"Hey mom," I shouted as I burst through the door. "I, uh, forgot one of my books."
In the kitchen, my mother turned to face me, scowling. "Jon, you have to get rid of those filthy magazines."
Huh? "What magazines!"
"Don't play dumb with me, young man!" She turned back to the dishes and angrily resumed washing. "The magazines you hide under your bed. I was grabbing the trash from your room this morning when I saw them. I can't believe my own son would be into such... such..." She paused, unable to find words. "It's like what I was telling myself earlier; life was so much simpler when you didn't know about stuff like that."
I had no idea what my mother was talking about, but I was pretty sure what was to blame. "Look, mom, I'll throw them out right now, okay?"
"You better," she said, still not facing me. "And Jon? Let's not have this talk again. You don't bring that crap under my roof, and I'll forget this conversation happened."
"Right." I rushed up the stairs and into my room. I noticed a couple of things had been moved around. One of them was the stone, sitting a few inches away from its box on my bed. To my relief, my grandfather's letter was still folded up inside. With luck, my mother had made her wish without realizing the nature of the stone.
Bending down, I looked under my bed. And saw absolutely nothing. Huh. So, my mother must have been snooping in my room, pulled out the stone, noticed the magazines, and then accidentally wished them away without noticing the effects. It made sense. The only piece of the puzzle I didn't understand was the magazines. Obviously, my mother's wish had made me never buy them in the first place. But even then, I couldn't imagine what she saw that made her so angry. I had never hid any of my other books or movies from her before. What kind of magazines would a teenage boy want to hid from his mother? I racked my brains, but couldn't think of anything.
The stone could tell me, of course. But what was the point? I couldn't wish for them back, and even if I could, would I want to? I didn't want to upset my mother again. Besides, what was the harm of her wish? I'm now missing some magazines that I don't even remember anyway, and her wish didn't change anything about me, right?
I looked at the stone's box. Now, the question was, do I find a better hiding spot for the stone and leave it behind again? Or do I take it with me?
