"Jenna?" I asked in as calm and level a voice as I could manage. "What did you do to my bedroom?"

The genie was still slouched sideways across my favourite chair, with that huge plush pink pony in her arms. She cringed a little more, and slowly shifted the pony until her face was hidden behind its big curly pink mane. Then from behind the giant plush toy she lied, "Nothing?"

In a way she reminded me of a small child, like a toddler who'd just been caught covered in crumbs next to an empty cookie jar.

"Nothing bad I mean," she added after a second or two.

I didn't even have to say anything, I just kept staring at her. Even with her face hidden she could probably guess my expression, or maybe her magic let her see me through the pony. Either way I kept my eyes on her as a weary frown settled onto my expression.

Jenna cringed a little more, "Ok maybe I redecorated. Slightly. A tiny bit. But I think you'll like it? I made it way more comfy and cosy!"

"Anyways it's not like any of that stuff you had in there was so great," she continued. "Like the bed? It was tiny, you couldn't possibly cuddle anyone in that! Plus the mattress was old and sagging in the middle. And the pillows were all lumpy. And the sheets were kind of threadbare."

She was starting to sound a little more confident again, now that she was justifying whatever she'd done to my bedroom. She peaked out from behind her pink plush shield and added, "They say a good night's sleep is important for your health, right? You can't have been getting good sleep on a bed like that. Maybe that's why you're so uptight all the time?"

As much as I hated to admit it, she actually had a point about the bed. It was basically the same thing I'd been sleeping on since I was twelve or thirteen. And while I knew it wasn't that comfortable and the mattress definitely needed replacing, it was at least familiar. Not to mention, getting a new bed was an expensive ordeal. Even just shopping for one seemed like it'd be time-consuming. So whenever the idea came up it very quickly fell to the bottom of my to-do list, where it stayed until it was conveniently forgotten.

"All right," I finally sighed. "Maybe a new bed isn't the end of the world."

Just like that Jenna's guilty act vanished. She lowered the huge plushie and raised her head up and beamed at me with a big bright grin, "You won't regret it Vikki! I promise!"

"I hope not," I muttered under my breath. Then I glanced in the direction of my little kitchen as I sighed, "I suppose I should make us something to eat. Are you ok with pasta? I don't have the energy to make anything fancy. Or the ingredients either, probably."

The cute genie's smile only got wider as she offered, "Why don't I make dinner for us tonight? What do you feel like? You had Chinese for lunch, right? Do you want to try something more exotic? Or are you in the mood for comfort food? You mentioned fancy, want to try something gourmet? How about haute cuisine? Molecular gastronomy? Or if you've already got your heart set on pasta we can do that too!"

I shook my head, "We don't have ingredients in the house for any of that stuff Jenna. Except the pasta. And even if we did have ingredients, I don't have the kind of kitchen to prepare half that stuff. I don't even know what some of those things are? Molecular gastronomy sounds like a science thing, not a cooking thing."

"You really should have let me do my spiel back before you freed me," Jenna responded, in an 'I told you so' kind of tone.

Then she practically jumped to her feet and announced, "Anyways since you obviously can't decide I'll pick something fun for the both of us! No need to thank me, you just stay there and relax while I take care of everything."

"Here!" she added as she dumped the giant plush pink pony on my lap, "Pinkie will keep you company, she's loads of fun and very outgoing! Just don't let her talk you into throwing any parties, she can get a little carried away with that."

I didn't even have a chance to respond before Jenna skipped away into my tiny kitchenette, leaving me alone in the living-room with the big plushie ontop of me. I briefly thought about going after her. At least to keep an eye on her, to make sure she didn't do anything crazy to my kitchen. On the other hand I didn't want to seem ungrateful, and if she really wanted to make dinner for the two of us I couldn't exactly complain. At worst if whatever she came up with turned out to be inedible we could always just order something in.

So I stayed where I was on the living-room sofa, and did my best to relax and not worry too much about whatever she was doing in the kitchen. Or to the kitchen. Either way, I'd find out soon enough. For now I set the big pony plushie down next to me on the sofa, then picked up my folio from the coffee table and opened it up. I figured I may as well run through my check-list for tomorrow's open house one more time.

