Jeanious

We would all like a Genie especially when that brown Inland Revenue envelope arrives demanding an amount that seems monstrous in comparison to the miserable amount that we all seem to be earning. Arnold was no exception, as a Graphic Artist his earnings were definitely in line with the biblical concept of feast and famine and inevitably the brown envelopes always land when we are undergoing a financial famine . So when Arnold retrieved a blue flagon from the bottom of a municipal pond that turned out to be the home to a large flatulent blue Genie, he could be excused for thinking that his financial troubles were over. But life isn’t like that, especially when Jean the Genie has plans of his own. Arnold’s life enters a downward spiral with his wife Clara, banning him from the house and making him live in his garden studio. She commences divorce proceedings. His graphic work dries up. There is no more room on his credit cards or overdraft. His accountant won’t help him fight the tax demand as he hasn’t been paid. The words ‘rock bottom’ describe Arnold’s position accurately especially when he realises that the new man in Clara’s life is Jean the Genie. In despair he steals her car and drives to the cliffs at Beachy Head intending to do away with himself. But he changes his mind as he hurtles down to sharp rocks below. Is he too late? This story was actually triggered by one of those HMRC envelopes and how when you need that break of good luck desperately it just doesn’t come - one of life’s cruel jokes