Karyn looked around Jon's house for clothes suitable for her three-year-old girl, seemingly forgetting about the wishing stone in her hand.
She had searched the entire upstairs and was just starting to look around downstairs when the front door opened. It was Jon's brother, Mikey, who was an average 10 year old boy. He ran into the living room, where Karyn was currently searching, shouting, "I'm HOOOOOME!" at the top of his lungs. He stopped hollering when he noticed her.
"Oh," Karyn said, awkwardly, "Hi, Mikey. Your mom isn't home yet, only Jon and I are here."
"'kay," Mikey responded. "You lookin' for something?"
"Actually, yes, Jon and I are playing a game, and was looking around here for something to help us play it. Could you hold this while I look?" Karyn said, offering him the stone so she could use both of her hands.
Mikey accepted the stone, not knowing what it was. He asked, "What are you and Jon playing? Can I play?"
Karyn thought how to reply to him. "Well, we're playing pretend..." she said, a little uneasily, "But I don't think you'd like playing with us."
"Oh, alright..." Mikey said, downheartedly. He didn't like being kept out. He instead turned his attention to the stone. "Can I hang on to this?" he asked.
Karyn allowed it, offhandedly, but told him to be careful with it.
"Why do I have to be careful?" She only said that it was special. "I wish you'd tell me why it's so special..." he muttered.
Karyn instantly replied, as if she were merely voicing her inner monologue, "I hope Mikey doesn't realise that it's a wishing stone. He might make a few difficult wishes, and, since wishes can't be reversed and people outside hearing range of the user when he makes the wish don't realise the changes, that might be a little hectic." She took a deep breath. "And we're still in the middle of Jon's wish to pretend to be my daughter, with Jon acting like he's a three-year-old girl, and, since I'm acting like 'her' mommy, I was looking around the house for toddler clothes, diapers or training pants, and perhaps a stroller to wheel 'her' around."
Mikey stared on in awe throughout Karyn's rant. Once she had finished, she resumed searching, but Mikey was still transfixed. A wishing stone! Oh, the things he could do with a wishing stone! It was one thing to dream of making unrestricted wishes, but now Mikey could actually make wishes to his heart's content!
He pondered what he would do with the stone first...
