"I don't know why Mom won't change back," Mikey pleaded. "Please, you've got to help me, Karyn."
Karyn looked up from the ground into the young boy's face. Then, she looked back down at her legs...now her tail. "I don't know, Mikey," she told him, looking back at him. "Ever since you've given yourself the power to change women, you're just too dangerous to be around. I mean, look at me. Look at your mother." She pointed to the baby on the ground a few feet away. Suddenly, a loud scream came over the fence. "Not to mention poor Mrs. Higgins over there," she added.
"What about Sarah?" Mikey asked.
That brought Karyn to a stop. She looked to the street in front of Mikey's house, where she could just see the fire hydrant that Mikey had turned the cheerleader into. "Yes," she said with a sigh, "even Sarah." She turned back to the boy. "The problem is, Mikey, that your power is tuned to what you say. Say I'm a piggie bank, and I become one. Or a drinking fountain. Or a statue."
"I didn't mean to do that," he told her quickly. "It was an accident."
"I know that, Mikey," she nodded, "but you see my point. An obviously innocent statement about me being "solid as a rock", and I'm instantly turned to stone. The power has no controls on it."
"What about if I get Jon's rock again?" Mikey asked. "Then I can wish the power away."
Karyn sighed. "It doesn't work that way, Mikey," she explained. "You can undo one wish with another one. Believe me, I know."
"So, what can I do?"
Karyn thought for a second. "Well, the rock can't get rid of your powers, but it can change them so that they're not automatic."
"What do you mean?"
"I could wish that you could only change women if I agree with it," she told him. "You would still have your powers, but they wouldn't work unless I allowed it."
"That sounds like a good idea," he admitted, smiling. "So, will you help me?"
Karyn couldn't look into his big blue eyes and not feel a little pity for him. "Yes, Mikey," she said. "I'll help you. But first, get me back to normal."
Mikey pointed. "Be the normal Karyn again."
Karyn felt the change, as her tail returned to being her legs. Slowly, she got up and pointed at the fence. "Now, do Mrs. Higgins."
"Be Mrs. Higgins again."
"Oh, thank, God!" came Mrs. Higgins voice over the fence. "I'm going in the house. You can stay out here, Pierre." The sound of a door slamming could be heard. Karyn tried, but she couldn't help but smile.
"Now, Sarah," Mikey said, cutting off her thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
"You want me to change Sarah back, too," Mikey said, pointing at the fire hydrant. "Right?"
