They decided to eat at the mall food court. On the drive over, Karyn watched the houses pass by. She kept expecting something to be different, but everything looked perfectly normal. It was only when Jon turned the radio on that she noticed something glaringly different.
"... that was former President Mather speaking from the White House this morning. Still ahead this morning, President-elect-"
Jon turned the radio down. "Mather? Who's he? Isn't it supposed to be Obama?"
Karyn pulled out her smartphone. In seconds she had her answer. "He's the current president. According to Wikipedia, he ran in 2012 instead of Obama and beat Romney by roughly the same odds. Says he was an astronaut too."
"Well that's progress, I guess."
"It also says he's the forty-eighth president."
"Forty-eighth?"
Karyn searched on her phone again. "Apparently Reagan based a bill that everyone after him could only serve four years. So since him, we've had Bush Senior, Bill Clinton, Tom Dering, Bruce Springsteen - "
"Hold up! Bruce Springsteen?! Like, the singer?!"
Karyn nodded. "Yup. But you're not going to believe who came after him."
"Who?"
"Chuck Norris."
Jon snorted. "No, seriously, Karyn, who?"
"I was being serious."
"Jesus Christ..."
"He wasn't too popular either. He got impeached and replaced with Arthur Coleman Winters."
Jon frowned. "Winters? Isn't he that guy the Master killed in Series Three?"
Karyn thought for a minute. "Yeah, I think you're right." She looked him up on her phone as well. "Yup, that's him. Murdered by Prime Minister Harold Saxon. I guess that really does mean your wish worked, Jon."
"Vote Saxon," Jon grinned.
Karyn looked at him, disapproving. "People died because of the Master, Jon. Real people, now, not fictional."
Jon's grin faded. "You're right. Sorry." He returned his attention back to the road. "I just can't believe... You never saw any of this stuff on the show."
They drove in silence a while. Karyn turned her smartphone off and looked out the window once more. It wasn't long, however, before a thought occurred to her. "Jon, didn't your grandfather say the stone couldn't work outside a certain range?"
Jon shifted in his seat uneasily. "Yeah..."
"Well your wish couldn't have had this much of an effect!" she said. "Unless... Oh, Jon, you didn't!"
Jon stared ahead on the road, but his guilt was apparent.
"What did you wish for, Jon? Before we met up."
