I woke up suddenly as my phone rang. I turned on the bedside lamp and groggily picked up the phone. "Hello?" I asked wondering who it could be at this hour. Then again it seemed almost like I'd only just gotten to sleep, as though the wish I'd made was mere minutes ago. A glance at the clock confirmed it.
I must be losing my mind. It seemed like sleep had overtaken me and I'd been in bed for hours but only three minutes had passed since I made that wish to be more like my sister Zoe.
"Jon?" it was a male voice on the other end of the line. I didn't recognize who it was.
"Yes? Who is it?" I replied sitting up in bed and comparing my wristwatch time to the time on my bedside alarm clock. It was ten twenty-three P.M.
"You don't know me but I'm a big fan," the fellow said in a squeaky nerdish adolescent voice. "I'm Jerel Verton and it's an honor to speak to you, sir. I'm a really big fan."
"Fan of what?" I asked.
"Your dance moves," Jerel replied as though that answer made any sense at all.
"I don't dance," I told him.
"I... I know, sir. I know you don't take requests and I'm certainly not bothering you this late at night to get you to see my own dance moves but I felt I really must contact you," he said determinedly. "I had this... sudden urge to call this number."
"What?!" I asked bewildered.
"I know, I know," Jerel said. "It seemed strange to me too but it just came to me like a flash. Like a sudden revelation."
"It did?" I asked puzzled, wondering just what attribute of my sister I picked up. I didn't recall she was a dancer. She never told me she was on the cheerleading squad or anything. Perhaps she was a natural and had shown off her dance moves at the last school dance. "What's this all about then?"
"I... I'd like for you to mentor me," Jerel admitted. "I'd like for you to teach me your fancy dance moves."
I didn't need to think twice about it. I simply hung up the phone and cursed myself for wording the wish so hastily. It was too broad spectrum of a wish. To be more like my sister, yes, but how much more? To what degree and in what way? To be some kind of behind the scenes dance instructor to all the adoring super nerds in school?
I looked down at my hands, arms and chest. Nothing had changed. I had not transformed into a girl as I thought I might.
I got out of bed and picked up the wishing stone and thought about a new wish. I had to be more careful.
It bothered me that my girlfriend Karyn knew about the wishing stone but would it be selfish of me to wish I never told her? To wish she never knew? Perhaps but then again it would offer me a chance to experiment with the wishes without the possibility that Karyn would want to get involved.
Could I trust her? Would she tell someone? She was ever the little gossiper. Did I want her blabbing to all her friends in school about the wishing stone?
