Microfiction

Came across this gem yesterday:

An English professor gave his class the following assignment - write a very short story, the shorter the better. But the story had to include three subjects: religion, sex, and mystery.

The only A+ was given to the student who wrote the following:

"Oh my God," she exclaimed, "I'm pregnant! I wonder whose it is?"

This reminded me of two other great short-short stories, or microfiction as it's also called. One is the classic "Thermodynamics of Hell". (Jack, I know you posted this a few months back, but I can't find it now.)

The other was a story I remember my dad showing me about thirty or so years ago. It was published in one of the popular science fiction monthlies; I'd love to find it if anyone recognizes it, or can recall the author. Anyway, it went something like this; I remember the first and last lines verbatim, the middle is approximate:

"Your third wish?"

"What?" he responded incredulously. "What are you talking about, who are you?"

"Yes, of course you don't remember me. I'm a genie whom you freed from my bottle, and as per our code, I granted you the usual three wishes. You have already used two of them. Your second wish was for me to completely reverse the first wish, and irrevocably erase the very memory of its disastrous aftermath from all humanity, including yourself. So now I am ready to grant your third and final wish."

" Hmmm," said the man, still somewhat disoriented. "Well, let's see. One more wish - well that's still pretty good. Better make it a big one! I guess I'll wish that you make me king of the world"

"Funny," remarked the genie. "That was your first wish too."