Jon sat on his bed after school, fingering the stone nervously. There, in his hand, was an object that could give him anything he desired, within it's slight limitations. All he had to do was make sure he didn't need to exceed it's range, and that he didn't need to reverse any wish he made, and he's be golden.
With the stone, he could even make himself and his family rich. Make it so they would never need to work again.
But...the more he thought of that, the more he saw flaws. People outside the range of the stone would question where the money came from, he could end up in legal trouble, depending on how the wish got granted. He ultimately decided that wishing for riches would be a bad idea.
"However..." he mused to himself. "There's no reason I can't pave myself a road to success, with this thing."
As he was rapidly approaching the end of high school, the pressure was on for him to make plans for college and what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Why not have the stone help him out.
"I wish that my town is an early adapter of a new program, in which all young people are placed into an apprenticeship with someone who is seasoned in a career, even if that is a career that usually requires a college education. I wish that people are matched with careers at random, and that regardless of whether they start off liking the job they're matched with, they end up loving it, and wanting to do nothing else with their life."
Jon paused for a moment, to catch his breath. "I wish that the mentor assigned to an individual will help their student learn absolutely everything that they need to know to excel in their career. I wish that people are picked for this program between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. I wish that, during the course of learning, neither the mentor nor the student will come to any harm as a result of the program, and that nothing and nobody can interfere with the learning program."
Jon took a deep breath after saying all of that, thinking over all of his wishes. He realized that there were some jobs that he would not be fit enough to do, and that that fact could present a problem. "I wish that, at the headquarters from which this program is instituted, the people in charge of it are able to make changes, whether physical or mental, to anyone so that they can be better suited to doing the job that they have been selected for." Jon mentally patted himself on the back for that one. After all, there were people with a fear of blood. What would happen if they were chosen to be a doctor? "I also wish that people who are still in school will attend school as normal, and will learn from their mentor as dictated by their mentors schedule and when they want the student around."
"Finally, I wish that I will be matched up with my mentor tomorrow morning." Jon said. He placed the stone back into the box it had arrived in and smiled. With all of these wishes, he wouldn't need to worry about choosing what career he would choose. One would be assigned to him.
He looked on his dresser, and next to the box with the stone in it, was a piece of paper that said he was to report to the Career Assignment Center the next day at 8 AM. He wasn't sure if he would get the whole day off from school for this, or if he was to go after his meeting.
Jon sat back onto his bed and wondered what his career would be.
