The bartender yells at the man and says,
\u201cARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I WANTED MONEY, NOT A DUCK APOCALYPSE!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ducks were everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One was sitting in a glass.
Another was trying to steal a napkin.
Two of them were aggressively judging a man who had just ordered fries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bar had gone from cozy nightlife to chaotic farm disaster in under five seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man with the box didn\u2019t even flinch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continue reading on next page\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
He just sighed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI warned you,\u201d he said calmly, taking a sip of his drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bartender pointed at him furiously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou said be careful what you wish for! I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST DRAMATIC BAR TALK!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The little piano man in the box stopped playing for a second\u2026 looked around\u2026 and then started playing something that sounded suspiciously like chaos music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bartender grabbed the lamp and shook it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGENIE! I WISH THE DUCKS WOULD DISAPPEAR!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A sudden puff of smoke filled the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a moment\u2026 silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BOOM.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The ducks vanished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender sighed in relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Finally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then he noticed something strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bar was still noisy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Too noisy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender slowly looked around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The customers were still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But now\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n every single one of them was quacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just\u2026 quacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the jukebox was making duck sounds instead of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026You\u2019ve got to be kidding me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The man with the box shrugged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDidn\u2019t I mention it?\u201d he said. \u201cGenie loves irony.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender panicked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay, okay\u2014new wish! I want EVERYTHING to go back to normal!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lamp glowed again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The genie\u2019s voice echoed softly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGranted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A flash of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything seemed normal again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No ducks. The bartender smiled slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFinally. Thank you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then he stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because something felt\u2026 off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bar was empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Completely empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No customers. Just him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And a single feather floating gently onto the counter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender swallowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Where did everyone go?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind him, the man\u2019s voice came from nowhere:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou said you wanted everything back to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender turned around sharply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just the lamp on the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the piano playing itself\u2026 softly\u2026 somewhere in the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The voice continued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo now you\u2019re back to the very first normal<\/em> version of your bar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026And what does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo customers. No chaos. No wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Just you. Before anything interesting ever happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bartender whispered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Oh no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The man with the box reappeared at the door, ready to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked back one last time and smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNext time,\u201d he said, \u201cmaybe just take the free drink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And with that, he walked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The piano man waved from inside the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lamp dimmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the bartender stood alone\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n wondering if ducks were really that bad after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The bartender yells at the man and says,\u201cARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I WANTED MONEY, NOT A DUCK APOCALYPSE!\u201d The ducks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16611,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16609\/revisions\/16611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nThe New Problem Appears<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Second Wish Disaster<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
No quacking.
No chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No piano man.
No man with the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Final Twist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Lesson (Too Late)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n