"I don't suppose the stone would let you shorten both of our heels so we could walk," Karyn mused.
"You're probably right, but I'll try it anyway. I wish all our shoe heels would revert to half of their current height," Jon said, but nothing happened.
"They won't come off, either," noted Karyn, tugging at her shoes. "I'd try another pair if I could, but I'm afraid the heels would just lengthen anyway. Here, let me try standing up."
Karyn somehow managed to stand, but only by bracing her fingertips against the wall. "Wow, these are really tipsy!" she exclaimed. Then the tried taking a few steps, winced in pain, and fell onto the bed. Jon tried the same maneuver with the same lack of success.
"All right; here it is; no other way out," Jon decided out loud. "I wish that anyone affected by Karyn's roll of the die this morning will be comfortable and steady in their high heels for as long as they have to wear them."
"These shoes don't look any different," Karyn observed. Even so, when she stood up, she was perfectly at ease. She easily spun around a few times, and even did a back flip.
"Have you noticed that you can take your shoes off now?" asked Jon.
"No, but why would I? These are so comfortable," Karyn replied.
"Look at your feet," Jon suggested, and when she did, Karyn gasped. Her feet seemed almost inhuman! For one thing, her toes and the balls of her feet were much thicker and tougher than usual! For another, her big toes were second from the inside, not first! Finally, she had almost no heel and her ankles bent at a very peculiar angle. Try as she might, Karyn couldn't move the soles of her feet perpendicular to her legs.
"Can you walk barefoot?" Jon asked.
"Why not?" Karyn replied, but upon standing up she immediately winced in pain and fell back onto the bed. "Well, at least we have some nice, practical, spike heel shoes to wear," Karyn observed wryly. "No wonder the wish lets us take 'em off. We can't walk unless we have 'em on! C'mon, let's get to school. We're gonna be late!"
At that Karyn and Jon both flew down the stairs, rushed out the front door, and jogged to the bus stop, all in their new spike heels. Of course, everyone else was wearing spike heels too, even the crossing guard and the bus driver. Along the way to school Jon saw shopkeepers, truck drivers, construction workers, policemen, business executives, and even grade school children all wearing spike heels.
"This is certainly weird, but it's also kind of cool," Karyn observed. "No one seems to realize anything has changed: not their shoes and not even their own feet. Something still seems to be off, though. High heels sure look strange when guys wear them with trousers and heavy socks."
