Jon had gotten the stone at the end of Spring Break, in April. It was now June; school had ended.
"I tried to fix it," said Jon to Karyn. "I really tried. I should have been able to reinterpret the wishes. It's not as if the 'true gender' wish said "female". I could reinterpret it to mean that nobody doubted I'm male."
"Except that didn't work," said Karyn.
Jon nodded. "It didn't work. Mikey had wished that none of the note victims could ever return to normal. This is about as close as I can wish myself back to normal without being back to normal. Zoe's still a guy and I can't blame her for not wanting to be a she-male. Mikey is twins and Mom and Dad are like they are. And I've been eating for three for the past two months. I'll be glad when this is all over."
Karyn nodded,
Suddenly Jon winced at something and clutched his belly. "Oh god that's awful," he said. "I don't know..."
"Labor pains?" asked Karyn.
"Don't joke about... no, that's not a joke. It could be for real." Jon thought, got out his stone, and said "I wish I knew if that's what it was."
"Labor pains?" repeated Karyn in the same tone.
"Yeah. Some contractions start out hard to notice, some don't. I guess these are ones that don't. I'm close enouhg to nine months. I was going to wish it away. I even had a whole wish prepared, so I would be in the hospital, skip my water breaking, skip the hours of labor, healthy babies, nobody questions why a guy gets pregnant, all of that. I should have kept it in my pocket."
"No you shouldn't," said Karyn. "Jon, you can miss the simplest things sometimes. You don't need your notes when you have a magic stone. Just wish that everything you wrote on the paper happens as a wish."
"Oh! You're right, Karyn. I wish everything I wrote on that paper happens as a wish."
The yellowish lights of Karyn's living room changed to the whiter lights of the hospital. Jon was lying prone. His wish had left some time before birth but he thought that might have made a bad decision--the pain had been numbed, but the time stretched out for what seemed like forever. More frequent contractions ended with a lot of mess that he couldn't see and the doctor held up two newly crying babies saying "Congratulations! You're the parent of two boys." In fact they looked like girls but Jon had wished they'd be identical to him.
Right after birth they let Jon hold the babies. He had named them Jack and Jeremy--using names that started with 'J' was an old idea, but not necessarily a bad idea. Jon had considered wishing for breast milk, but decided it would be too weird. He felt a mixture of happiness, exhaustion, pride, and frustration. He was a mother now and those were his children. He would provide for them and raise them. Except he was a guy, and the best way to provide for them would mean using a magic stone, especially if he didn't want to disturb his school, his life, or his sleep.
