"I wish," said Jonnie, "that I'm magically not pregnant until I'm almost due. I wish that then people will think that they just forgot or didn't notice I was pregnant, whether that makes sense or not."
There was an instant sensation of relief and Jonnie's stomach flattened, her T-shirt unstretching. Since she was wearing the same clothes as Jon, they once again looked identical, except for the normal differences between man and woman.
"By the way," she said, "maybe we should just wish that the boxes are there..." She then shook her head and said "No, we've been on and off about not using the stone, and we decided we can't stop using it, but we can avoid using it for things that are too trivial."
"Right," agreed Jon. "Otherwise we could just wish we're instantly at college, wish we instantly got our diploma, wish we've instantly got jobs, wish we've instantly achieved perfect happiness...."
They finished loading the boxes. The disassembled cloning machine took up more than half the trunk of the car, and their own boxes overflowed it. "I think this is a problem," said Jon.
"What for?" replied Jonnie.
"We have to pick up Karyn. She's got stuff too. We already need to use the back seat for our stuff--is she even going to be able to fit?"
"I don't know. I hope so."
Karyn was waiting on her porch along with seven boxes and a suitcase. Jon looked over to the passenger's seat at Jonnie. Jonnie looked back. They laughed and Jon said "Let's try it anyway."
The three people's possessions together filled more than half the back of the car, squeezed Karyn, and blocked vision a bit, and Jonnie had to put one box on the floor and keep her feet on it, but they were glad when everything fit into the car.
"Sure you've got everything?" asked Jonnie.
"I'm sure," replied Karyn. "Goodbye, city... this is going to be a long drive."
"It's around five hours," said Jonnie. "We should get there in plenty of time. Roomie." She chuckled. Meanwhile, Jon started the car.
"Yeah," said Karyn. "But don't call me 'Roomie'."
"Well, we are going to the same college and living in the same dorm room. It's too bad they didn't let you two go into married student housing. I suppose not being married was a problem."
"I think they just didn't know how to deal with clones," said Jonnie. "The wish meant that they didn't say 'oh, no, clones, that's impossible!' but they still had to make up the rules for it. Jon's only one floor up anyway."
"At least there's no Sarah," said Karyn.
"Not in the dorms. I checked. She's not going where we're going, but her college is close enough that she can come to parties and such without any trouble. And can you believe she's studying political science?"
"Really? Well, I'm not going to wish she flunks out... but I wouldn't be surprised."
"Then there's her so-called sister," said Jon as he stopped the car at a red light. "She's entering high school and she is Sarah, just Sarah again. But it's nothing to do with us any more. And Joseph... he's got a clone and they're not like us. They're not anywhere near us, either. I wonder what's going to happen to them?"
"And to everyone else," said Karyn. "Your old girlfriend Katie, for instance. I guess we'll have to see, and we can always use the Internet to keep in touch anyway. I wonder what college will be like?"
