Jeanie

 So there I was, on my own, laying flat out on Brighton beach. I was catching the sun's rays, some of the very few we're granted in this part of the world. Wise to this particular beach, I'd chosen a spot where the shingle was small, about pea-sized, as opposed to fist-sized, like elsewhere along the shoreline. It makes for a slightly more comfortable sunbathing session.

I'd been there a fair while - was miles away,  listening contentedly to some obscure band introduced to me on Spotify, when suddenly something touched my foot. The first time I ignored it, but when it happened again I opened my eyes and looked up to see a figure standing over me.

    'What do you want then?' Asked the young woman. Her shoulders were sagging, her dress, pale blue, almost rags. She looked like she didn't really want to be there.

Surprised she was talking to me, I took out my earbuds and came up onto my elbows.

    'What?' I asked. 'Who are you? Do I know you?'

    'Oh, yeah,  right sorry,' she said dismissively, 'Let me introduce myself.' She put a lock of yellow hair behind her ear. 'I'm Jean and that's my shell.' She gestured to my right hand. 'Now, what do you want?'

Glancing down, I saw was holding a small, innocuous-looking seashell.

Absentmindedly I must have picked it up, and had been toying in my fingers.

    Assuming the shabbily dressed woman collected shells, maybe to make jewelry, I offered it up to her.

    'There you go then,' I said. 'It's all yours.'

    'No, no, no, it doesn't work like that. I belong to the shell. You found the shell. You have the shell.'

    The woman really wasn't making any sense. I looked around, to see what others on the beach might be thinking of her. Nobody, it seemed, had even noticed her.

    Looking back, she'd folded her arms about herself, and was staring straight at me. Impatient. 'Well, what do you want?' What do you wish for?

Peeved already and getting more annoyed by the second, without thinking I said, 'I wish you'd just leave me alone!'

The woman tutted. She sighed as a teenager would after being given too much homework.

    'What? Is that it? You want me to go away?' Put out, she stamped her foot, sending pabbles off all around her. 'Your wish is for me to just go away?'

    'Yes', I nodded. 'GO AWAY, NOW!'

    Already I was replacing my earbuds. Blondie was singing this time, something about 'beautiful hair'.

    My head was back down now, resting on the bag I was using as a cushion.

    'Very well. I'll do exactly as you command.' I heard her say over the music. At that moment there then came an odd noise, the sort of noise a lift door makes when closing.

    Glancing up briefly, I saw there was no sign of the girl. True to her word, she was gone, completely, without a trace.

    I was getting comfortable again. In my ear was Kid Creole - claiming not to be Annie's Daddy. Knowing the song well, I began humming. The 2nd verse had just started when yet again something touched my foot.

Opening my eyes, there was the same oddly dressed woman, only much more annoyed-looking.

    'Yes?' She asked brusquely, stamping her foot yet again.

    'Yes what?' I replied, my tone matching hers.  I sat up fully, putting my head about level with her slim waist. Because the sun was directly behind her, she cast a shadow over my face. 'I told you to go away, didn't I? Now leave me alone'.'

    'But I did go away, exactly as you wished, but you rubbed the shell again. You brought me back.'

Confusion continued on. Things really weren't making any sense. Looking to my hand, sure enough,  I was still holding the shell. I could have rubbed it, but so what, it's just a shell isn't it?

    'You really don't get it still, do you? Asked the woman. She'd softened the way she spoke.

I shook my head, was about to say 'no, I really didn't', when something clicked. Her name came back to me. She'd told me her name was Jean. She said she 'belonged to the shell'. My expression suddenly changed, I felt it. It caused the young woman to giggle, child-like. We must have read my mind. Maybe a lightbulb had lit up somewhere above my head.

Without bothering to explain further, she simply cast me a wink and said, 'You have two more wishes, use them wisely my Master'.