"All right, what do you want?" said Helen to her new daughter Michelle. Or at least what seemed to be her new daughter Michelle. "I don't want you to complain. I wanted you to be a girl. I know you don't like it but parents always do things that their children may not like. Unless you want me to wish that you like it."
"No, that's fine," said 'Michelle'. "I'm not Michelle. I'm Jon. Mikey got the stone and used it to make us swap bodies."
"Dus took it, swapped us,id she do anything else?" asked Helen.
"No," responded 'Michelle' warily. "She just took it, swapped us, and hid it for you again."
"Oh, really?" replied Helen. "You expect me to believe that Michelle just got the stone, swapped you two, and didn't wish for anything else? Not to make you forget the wish? Not to make you keep silent? Not even to stay up past her bedtime or something?"
"Honest, Mom!" replied Jon. "Mikey's just a kid, he doesn't think of things like that. If you don't believe me, and you can make wishes, why don't you just wish that you know what happened?"
"I just may," said Helen. "In fact I think I will." She took a jewelry case off her dresser, pried it open, and opened a secret compartment that hadn't been there the previous day. From it she took the same magical stone that had swapped Jon and Michelle. "I wish," she said, "that I know if Michelle is telling the truth."
Suddenly she had the knowledge. Michelle--or rather, Jon, called Michelle now, was telling the absolute truth. "I can't believe it," said Helen. "All right, Jon. I'm sorry. I should have kept the stone hidden better. Let me fix you up. I wish you'll swap back and I know if that worked."
Nothing happened. And Helen knew it.
"I can't reverse wishes," said Helen.
"What?" replied Jon in her little girl voice.
"The magic can do almost anything but it can't reverse its own wishes. If you're swapped, I can't unswap you. If you're a girl, I can't change you into something other than a girl, either. When you swapped, that just means that you're now the one who has the girl wish so I can't reverse it on you."
"You don't know that, Mom. Could you please try anyway?"
"Of course, dear. I wish Jon is male again."
Jon's dress didn't vanish and he didn't change at all. He even tried touching his crotch. No difference."
"I can't," said Helen. "Well, let me see if I can do something, anyway."
