“It has to be people who need help,” said Nicole. “People who will most benefit from working here.”
“Do you mean someone unemployed?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, someone who has it worse than that,” she answered.
“You mean a homeless person?” I asked.
She nodded. “We’d give someone both a home and a job. I really think it’s the best thing to do,” she said.
“OK, I see your point,” I said. “But how do we find them? Go scour the streets?”
“You’re so forgetful sometimes,” she chastised me. “That,” she said as she pointed at the ring. “Let them
come to us.”
“So you want to have two random homeless people find their way here and not remember why?” I asked.
“I guess,” she said slowly.
I said, “We’ll have to do something about that gate. Make it automatic so that we can open it from here or
something.”
“Then do it,” she said.
“OK,” I said. “I wish that the gate in front of the house was fully automatic and could be opened by remote
from inside the house. I also wish that there was an intercom system in front of the house which people could
use to notify us of their presence.” Nicole chuckled as I finished my wish. “What?” I asked her.
“I just wondered if it already had that,” she said.
“Won’t matter now,” I said. “So do you want me to ‘summon’ our guests?” I asked.
“Oh, yea, we’re really ready to receive them this moment,” she mocked. “Let’s show them how weird it will be
by greeting them in the nude.” She paused, looked up with her eyes and then said, “That might be a fun test
actually. But no, not now. Which bedroom is mine?” she asked. I pointed her in the right direction. “I’m
going to put on something that looks right, you’d better do the same,” she said as she went to her room.
I picked out a pair of khaki shorts and a polo shirt. It seemed right to me considering the warmth of the
summer day, that it was a weekend, and that I was now a leisured man of wealth. Nicole came back into the
room after several minutes. She wore a short, gray skirt and a button-down white shirt. “Going to the
office, are we?” I teased her.
She looked me up and down and scoffed. “I have to teach you how to dress,” she said. “That’s a project for
another time.” She beckoned me to follow her downstairs. We descended to the first floor and went into one
of the living rooms. “Go ahead,” she said.
“We’re going to do this one at a time,” I said. She nodded in approval. “I wish that a random homeless man
who doesn’t have any kind of drinking or drug problems but is just in need of a home and a job would find his
way to the mansion gate.”
Nicole looked at me and asked, “Why did you specify no drug problems?”
“Easier that way,” I answered. “One less wish to have to make.”
Suddenly a quick buzzing sound echoed in the house. At first neither of us knew where to look for an intercom
system. I finally glanced at the front door and saw one just to the side of it. We ran up to it and I
pressed the talk button. “Yes?” I asked.
A voice replied, “Excuse me, but I am in need of some assistance. Can you find it in your heart to…lend a
hand?” The voice was sad, weak and full of defeat. There was a definite sense of pity in the voice, but
disgust as well. This sounded to me like someone whose spirit and pride were destroyed and had nothing but
resentment for himself.
“Absolutely, come on in,” I said. I pressed the button to open the gate.
“Thank you, sir,” said the voice.
I realized that we had no way of seeing this poor man. So I made a wish for there to be a small, discreet
camera system around the gate, and for the video output to display above the intercom system. It appeared in
time for us to see the gate swinging open and the man walking slowly inside. He appeared to be suspicious of
the gate for some reason. Perhaps he sensed he was being watched.
“Here goes a test,” I said to Nicole. “For time’s sake and all. I wish that the man would appear at the
bottom of the steps leading to the front door, and that he would not notice he was magically transported from
one place to the other and would remember that he walked the whole way to the steps.”
We looked back at the video monitor and saw the man vanish. Satisfied that the wish worked, we did not bother
to see if he was at the steps. However, Nicole got a little anxious and opened the door before the man fully
climbed the steps. “Hello, hello, come on in,” she said cheerfully. She was too cheerful, actually.
The man entered the house cautiously. He appeared taken aback at Nicole’s welcome. He carefully wiped his
feet on a mat inside the door. He also constantly looked down, as if he was afraid to lift his head. His
hands gripped a cap that was extremely worn. His clothes showed signs of wear as well. His clothes must have
been laundered recently because there was no odor about them. His shoes were in much better condition and
seemed new.
The man himself appeared to be in fairly decent shape. His hairline showed signs of receding and his hair was
becoming gray. It appeared he was ginger as the hair that was not gray seemed to be light orange. He also
had a full mustache and beard that showed the same signs of graying. He did not appear to be overly skinny or
anything like that.
“Good afternoon, miss,” he said. He looked at me and said, “Sir.”
“Here, come on and sit down,” Nicole said. She took him by the arm and led him into the living room. She
walked him to one of them armchairs and he sat down. Nicole and I sat in chairs opposite him. “How can we
help you?” Nicole asked.
“I don’t mean to trouble ya,” he said, “and I don’t want to take too much of your time. I’m…” His voice
trailed off and he looked at the floor. “I’m down on my luck, ya see, and I saw that this house was occupied
again, so I figured I’d come see if there was any help ya might be needing.”
Nicole and I played along and looked at each other. “What did you have in mind?” Nicole asked.
“Whatever ya might be needing,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life, so I feel I could be of good
service to ya for most anything.”
“Pardon our manners,” I said. “What is your name, sir?”
“Edward Pearson,” he answered.
“Nice to meet you, Edward,” said Nicole. “My name is Nicole Davidson and this is my brother Joe. Obviously
you know that we just…took over this property.” Nicole’s hesitation was a bit troubling.
“That is what I had seen,” answered Edward.
“Edward, I’m sorry to pry, but where do you live?” asked Nicole.
Edward looked down at the floor again. “Well, ya see, I, uh…go from place to place,” he answered.
“Shelters?” asked Nicole.
“Yes, that’s what I meant,” said Edward.
“Oh, my, you poor soul,” said Nicole. “That’s horrible.”
“Well, I’ve been down on my luck for about a year,” he said. “Haven’t been able to find a job and so I lost
what I had. But I’m ready to do anything I can.”
“I’m glad you came here,” Nicole said. “I think we can help you. We don’t have anyone here to help us yet.
This is a big house so we definitely need some help. Do you think you could work as a butler?”
He stopped looking at the floor and looked at Nicole again. “I would say ‘yes’ to that,” he answered. “I’ve
never been one, per se, but I’ve done plenty of things that a butler would do, I suppose. I sure would do all
I could for ya and hope that I meet your expectations.”
“I sense that you would,” she said. She looked at me and I knew what she was going to ask next. “Edward,
there is one very important thing you need to understand before we could hire you. You see…”