"Hello?" Jon was relieved to hear the familiar voice of his mother. Or this reality's version of his mother.
"Mom?"
"Who is this? Are you Joan's friend? Do you know where she is? I've been worried sick...."
Oh no, realized Jon, Joan must have been knocked through other dimensions just as he was. He wouldn't find Joan here.
"I think I might," he said. "Did she leave behind a reddish, rounded, rock?"
"That old thing? Sure."
"Could you do me a favor?"
"Who is this?"
"I'm Jon, I'm Joan's friend... but this is important. Could you take the rock and say 'I wish Jon has this rock'?"
"What?"
"Please, don't argue, just do it!"
"All right." Jon could hear some noises and then "I wish Jon had this rock... Eeeeek! It vanished!"
"That's okay," said Jon, and hung up the phone. He was glad that 'Mom' was close enough that she was within the wish range. "I wish that when I use words like 'Mom' or 'home' in a wish, and it could mean more than one version, it means the one I was thinking about."
Jon felt something in his eye. The wish had worked.
"I wish Mom would forget about the rock." Jon felt something in his eye again.
Anxious, Jon made his wish. "I wish I was home!" Nothing happened, unfortunately.
"I wish I knew why that didn't work." He got his answer: the stone had a wishing range--but it wasn't just a limited distance away, it was also a limited distance in the fifth dimension. He couldn't use the stone to get home--it wasn't powerful enough!
"Fine, I wish I was home," he said, meaning the local home where Joan had gone missing.
The wheat vanished. He could faintly smell perfume, and when he looked around he could see that he was in a girl's bedroom. Jon didn't like what he would have to do next, but he knew it was the best choice. He couldn't just wander the streets; he needed to live at home, to see his parents and talk to his friends and even go to school.
"I wish that until I want to change back I would turn into Joan. I also wish Mom doesn't think Joan was ever missing."
