I opened the door and it was Jon.
"Hi, Jasmine," said my brother. "Mary had a little lamb."
"What?"
"I was just testing," said my brother. Then I noticed he was holding a rock like my own. But a nursery rhyme isn't a wish. It made no sense, but it couldn't be related. Still, that rock was mine. Did he steal it? I had it just a minute ago.
"How did you get my...?" But I felt the hard object in my hand and realized I still had my magic rock! "Wait a minute, Grandpa sent us both magic rocks?"
"No," said Jon. "You see, you're me. I wished I'd become a girl, and a mother, and live a whole life, and travel back in time here and become me. I have your rock because you were me, and when your life is over you become me again."
"That's crazy," I said.
"No it's not," he said. "Ask your stone if you don't believe me. Now, there is no way you can remember being me since the wish made you forget, but you can know that you are me without having my memories."
I considered that. I had had thoughts of wishing that I was a guy and lived a life as a guy. I never did it because I wanted to have a baby, but if I was a guy I would have made a similar wish with the sexes reversed. "I wish... that I knew if Jon is telling the truth."
It hit me like a brick. Jon was telling the truth. My brother was really me. Me after a whole life of being me. "W-- why did you tell me now?" I replied. "I know you're telling the truth, Jon, but you could just leave me to a happy life... it will be a happy life, won't it?"
"Yes," he said, "but here's the thing. A week before I died, when I was older Jasmine, my brother came to me and told me that I was really him. I was really upset. I thought he should have told me much earlier. So now that I'm back and I'm him, I'm going to do things differently during this version of the loop compared to last time. I'm telling myself about it early instead of telling myself about it late. I think you'd prefer it if I tell you now even though it makes you upset for a while--after all, that's what I wanted when I was you. I just hope I made the right decision."
"And the nursery rhyme?"
"That was a test. I wanted to be sure I can change the past. Do something that I know didn't happen the first time around. If this all works out, the next time around the time loop when you become me you'll probably tell yourself almost the same thing I did, but without the nursery rhyme and without having lived through the other version. If not, well, you'll decide what to say. Don't worry, we're going to be brother and sister for a long while. If anything, we're even closer family than we would be without this."
