Looking for a short story

Dannyalcatraz

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• Jul 19, 2017

• #1

Several decades old, it was about a man interacting with a genie. The genie was not very powerful, and could only grant wishes with a cash value of something like $1.97.

And eventually, the man figures out something he wants he can actually wish for...

 

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Dannyalcatraz

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• Aug 4, 2017

• #2

Apparently, it's "$1.98" by Arthur Porges. Now...to figure out what book it was in...

 

Rabulias

the Incomparably Shrewd and Clever

• Aug 4, 2017

• #3

An index of his short stories and where they appeared: http://arthurporges.atwebpages.com/thestories.htm

Looks like your best bet will be tracking down The Mirror and Other Strange Reflections, ed. Mike Ashley, Ash-Tree Press, 2002.

EDIT: And since the story was first published in 1954, that $1.98 is the equal to $17.78 in buying power today.

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2017

Dannyalcatraz

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• Aug 4, 2017

• #4

I think I actually may have read it in:

100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories, ed. Isaac Asimov, Terry Carr & Martin H. Greenberg, Doubleday, 1984

Click to expand...

As for the story itself?

If we just do a straight inflationary adjustment, yeah. But if you look at the way the $1.98 was calculated for the wish's result in the story, well... Let's just say, IOW, that the story might have to be called "$24.57" or some such to reach the same denouement.