Joan and Karyn were sitting in Joan's room and, once again, waiting. They had just gotten home and both were anxiously looking at Joan's wristwatch.
The appointed hour came, or so they thought, and nothing happened. They waited another five minutes to be sure.
"Nothing's changing," said Karyn. "Looks like we didn't have anything to worry about, Joan."
"Yeah," said Joan. "I wonder what all that was about, anyway? Hmm." She got the stone out and made a wish. "I wish I knew what was going on." It was the same wish she had made the other day--but this time the 24 hours was over and the rock should be working properly again.
Joan suddenly slumped forwards, but before Karyn could help her, she caught herself.
"Are you okay?" asked Karyn.
"I'm fine," replied Joan. "But all that information...."
"Spill it," said Karyn. "What happened?"
"I really was Jon once. I turned myself into a girl and to fix it I made an all-purpose anti-wish, made up of lots of smaller wishes. My first wish was that I forget being Jon. My second wish was that we start over from when I got the stone, and that I have carte blanche to wish for anything, even if I already wished about it. Then I made another memory wish."
"Really? I just can't imagine it. You, a boy..."
"Now," said Joan, "the carte blanche wish meant that any wish I made after that would automatically be reversible. It didn't affect any wishes I made before that. That's why I could turn the new blue branch back, but I couldn't change the old one."
"If you really did that," asked Karyn, "how come you know that you were Jon? You wished to forget it."
"Don't you see," said Joan. "Grandpa's letter. A long time ago, he wished that any wish that made me forget my identity would only last 24 hours. I made two wishes to forget I was Jon. The one before the carte blanche and the one after the carte blanche. His help was a one-time thing--it only affected the first wish. So after 24 hours the first wish expired, but the second one kept going. But the second one's after the carte blanche, so I can reverse it myself. I've already reversed it a little bit, since now I know that I'm Jon."
"Do you want to reverse it all the way and change your mind back? And do it to me too? We remember all this stuff but it's not really what happened."
"I don't know," said Joan. She thought for a while and then gave her answer....
