"Come on inside, Mikey," the boy's mother called from inside the house. "Dinner's ready, and I have to get ready for work."
Mikey looked down at the little garden gnome in his mother's flower bed. No one but him knew that it was actually Jon's friend, Karyn. He knew he should change her back, but he didn't want to get in trouble. He would just have to figure out a way to do it later. And he went inside.
At dinner, his brother wondered out loud about where Karyn was at. "She was going to come over so that we could talk about something important," he said. "I hope she's alright."
Mikey just stared into his dinner plate, unable to look at his brother. After dinner, he rushed up to his room.
The boys' mother was a nurse, and was working the evening shift that week. So, after she left, it was just the two boys alone in the house. "You alright, Squirt?" Jon asked his brother, who was lying on his bed.
"Yeah," Mikey told him. "I'm just tired. Think I'll go on to bed."
"Okay," Jon said, looking a little concerned. "If you need anything, I'll be downstairs."
After he left, Mikey jumped up from the bed and rushed to his window. In the light of the front porch, he could see the gnome that he had made in the garden. Now that it was dark outside, he thought he could change Karyn back to normal, and no one would see. He pointed at the gnome and said, "Be Karyn again."
A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he saw the little statue began to change shape. In a matter of seconds, a nude Karyn stood in its place. Realizing that she was naked, she tried to cover herself with her hands while she looked around to see if anyone could see her.
"Just go home," Mikey said quietly in his window. He was so releaved to see Karyn back to normal, that he hardly noticed her nudity. But a second later, he again felt his chest tighten.
Because Karyn didn't head off toward her house. Instead, she rushed toward his own front door.
