"Like if I wish that... No, cancel that. I'm not even going to think about doing something that would hurt you, Jon. I could never do that. A good mother supports and protects her son, and I've always tried to do that. I hope you realize that, Jon?"
"Yeah Mom; I was afraid of an accident, that's all," Jon explained.
"Well, that's good. You know, Jon, you're at a difficult point in life right now, growing up, and starting to be more independent, and discovering your true identity. And for you, it's twice as hard as for anyone else because you're, ah, unique. Most kids your age are mixed up enough, but you have mixed up sex organs as well. I know how hard that can be."
"It's all right, Mom," Jon told her, not that he ever wanted a vagina, and a uterus, and fallopian tubes, and whatever the hell else was in there. But despite that, he was still all right with his mom. It certainly wasn't her fault. But... but... "Mom, how can you know what it's like to have mixed-up sex organs?"
"You know, Jon, if I had two wishes, I'd wish there were a few other boys in town like you, so you wouldn't stand out so much as the only one. And second, I wish I knew how this happened to you."
I have a bad feeling about this, thought Jon, but he remained silent to see what would happen.
"Oh my gosh; so that's what happened to my dad's wishing stone!" Jon's mother exclaimed. "He left it to you! And you and Karyn were changing each other, and she didn't think before wishing, and she left you like this?"
"You know about the stone?" Jon asked with eyes wide open and mouth agape.
"Yes, Jon, I do. We all knew my dad had it and what it could do, but he kept it well locked and hidden. None of us, not even my other parents, and eventually my mom, ever found where he kept it. When he died, we all worried about it falling into the wrong hands. But now the two of us, at least, know where it is. I'm just sorry you found out the hard way how dangerous it can be."
"It sounds as if you've made wishes yourself," Jon remarked. "You know, before today. Maybe with grandpa or something. Hey, did you know you were holding a wishing stone before..."
"No, but your eyes got so wide during the first wish that I began to suspect it. That's why I made the second wish. That was the clincher. But yeah, my dad used to let us kids make wishes from time to time. He made us write them on a piece of paper, then he'd read them and we'd change the wording together, then he'd let us touch the stone and read the wish."
"I thought I didn't have any aunts or uncles," Jon pointed out.
"You don't. Things were different then, Jon. There were no such sexes as male and female. My parents had four children: a remma, a tessam, and two chadras. I was the remma."
"What about your parents?"
"Oh, one of each. Oh, I'm sorry, Jon. It's just been so long since I spoke openly about any of this. I forgot you wouldn't know," explained Jon's mom.
"So, if you remember that change, you must have wished it yourself, or at least heard someone make the wish," Jon probed.
"In this case, yes, but I'm sure you'll find that being conscious of wishes -- and using the stone in general -- can be a lot more complicated than that."
"So what now?" asked Jon. "Are you ever going to give the stone back to me? Grandpa did leave it to me."
"I can't take the stone away from you, Jon. Your grandpa wished it to be yours, and it'll stay that way until you decide to die. But I really hope we can work together on using it correctly. Like, right now we have at least five things to do."
"What are they?" John asked.
"There are some things our family really needs, Jon. We should take care of those, and we might as well wish for a few luxuries, too."
"What kind of luxuries?" Jon asked. "Mansions and Maseratis?"
"Been there, done that. You spend your whole life chatting with snobs. But if that interests you we can try it for a while. I was thinking more about making myself thinner, taller, buffer, a little younger -- things like that. New clothes. Someone to do the cooking and cleaning.
"Number two, I suppose you'd like to know which other boys have girly parts now, and see how it affects them. Yeah? Me too. OK, we'll do some of that.
"Number three, we have to decide whether to tell anyone else about the stone. I'd suggest No, not even your dad or Zoe or Mikey. We could wish that neither they nor anyone else ever hear it from us, or find out any other way.
"Four, we should wish we'd never lose the stone. We want the power, and we're don't want someone to have it. We don't want anyone else messing with our lives or the world in general.
"Five, how about some revenge on Karyn for what she did to you?"
