And fortunately, the doorbell rang just at that moment. Jon ran to the front door, threw it open, and started talking excitedly to Karyn: "It's my mom! She got the rock! Help me get it back from her!"
Karyn put her hand to her mouth. "You let your mother get the rock? But she's a total airhead! Has she done anything?"
Jon said, "No, that's just it! You only remember her as an airhead, but she's only like that because she made some bad wishes! And now things are getting worse!"
"What do you mean, worse?" asked Karyn. At that moment, there was a crash from the living room. Jon and Karyn ran in to see Jon's mother looking at a lamp, which was now in several pieces on the floor.
"I kicked too high," she said, her puffy, glossy ruby red lips parted in an embarrassed smile. Jon sighed and knelt down to pick up the shattered lamp. "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry!" exclaimed his mother, and then her face brightened. "Wait, I've got an idea!" She clutched the rock tight and said, "Uh, I wish we were really rich, so we lived in a huge house, so there was lots of room for me to do my kicks!"
The rock glowed very bright, and the three of them had to squinch their eyes shut for a few seconds. When they opened them, the room had completely changed. Oriental rugs partially covered the hardwood floor. A marble-topped coffee table sat in front of a black leather sofa. The cheerleading video played on a gigantic flat-screen TV. "This is so cool!" gasped Jon's mother.
"No, it's not," said Jon. "God knows how much things are screwed up now."
His mother ignored that, and instead waved and chirped, "Hi, Karyn!"
Karyn gave her a half-smile. "Hello, Mrs. Gibson."
"I've told you a billion times, call me Mary!" She frowned. "Hmm, that's not really a name for a cheerleader. I wish I had a name like a cheerleader and everybody called me it."
"Just please give me the rock, Bambi," said Jon, and winced. He'd meant to say "Mom."
"But then I couldn't do all this magic stuff!" said the cheerleader. "Oh, wait, I've got an idea. I wish..."
