Jon thought and said "Hmm, Mom, that does sound interesting. I need to make some wishes..." He reached for the stone. His mother held onto it, but then reluctantly gave it to him.
Jon took it and looked at it sadly, then at his mother. "You know what I wish?" he said. "I wish you'd sit down, not cause any trouble, and let me do as I want until I let you go."
"What? Jon, what are you doing?"
"I don't know what's going on, Mom. I don't know what's come over you, or even if you are you. But something's very fishy here. First of all, there's the stone's range."
"The stone's range?"
"Yes, Mom, the stone's range. How in the world did you use it to change the sexes of everyone in the world when the stone only has a range of a few dozen or hundred miles?"
"Jon, don't be ridiculous. Maybe the stone only has a small range because it used to be bigger and I accidentally wished for a smaller one."
"And you forgot to tell me that even though you should have known that not telling me makes your story sound fake? Come on. Then there's the whole abusing the power thing. The first thing you did was you decided to give other guys vaginas. Funny, when it happens to me it's cause for revenge. And you think it's awful for other people to mess with our lives. Yet you do it to other people casually. Without even thinking."
"Jon, please listen to me...."
"Not so fast, Mom. Then, you wanted someone to do the cooking and cleaning. There's a word for using magic to make someone cook and clean. Slavery."
"Don't be silly. You can use magic to find someone to hire, and wish for money to pay them. Or maybe you can wish that the dishes and dirt do the job by themselves."
"Maybe you could have meant that, Mom, but you know very well it didn't sound that way. And there's more. Why not tell Dad and Zoe and Mikey? Why shouldn't I be a little generous and let them benefit from it?"
"They can benefit from it without you telling them, Jon."
"Maybe, Mom, but that's another thing that could have meant something innocent, but didn't sound like it at all. It's like you were hinting that I need to abuse the power, without wanting to tell me too directly, just to make sure that abusing it was my own choice. You didn't even directly tell me to take revenge on Karyn. You hinted that I should want to do it."
"Jon, I'm your mother! I deserve some respect."
"Abusing power is wrong, Mom, and anyone who seriously wants me to do it doesn't deserve any respect. Now, I wish you'd do whatever I ask you to do, and not just in some literal way that isn't really what I want." He waited for the usual wish-making sensation of having to look away, and then looked back and said "Tell me what's really going on."
"You didn't want to ask me that," she said. "But now that you did, I have to tell you. You see...."
