Since John had noticed he was becoming a middle aged man and getting slightly overweight he had taken up the daily habit of going out jogging twice a week. So far he had not lost an ounce. But at least his conscience kept quiet and he felt happy.

Of course he went the more or less three kilometers from his house to the surrounding forests and fields outside his village by car. But once there he seriously jogged. No really, he did! And he even manged not to get an extra beer out of the fridge when he got back home tired and thirsty. Mostly.

It was a beautiful day and he was making his usual round of about five kilometers. He had been doing it for several weeks now and his condition had clearly improved. He could enjoy the landscape, breath the fresh morning air and hear the birds sing. He regretted he had not started this new activity much earlier.

As he jogged through the forest he suddenly heard a strange noise. At first he thought it was a bird. But the sound was to high for that, and somehow did not sound birdy at all.
He stopped. What was this? It came from the forest. And it sounded like a voice. But it did not sound human. It was too high, sounded somehow unreal. It reminded him of an adult who tries to mimic a child's voice. But it was a voice and is was calling for help.

Carefully he got off the road into the forest. There were lots of nettles and John was wearing shorts, so you can imagine.

The voice seemed to come from under some tree that had fallen over.

- Hello..? Is somebody there..?

- Yes, of course there is! Help me out will you?

John tried to lift and move the tree. With a little effort he managed. It was just a not too big pine and not a full grown oak tree.

A moment later he was looking at an elf. A real one! Not that he had ever seen one, but even so he was quite sure about it. It looked exactly like the description you will find on Google and the videos on YouTube.

Strangely enough he was not really surprised. He had seen many strange creatures, especially years ago when he was a student and frequented the wrong people who provided him with the right stuff. Carefully prepared by these simulations in his younger years he was now fully ready for a real encounter of the third kind.

- You are an elf! A real one!

The elf looked annoyed.

- You know, it is just to avoid this kind of stupid remarks we normally prefer not to draw any attention to us. How would you feel if every time you met an elf he or she would greet you with: Oh, he, you are a human. A real human! So please, cut it out, will you!

- Ok, ok, I did not want to annoy you.

- Well, it is all right, let's just forget about this. Thanks for liberating me.

- You are welcome. How did you manage to get there in the first place if I may ask?

- We were dancing here yesterday evening and then this half rotten dead tree fell over and I got stuck. My elf friends were unable to move it, so I guess I was lucky you passed by and helped me.

- Don't mention it. I am always glad to help. I did not know elves dance here in the evening.

- We do. Just like you go to a dancing, we dance here. But, I have already lost a lot of time lying under that tree. Perhaps we can do the small talk some other time and talk business right away?

- Business?

- Yes, you helped me escape. You did your good deed for the day and are entitled to three wishes.

- Oh, come on! This is not true is it? Just tell me where the candid camera is, will you?

- It is quite true, after all it is a fairy tale you are in.

- Well, I never gave this a thought. I have no idea what to wish...

The elf sighed.

Another one who has made no preparations at all, the elf thought to itself. They read these stories, they know it happens all the time, but nobody ever cares to carefully formulate and write down his three wishes to have them ready when needed.
I take any bet things will again go awry before you know it... Shall I help this friendly guy, or just let him try? I can see it from his face, it is a difficult task, he does not know what to ask.

These things the elf was pondering over while John was racking his poor brain what to ask. Money, fame, power, a cat perhaps...?

- You can just do anything, or are there certain limits?

- As long as you don't want to become e.g. God or have a sneaky way to eventually get more than three wishes pretty much everything is possible.

A great idea came to John's mind. He had always felt he would have liked much more to be a woman than a man. And had he had a little bit more guts he would long since have gone into some shop to buy some female clothes and a wig to become at least a cross dresser. But he never dared and thus robed himself from all the fun.
But with three wishes everything seemed to be possible.

- Could you turn me into a woman?

- Sure I can.

- Then please do so!

There was a flash, there was some smoke. And a moment later John found himself to be a female.

He touched his new body (or was it the same but only altered?). It felt very real, all seemed to be there and some parts seemed to have vanished. John was thrilled. This was simply too good to be true.

- Whow!! I really want to see how I look now!!

Another flash, more smoke and next to the small sand road where they were standing a full dress mirror had appeared.

John watched himself and discovered he was actually a quite attractive woman now. He should only have asked to be a 25 year old beautiful women he now realized. Should he ask that perhaps now? Realizing a moment later he had wasted one wish to only get a mirror. Even though it was a pretty one. There was only one wish left!

- Well lady, one more wish to go. What shall it be?

Joanna was deeply annoyed about her own stupidity. And at the same time admiring her looks in the mirror. And while she was busy like that she said half aloud, half to herself.

- Damned, what a stupid cow I am. I wished I could have my useless wish undone!

As a good understander only needs a half word, this was enough for the elf to promptly fulfill her wish. A flash, some smoke and John was looking at himself again in the looking glass and the elf was gone.

The full dress mirror turned out to be useful indeed for many years to come.
And every time when John uses it, in his imagination he still sees the beautiful women he had been once, for a moment, and deeply regrets he had not prepared his wishes in writing. He now has, just in case.
He often went to the place again, but never again met an elf, not in the morning not in the evening.

Still not daring to make any moves of his own. Dreaming his life, not living his dreams.

*********************************************************************************************************

I hope you liked it. I know, the theme is old, but I hope I have been able to present it in a funny and philosophical way at the same time so it was enjoyable after all.
As always, feel free to comment, feel free to contact me if you want.
And of course, feel free to award a kudo.

Karin Beyaert