The next day, Jon read over his grandfather's note carefully. The belly would grow when worn. What did that mean? He thought it meant that it grows while he's wearing it. But it could also mean that every time he puts it on--that is, whenever it's worn--it would grow, suddenly. He had no way to tell. Except, of course, by asking.
He put on the belly and said "I wish I knew what that meant." The magic item, while now a belly, still wasn't nasty about twisting wishes, and it told him what he needed to know. It meant both.
In other words, he was in a dilemma. If he left the belly on, it would keep growing. He'd eventually be in trouble. But if he kept it off, and he needed to make a wish again, he'd have to put it back on, and it could grow more in the single moment of being put on than it would if he had just kept it on all along and it had grown gradually.
Jon decided that he'd have to leave it off most of the time. Leaving it on was guaranteed to give him an accident eventually, and leaving it off was safe if he didn't need to use any wishes. But if he guessed that he'd have to use some wishes, then he'd be better off leaving it on.
And since he had just worn it to school for a day, and people had seen it and were starting to comment, then yes, he probably would need some wishes today. The wishes could deal with any problems that were caused by him wearing it in the first place.
As he put on his shirt, the heavy belly strained at his real belly, and the breasts pulled down. Would he need to wear a bra? A bra with fake breasts seemed strange, but they looked just like real ones. Eventually he decided he would. "I wish I'm wearing a bra."
The morning went pretty much as normal; Jon was soon on his way to school. He met up with Karyn and arrived at the schoolyard. He could already see one person laughing and pointing at his belly. "Look at Jon, he thinks he needs to practice having a baby. Or is that all real?"
Well, that counted as one of those problems that he was saving a day of wishes for. What should he do now?
