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comment by mike
mike  ·  3814 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What are some great short stories?

My favorite short short story was from a collection of sci-fi short stories. It was the shortest in the whole book, only half a page. I'd love to know the name and author. Can anyone help? A paraphrase follows:

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He blew out the match and a genie materialized from the stream of smoke coming from the end of the match.

"And what is your third wish?" the genie asked.

"Third wish? What do you mean? I haven't had any other wishes."

"Your second wish was to make everything exactly like it was before you made the first wish," the genie explained.

The man didn't think that was very fair, but was pleased to have a wish regardless. "I wish that I were irresistible to women," he said.

"Funny," the genie said as he disappeared. "That was also your first wish."