He just sighed.
“I warned you,” he said calmly, taking a sip of his drink.
The bartender pointed at him furiously.
“You said be careful what you wish for! I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST DRAMATIC BAR TALK!”
The little piano man in the box stopped playing for a second… looked around… and then started playing something that sounded suspiciously like chaos music.
The “Fix This Immediately” Phase
The bartender grabbed the lamp and shook it.
“GENIE! I WISH THE DUCKS WOULD DISAPPEAR!”
A sudden puff of smoke filled the bar.
For a moment… silence.
Then—
BOOM.
The ducks vanished.
The bartender sighed in relief.
“…Finally.”
But then he noticed something strange.
The bar was still noisy.
Too noisy.
The New Problem Appears
The bartender slowly looked around.
The customers were still there.
But now…
every single one of them was quacking.
Not talking.
Not laughing.
Just… quacking.
Even the jukebox was making duck sounds instead of music.
The bartender froze.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The man with the box shrugged.
“Didn’t I mention it?” he said. “Genie loves irony.”
The Second Wish Disaster
The bartender panicked.
“Okay, okay—new wish! I want EVERYTHING to go back to normal!”
The lamp glowed again.
The genie’s voice echoed softly:
“Granted.”
A flash of light.
Silence.
Then…
Everything seemed normal again.
No ducks.
No quacking.
No chaos.
The bartender smiled slowly.
“Finally. Thank you—”
Then he stopped.
Because something felt… off.
The bar was empty.
Completely empty.
No customers.
No piano man.
No man with the box.
Just him.
And a single feather floating gently onto the counter.
The Final Twist
The bartender swallowed.
“…Where did everyone go?”
Behind him, the man’s voice came from nowhere:
“You said you wanted everything back to normal.”
The bartender turned around sharply.
Nothing.
Just the lamp on the bar.
And the piano playing itself… softly… somewhere in the distance.
The voice continued:
“So now you’re back to the very first normal version of your bar.”
The bartender blinked.
“…And what does that mean?”
A pause.
Then:
“No customers. No chaos. No wishes.”
Another pause.
“…Just you. Before anything interesting ever happened.”
The bartender whispered:
“…Oh no.”
The Lesson (Too Late)
The man with the box reappeared at the door, ready to leave.
He looked back one last time and smiled.
“Next time,” he said, “maybe just take the free drink.”
And with that, he walked out.
The piano man waved from inside the box.
The lamp dimmed.
And the bartender stood alone…
wondering if ducks were really that bad after all.