After a couple minutes Jenna called from the kitchen, "Hey Vikki? What would you like to drink?"

"Cola's fine," I called back. "There should be a few cans in the fridge."

My attention remained on my notes as I reviewed everything, and mentally pictured what I'd be doing at the open house. I read somewhere visualization was an important tool for some people, and I tried to apply that to my work as well. And with my mind very much elsewhere, I was nearly startled out of my seat when someone spoke up next to me.

"Excusé-moi mademoiselle?"

I stifled a yelp and nearly dropped my folio as I turned to look at the attractive young waitress standing next to me. She wore black heels, black hose, a knee-length black pleated skirt, and a scoop-neck white blouse that revealed a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage. Her long black hair was pulled back into a bun, and she was holding a large tray balanced on her left hand.

The next thing that hit me was instead of my coffee table, there was now a small polished antique wood dining table in the middle of my living-room. And instead of my sofa, I was seated on a proper wood and leather chair. That big pink plush pony sat in a matching chair to my right. Opposite me on the far side of the table my big comfy recliner was fortunately unchanged.

I was still staring in shock as a large plate was placed on the table in front of me and the waitress said, "Pour mademoiselle, steak et frites."

The food smelled amazing, the steak looked like it had been seasoned and grilled to perfection, while the julienned fries appeared crispy with a light dusting of salt and other seasoning over them. My mouth started watering immediately, as the waitress set down a fancy cloth napkin along with a polished silver fork and a bone-handled steak knife. Finally she placed a large fancy stemware glass full of cola on the table next to my plate.

Then she gave me a flirty wink and a smile as she added, "Bon appetît!"

That's when I suddenly realized the waitress was actually Jenna. The genie had changed her outfit and hair style, and added some make-up. All that plus speaking French had completely thrown me for a few seconds.

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to respond before she giggled and skipped out of sight back into the kitchen. When she emerged literally only two seconds later she looked completely different again and I found myself at a loss for words as I stared at her.

Gone was the professional French waitress look, and the make-up. Now she wore pink flip-flops on her feet, baggy khaki cargo shorts, and a large loose baseball jersey with a team logo I hadn't seen before. Same with the ball cap perched sideways atop her short messy black hair. Not that I was much of a sports person myself, but I was reasonably sure there was no such team as the Brooklyn Ray Sox. And even if there were, I sincerely doubted their uniforms would be white with pink pinstripes, or their logo would be a couple pink footie socks with those little puffballs at the heels.

She was carrying her own meal this time, and it fit perfectly with the sportsball theme of her outfit. The genie had a large disposable cardboard tray of nachos smothered in cheese sauce balanced on her left hand, with a foot-long ballpark hotdog ontop of that. And in her right hand she was carrying a giant plastic cup full of beer.

I couldn't help cringing as she slumped back down into my favourite chair again, images of beer and melted cheese staining the recliner's upholstery danced in my mind. But despite some serious sloshing the beer remained inside the cup and the tray of nachos stayed upright. Then as soon as she was comfy Jenna plunked the big nacho tray down on her lap and perched her beer precariously on the arm of the chair.

"So how's the steak?" the genie asked as she flashed me another wide grin.

"I haven't had a chance to try it yet," I responded. Then after a brief hesitation I asked, "Is it real? Like is this real food, or some sort of magical pseudo-food?"

Jenna rolled her eyes and took a big bite of her hotdog. I couldn't help wincing as a glob of ketchup and sauerkraut landed on the front of her jersey.

Then with her mouth completely full she responded, "Off coursh it'sh real! Yesh I conjured it up with magic but that doeshn't make it any lesh real."

"Ok," I replied as I watched her take another huge bite of the footlong, and spill another glob of condiments on herself. At that point I sighed, "Do you want me to get you some napkins or something? Or didn't they have any at the concession stand?"

The genie shook her head, "No thanks! It's all part of the genuine ballpark dining experience."

