His mother looked at Mikey and finally barked out a command. "Mikey, take off those panties this instant, and then give me them."
"Mom!" yelled Jon. "If you don't give me those panties we're all going to regret it!"
"I'm not giving them to you until I know what's going on," she replied.
"Mom, don't you get it? If things don't go exactly right, me and Mikey will both be like this forever!"
"Then you'd better tell me how to make things go exactly right. And Mikey, I said to take those off. Get some regular underwear and go to the bathroom and do it."
Jon wasn't sure he could explain. Even aside from the risk that his mother could make a wish and mess things up--what if Mikey did? If Mikey didn't know, and if he told his mother now that the panties grant wishes, Mikey would hear it and he certainly would know if he didn't before. But if Mikey did know, giving him a chance to make wishes outside of the room--where Jon and his mother couldn't hear it--would be bad.
He picked up the towel, covered himself, and then began to explain. "They're magic panties," he said, leaving out the part about the wishes. "If you put them on and you're not already a girl, you become one. from the waist down. And wearing them is fun."
"Is there a cure?" asked his mother.
"Yeah, there's a cure. You have to give someone else the panties. But you have to give them the panties. Mikey took them without me giving them to him, so I didn't change back. If I want to change back, he has to give them to me, so I have a chance to give them to someone else again. As long as you or he keep them I'm stuck like this."
"That's really bizarre," she said. "But it's no more bizarre than having such a thing in the first place." She approached Jon, and said "Show me your private parts. I don't want to do this but I have to see them. You're my son, after all."
Reluctantly, Jon lowered his towel and let his mother look. She examined them--carefully not touching anything--and gave her verdict. "It looks real. Very real. And you really did put in a tampon wrong."
Jon nodded. "Uh-huh."
"I believe you, Jon. I can see it. It's not an injury. It's not even just your genitals. It's everything... legs, hips, feet, skin. It has to be magic, or something that could just as well be magic." She glanced over at Mikey, who still hadn't left the room. "Michael, so help me... Go to the bathroom with a pair of normal underwear and take off those panties!"
He reluctantly walked off. Jon could do nothing except hope Mikey didn't know about the wishes and wouldn't make one out of sight.
"Can I have them back?" asked Jon.
"No, because something bothers me. Why in the world would you put on panties in the first place? Okay, so they do what you say they do. But then why try them on at all?"
"I was... experimenting," said Jon. "I hope you aren't going to punish me for that, but if you are, please don't keep the panties and force me to stay a part-girl as a punishment. No Mom would really do that except in bad Internet stories."
At this point, Mikey returned, wearing a normal pair of white underpants and carrying the red silk panties. He gave them to his mother. "Here, Mom." She took them but held them away from Jon as Jon reached for them.
Jon could only hope that Mikey hadn't wished for anything, but it was unlikely. After all, he could easily just wish that he's allowed to keep the panties, or that everyone else forget them, or any of a number of other wishes designed to let him do what he wants. He obviously didn't, and the odds were slim that he would make an accidental wish in a couple of minutes with nobody to talk to.
"Jon..." said his mother. "I don't know what bizarre ideas you would have about experimenting with panties, but I'm very disappointed in you."
"Mom, it's not like that at all! Please give them to me or I'll never change back...."
