Holding the stone, Jon said "I wish I was a genius." The stone glowed, indicating that the wish had been granted, but Jon really didn't feel any smarter. He thought that knowledge and ideas would fill up in his mind, but none of that happened. At first he thought that the stone didn't grant his wish, but it did glow, so that meant this his wish was granted.
Deciding that the rock must have done SOMETHING, Jon left his room to explore. He knew that Zoe was probably changing out of her school clothes (Zoe hated dressing to meet the school dress code: Jon thought it was amazing that she somehow still managed to look like a goth in spite of it). Mikey had said that he was going outside to play catch with one of his friends, and Linda, Jon's mom, was downstairs getting ready to make dinner. Mark, Jon's father was still at work.
Jon intended to go downstairs, but as he was walking past Zoe's room, he heard a thump as if someone had fallen over. "Zoe?" Jon asked through the door, "are you all right?"
"Um... Kind of." Zoe answered. "Listen, I'm sort of having trouble here. Can you get Mom for me?"
"Sure," Jon replied as he continued downstair, wondering what Zoe could be having trouble with in her room. Jon found his mother in the kitchen looking at her recipes with a puzzled expression. "Mom?" Jon asked. After she didn't respond, Jon asked louder, "MOM?"
Startled, Linda Madison turned to her son. She said, "Oh, Jon, I'm sorry I was concentrating. What is it?"
"Zoe needs you for something," Jon said. "Are you all right."
Linda replied, "I... I'm not sure. I'd better go see what your sister needs." With that, Linda left the kitchen and headed upstairs.
"That's odd," Jon thought. "I thought she said she already knew what she was making tonight. I wonder why she was still looking at her recipes." Deciding that something was still off, Jon decided to go upstairs to watch his mom and sister a little more.
