Week 5 Story: Aladdin and the Wonderful Nokia

Aladdin and the Wonderful Nokia

   Aladdin was a smart kid but he never applied himself in school and would rather have stayed at home and play video games. His parents ran a local laundromat in the center of their city, his dad worked so hard before he had a heart attack and passed when Aladdin was only 17, leaving his mother to raise him and run the laundromat. Aladdin's father had only one request before he died, he wanted Aladdin to make something of himself and put his clever mind to work. Four years have since passed and Aladdin is working at his family's laundromat, taking unauthorized 4 hour breaks twice a day.
    One day when his mother began her weekly scolding of Aladdin's laziness and wasting of potential, Aladdin stormed out and walked the busy urban streets playing Bejeweled on his phone. Suddenly, Aladdin ran into someone, when he went to apologize the man interrupted him and asked, 

"Are you the boy from the laundromat, the one owned by Mustafa?"
Aladdin replied, "Yeah, I am, but my dad died years ago. Do I know you?"
The man said, "Probably not, but I know you. Didn't your old man ever mention his older brother Ahmad?"
"Yeah but you look a little young to be him" replied Aladdin.
"You would be correct. Ahmad was my father. I am Amir. I am your cousin" said the young man.

    Aladdin brought Amir home to his mother elated to find someone close to his father. His mother knew of her husband's estranged (she never knew why the never spoke) older brother and Amir even had pictures of his father and her husband, so she welcomed him with open arms. Amir told the family that he worked for a new startup software company but was a street performing magician on the side to make rent while this software gig sorted itself out. Aladdin's mother offered him to stay with them and in return, Amir offered to get Aladdin a real job with the startup.
    The next day Amir took Aladdin to the business district of the city and helped him pick out a nice suit to go to the job interview with the startup the next day. Aladdin's mother was so happy to see him dressed up as she hadn't seen him in anything but jeans in years. The next day after lunch Aladdin and Amir set off to a city a few towns over where the interview with the startup was to take place. They drove for hours when Amir finally parked in front of an abandoned strip mall with a run down Cricket Wireless. Amir told Aladdin that there was something of great value inside and that it could only be retrieved by two members of their bloodline and since both of their fathers were gone it was up to them to retrieve it. Aladdin thought all of this was a bunch of bologna, but his mother always told him "don't argue with crazy" and Amir was definitely crazy. Aladdin went along with it and asked what needed to be done, and asked for the time since he left his phone at home and didn't want to be late to the interview. Amir said , "there is no interview, but after this we won't need to work ever again. Oh, take this it will help you keep track of time" and he handed Aladdin a nice Skagen watch. He told Aladdin only one could go inside because the structural integrity of the building was lapsing. He instructed Aladdin to go to the back of the store into the old back room and not to touch anything on the way there as they only had 5 minutes to get what they needed. Once he got to the back room there should be a box of bejeweled phone cases and next to it a Nokia 3310, he needed to grab the Nokia and get the hell out of dodge before the building collapsed.
    Aladdin did just that but managed to grab a box of phone cases hoping he could sell them on Ebay later. Right as Aladdin was going to exit, Amir asked him to hand over the phone but he had this crazy look in his eye that made Aladdin uneasy. Aladdin refused to give it over until he got all the way outside, hoping he could give Amir the phone and get help because this dude was seriously unstable. Amir then got frustrated and got back in the car and slammed on the gas, running into the front of the building which collapsed upon Aladdin, then sped off, leaving Aladdin for dead.
    Aladdin was not seriously injured as Amir had hoped, but he was stuck and had no way to call for help. After a few minutes of panic and accepting his fate, Aladdin remembered the Nokia, the phone was indestructible and he opened it hoping there may be a signal on the old phone. He began jamming keys on it trying to get it to work when suddenly a very well dressed but translucent holographic man popped up. Aladdin believed he was hallucinating until the man spoke, " Hi I am Eugene the genie. Contrary to popular belief, you don't get only 3 wishes, you get as many as you want as long as you have my Nokia." In desperation not knowing if this was reality or not, Aladdin screamed "get me out of here and get me home!"
    Sure enough, Aladdin woke up minutes later in one of the chairs in the laundromat. "Oh, hi Ali, how was the interview? Where's Amir?!" asked his Mother. Aladdin explained that Amir must have been a con and explained what happened, that's when his mother noticed the dirt on his face and tears in his clothes. His mother consoled him, "I'm sorry Ali, I know that job would have been your ticket out of here." Aladdin assured her, "mom, I have everything I need here with you, however I do have something that may solve our problems." Aladdin showed her the phone, "I haven't seen one of these in ages! I dropped mine so many times and it never broke, but I don't see your point. Maybe you should lie down." said his Mother. Aladdin drew the blinds and locked the doors and said "no Ma, watch what it can do." He dials the buttons again and out pops Eugene, "Hiya!" he says, causing Aladdin's mother to faint. When she comes to Eugene is still there. "Ask him for anything you want Ma" said Aladdin. "Well I would like to enjoy a nice quiet meal that isn't Easy Mac off of paper plates in my sweatpants." she said. In an instant Eugene was back with at least a dozen jewel encrusted silver plates of fine foods like lobster and Jamon Iberico, Aladdin's mother was suddenly dressed in a Vera Wang dress and a HUGE diamond necklace with atrocious ruby earrings. His mother was in awe and they enjoyed a fabulous meal.
    After dinner Aladdin's mom confessed, "I loved the meal, however this outfit and this jewelry is not my taste and I don't think Jeweled silver is dishwasher safe. What are we going to do with this?" Aladdin suggests going into the business district in the morning and visiting the many jewelers. They do this and bring back several millions, they also discovered the rhinestone phone cases were made with real jewels but they decided not to sell those. They continue this process on a weekly basis for quite some time, now selling the wares privately to celebrities and other well to do individuals. Allowing them to move out of the apartment above the laundromat and into a nice loft, deciding to still run the laundromat Aladdin's father but so much work into. They finally were living comfortably and worry free.

The Infamous Nokia 3310     Image Source

Bibliography

• The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898) Source.

Authors Note:

    I went a little longer on this one but I really wanted to tell this story from a modern perspective while acknowledging Aladdin's cleverness and wit without focusing on his obsession over a princess. I do intend to build on this story with the addition of a love interest similar to a princess. I was just running out of space before the story got too long. Update: I finished the follow up and you can find it here .