Jon walked in the front door of his house to find his 5 year old sister Kelly staring daggers at him.
"You said you'd be here at 4," she said.
"Huh?" Jon said, as he wondered for a second what she meant by that. Suddenly he remembered the promise he'd made over the weekend. See, Kelly was a very stereotypical (not to mention spoiled) little girl. She had a growing collection of Barbie (and other) dolls, was constantly playing dress up, had already decided that she was going to be a ballerina or a princess when she grew up, was obsessed with all things frilly or pink (or both), and of course, like every little girl her age, loved having pretend tea parties. Well, this past weekend she had been nagging Jon incessantly, trying to get Jon to play with her. Of course, if he just said no she'd go crying to mom and dad, who said he never spent enough time with her anyway, so he made a deal with her. On Tuesday, after school, he'd come home and play with her. Unfortunately, the appearance of the rock into his life had been a bit of a distraction. But, to be honest, Jon didn't really care. He had been planning to watch Star Trek that night anyway.
"Ah, geez," Jon said nonchalantly, "Sorry Kel. Maybe some other time."
"But Betty Boom-Boom (her favorite non-barbie) has been waiting all day," she whined. Jon could see the miniature tea set and stuffed animals/dolls set up in the living room.
"Look, I'm real tired, and I've got a ton of homework," he lied.
"Fine!" she pouted, "I wish I never had a brother!" Jon was relieved that Kelly didn't have the rock just then, and as she huffed back into the living room, Jon walked to his room, not noticing anything slip from his pocket...
As soon as Jon was out of the room, Kelly noticed an odd box sitting on the floor by the front door. Had Jon left her a present? Maybe he really was sorry. She hurried over and picked up the box and opened it, ignoring the little sheet of paper that fell out. Her smile instantly deflated as she saw the relatively boring (and definitely not pink) rock nested inside. She picked it up and turned it in her hand.
"It's just a dumb ol' rock," she said, "He don't like nothing that's any good. He never wants to play with me, neither! I wish Jon only liked what I like and would want to play with me all the time."