"Anyways stop worrying about what I'm eating and focus on your own dinner," she added as she reached for her beer. "You want to enjoy that steak before it gets cold!"

I nodded slowly as I reached for my cutlery, "Right. And uh, thanks Jenna. This looks like a really nice meal."

And it was. The steak was so tender it almost melted in my mouth. It was a perfect medium rare throughout, and I could honestly say I'd never eaten anything so good before in my life. The fries were outstanding as well. Even the cola tasted nice. It was like the best steak restaurant had opened a new location in my apartment, and despite all my misgivings and fears about magic and the supernatural I honestly couldn't complain about any of it.

On the other hand, my dining companion was a whole different matter. Apparently her idea of a 'genuine ballpark meal' involved a lot of sloppy eating, and every time I looked across the table at her I could see new stains on both Jenna and my favourite chair.

In addition to the ketchup and sauerkraut there were dollops of cheese sauce on the genie's clothes and both arms of the recliner. She had nacho crumbs everywhere, and I was positive she dropped half her hotdog onto the floor at some point while I wasn't looking.

The whole thing came to a head just as I finished the last of my steak, when an actual baseball suddenly fell from the ceiling into Jenna's lap. It scored a direct hit on the greasy cheesy cardboard nacho tray, scattering nachos and melted cheese everywhere. That was followed by the rest of Jenna's beer as the genie leapt to her feet with the ball in her hand.

She proceeded to dance around on the spot as she held the ball up high and screamed, "Oh my gosh it's a home run! The Ray Sox win! Yay Ray Sox! Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

I very nearly lost my temper at that point, due to the huge mess she'd just made. Instead I forced myself to stay calm. I took a deep breath then picked up my fancy glass of cola and had a gulp of that. Then in a very level voice I asked, "Jenna? Thank you for dinner, it was lovely. Now can you please clean up this mess for me?"

"And please try to keep the noise down," I added. "We have neighbours and I don't want to get in trouble."

She stopped her dancing and turned to face me as she hugged the baseball to her messy food-stained jersey. Then with a hopeful smile and big puppy-dog eyes she asked, "Can I at least keep the ball as a souvenir?"

Once again I was momentarily caught off-guard by the genie's antics. On the one hand she'd literally just conjured the baseball up herself a half minute earlier, then used it as an excuse to scatter food all over half my living-room. But on the other hand there was almost a look of child-like innocence in her expression and the tone in her voice, that left me wondering if maybe she actually believed her made-up baseball team just won and she caught the winning ball.

And in the end I realized it didn't matter either way. I already knew she could magically clean things up, and I certainly couldn't complain about my own meal. It was fantastic and I felt completely satisfied after eating it.

So I smiled and nodded, "Of course you can keep the ball Jenna. I'm glad you had fun and I hope you had enough to eat? But I'd really like you to clean all this up now please."

"Yay! Thanks Vikki!" she exclaimed happily.

"You're welcome," I replied. Then I added, "After it's all cleaned up I'd like to get to bed early tonight, since I have a big day tomorrow for work."

The genie nodded then made a sweeping gesture with her hand that was accompanied by a loud Poof! sound, and just like that my living-room was restored to its former state. I was once again seated on the sofa, with that huge plush pony next to me. The coffee table was back, along with my folio and business cards and brochures. My favourite chair was spotlessly clean, and there was no trace of any spilled food. Even my dishes from dinner had vanished, along with the fancy table and chairs.

In fact the only trace of either of our meals was the stemware glass I was still holding in my hand, since I hadn't finished my soda yet.

Then I noticed that Jenna's outfit had changed as well. She was now dressed in a big pink nightshirt with purple polka-dots, and she had fuzzy pink slippers on her feet. It only took me a couple more seconds to realize my own clothes had been replaced too. I was now barefoot and wearing my favourite pair of pyjamas, the black ones with the white kitty silhouettes all over them.

I looked up at the genie to comment but she spoke up first.

"You're the best Vikki!" she stated happily. "We're going to have so much fun together, now that we're roommates!"

PurpleCatGirl

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