Jon unlocked the door to his house some twenty minutes later, letting his newly-blonde friend in before him to find a reasonably familiar sight: Jon's younger brother Mikey was curled up on the sofa, watching his favorite show: "It's a Wonderful Marathon." Teams of two compete to reach a goal while traveling long distances across the real world and completing challenges along the way.
The show was clearly a knock-off of "The Amazing Race," but Mikey liked this version better. The rules were a little different. The teams were all-ages. The host had just the coolest Andre Agassi mullet. Not that Mikey knew who Andre Agassi was.
Jon sat down next to his brother and put a hand on the 5th grader's shoulder. "So who's winning?" he asked.
"The retired rodeo clown and his daughter just took the lead." Mikey barely took his eyes away from the screen to give this explanation. "I think they're going to win, but the two brothers from Duluth are also really good."
Karyn joined the two brothers on the sofa, not realizing that the action squeezed Jon just a bit closer to Mikey, and squeezed a little red stone just slightly outside of Jon's pocket.
"Man, it would be so cool to be a contestant on something like that," Mikey exclaimed with a pump of his fist to accentuate his point as the show broke for commercial. "I'd be able to win at all the challenges. And you could be there," Mikey nodded at Jon. "And Zoey, and Mom."
"And Karyn," Karyn interjected.
"And Karyn!" Mikey agreed. "I guess it could be a whole bunch of people we know, right? All competing against each other. And, like, if you fail a challenge you get punished or something? I wish something like that would happen."
There was flash of light, and Jon started cursing, and the next thing Mikey knew, the three of them weren't in his living room anymore. They were in a big, concrete warehouse.
And Zoey was there. And his mom. And some kids he knew from school. And some kids that Jon knew from school.
And standing before them was a man wearing khakis, a million-watt smile, and a resplendent Andre Agassi mullet.
"Jack Packraft?" Mikey shouted.
"Shit, Mikey, shit," Jon stared daggers at his brother.
"Don't swear in front of Mikey," his mom admonished.
"Use the stone," Karyn whispered in Jon's ear. "Get us back to your house."
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen," Jack Packraft announced, drawing everyone's attention, "to a special Lake Point edition of 'It's a Wonderful Marathon.' You've all been selected to compete to see who gets to win this prize, a shiny red stone!" The gameshow host lifted an object above his head, and Jon and Karyn both gasped.
The prize for winning was the wishing stone. Jon's wishing stone. He patted his pockets just to be certain, but they were empty. Mikey's wish had somehow transferred possession of the stone to Jack Packraft.
"And also a million dollars," the host continued. The crowd cheered.
"I guess we've got to win this race to make sure we get the stone," Karyn said, gripping Jon's hand in hers.
"I believe in you. I believe in us." Jon replied. "You and I know each other so well, our teamwork will see us through. It has to. We need to get the stone back."
"Now all that's left to do is assign you all into your teams, and get everyone to their starting marks."
Jon's breath caught in his throat. Assign teams? They didn't get to choose? Jon turned to Karyn, and both teenagers could see the other's stomach drop as Jack Packraft produced a safari hat filled with slips of paper. They didn't get to pick their teams. The show was going to. What were the odds that Jon and Karyn would end up together?
Beside them, Mikey could hardly contain himself. "This is SO COOL!" came a shout that was so loud that it was almost certainly going to be edited out of the final cut of the episode.
