes. “Time to go,” Mr. Sandbottom whispered. “You have had your wish.” In seconds I was out on the sidewalk, myself, again, an ordinary woman. “How was it being a man?” He asked me. “Did you like it?” “Strange in many ways,” I told him. “Familiar in others.” I heard the faerie’s harsh, cold, fog-horn laugh, which had no effect now.