What do you picture, when you think of a genie trapped in a lamp? I see them in an orangey-yellow, candle lit room. It has no walls or edges, like a spherical cave with no exit. They have a comfortable armchair and a stack of books. Perhaps a blanket.
That’s also roughly how I picture Jonah in the whale, but the walls are more blubbery and his furniture is floating in a foot of goop.
Below: from this week’s New Statesman.
Elevator Genie
If you press the call button several times, the elevator thinks a bunch of people want to get on, and it arrives much faster. Don’t email me—it’s science.
Teapot Genie
Here’s one from the New Yorker, 2019. I love it because it reminds me of my Grandma.