The stone's power flashed in his eye. Jon blinked, expecting his grandfather to be standing in front of him. No such luck.
Wait a second, thought Jon. If my grandfather were alive, why would he be in my bedroom? He'd be at his house, of course! Jon put down the stone, took out his cell phone to call his grandfather, and froze at the sight of the back of his hand. It was paler than it had been only seconds ago, and covered with freckles.
Jon looked at himself in the mirror and gasped. His hair was carrot-red instead of blond and freckles were all over his face and every part of him that was regularly exposed to the sun. His nose was shorter and upturned. Yet otherwise he still looked like himself ... more or less.
"Who am I?" he asked himself. A family portrait on his dresser caught his eye. His mother was still the same, but his father was a freckled redhead like him. So was Mikey. Apart from a pert little nose, Zoe was almost unchanged - her hair was dyed black and makeup must have covered up her freckles.
"Oh no ... should I call him ... if he's still him?" Jon took a deep breath and dialed his grandfather's number ... if that was still his number. "Grandpa? This is Jon."
"Oh, Jon, hi -"
Jon hung up. He had never heard that man's voice before, and he wasn't sure he wanted to hear it again. He had no desire to see the guy. He could imagine what he looked like. He just had to look at himself, his father, and Mikey. I've got some stranger's genes in me now, thought Jon. Not Gregory Jonson's. But wait ... if Greg Jonson isn't my grandfather anymore, how could I still have the stone?
Jon opened his closet to take out the box of things his original grandfather had given him. He was relieved to see the box still existed. The trinkets, the hat, and the ticket stub for the first Harry Potter movie were unchanged. But now the photos inside depicted him with some snub-nosed Irishman.
Who are you? thought Jon. The stone couldn't resurrect my grandfather, so it picked some guy who was still alive to be my new grandfather. You, whoever you are. I don't want you. I want my real Gramps back! Even if he's still dead! But I've messed up so much with this one wish already. I don't dare make another wish. I need more time to think this over. Maybe I should talk to the guy. I could be stuck with him for life. I might as well check him out. He did sound nice on the phone, not like some cranky old geezer. But how do I really know just based on three words? I can't. I gotta go.
Although Jon had been worn out after worrying about the stone all day, he felt a new energy permeate him, a mix of curiosity and anxiety. He'd never calm down again until he confronted this new grandfather. He got on his bike and raced to his previous grandfather's house, assuming that the location would be the same if the phone number was the same. What he saw when he got there was ...
