"Yeah," replied Jon. "But there's one catch. And I'm not going to leave you in suspense, so I'll tell you what it is. It's very simple--it's that Jonnie and myself can say no for any reason we want. You can try to convince us... but if we don't want to use the machine however you tell us, you don't."
"I see," said Zoe.
"We tried to make some rules for the fair. It didn't hurt, but all our customers kept coming up with weird things we never covered in the rules. We have to be even more careful than I was when I got Jonnie... me and Jonnie majorly lucked out in a lot of ways. They were very cooperative at the driver's license bureau, for instance... Jonnie didn't have to take another driving test."
Of course, they were cooperative because Jon had thrown a wish in to make them so. But it wasn't time to tell Zoe about the wishing stone, at least not yet.
"What were you thinking of?" asked Jon.
"I'm not sure," said Zoe. "You know, there aren't that many reasons someone would want a clone."
Jon nodded. "Girlfriend or boyfriend, slave, new relative, replacement relative... And sex with any of those. Can you think of anything else?"
"Carelessness," added Jonnie.
"Oh, definitely," said Jon. "Someone needs a clone for the next fifteen minutes. They want to clean up their room twice as fast or something. Or they're horny and sick at the same time and they decide the'd like to have sex with a slutty version of their Mom. This isn't 'rent a clone' where it only lasts fifteen minutes."
"Replacement girlfriend or boyfriend," added Jonnie. "They broke up with someone and want to make a clone who won't leave them.
"That's a combination of the others," said Jon, "but yeah."
"I have a boyfriend," said Zoe. "I don't need a slave and you wouldn't make one anyway, not after Joey... and Jonnie's plenty in the way of new relatives. You know, it took me a week before it finally dawned on me that Jonnie really was here for good...."
"Why that's mighty Goth of you," said Jonnie.
Zoe chuckled. "I'm sorry, Jonnie. But you have to admit that this isn't something people are used to dealing with every day."
"Yes it is," said Jon.
"Well, until it happens," said Zoe. "And you know, I still haven't figured out, just what do you plan to do later?"
"Later?" wondered Jon.
"Yes, later. You're a guy and she's your girlfriend. Are you going to get married? Have children? You can't, you know. Birth defects. Like from incest... if both of you carry a bad gene and your kids get both of them...."
"I don't see why a cloning machine would leave in any bad genes." Well, that could be true, since supposedly the machine was invented by his grandfather and he'd know enough to put that in... but probably not. It was cause for another wish, of course. "And cloning some kids is easy."
"And you'd look weird at the wedding. You in a tuxedo and you again in a bridal gown."
"No weirder than we look anywhere else," said Jon, "and that's a long, long, way off, even if we don't end up with someone else. You know, it's really not that likely you'll marry the same person you're dating in high school. So anyway, I take it you've decided on no clones for now?"
"I'm tempted to ask for a black cat just like Athena's, but other than that, no clones for now.
"I didn't think so," said Jon. "I think we've overused the cloning machine, anyway. I didn't think it was possible to overuse it, but just using it a single time can have such a big effect on your whole life that it really is possible. Jonnie, what do you think about putting the machine back in the box for the next week?"
"Sounds like a great idea," replied Jonnie.
"We wished nobody would think it strange," said Jonnie, "but you know what? It really isn't all that strange. Because we've got a magic stone. Everyone else thinks this the cloning machine is some amazing inheritance from Grandpa, when instead it's the tip of the iceberg. Just about all we've used the stone for for the past two months is to help with the cloning machine. I want to do something different. Don't you?"
Jon replied, "Of course I do. We just need to figure out what. And we have six days."
