Jen tried to think of a way to change her mother back, and she realized she really could "reverse" the wish. She hadn't wished for her mother to be a tomboy, she wished that her mother would think it's normal for her and Zoe to be tomboys. If she could think of another way for it to be normal, she could wish that that happened instead.
"I wish that Mom thinks it's normal that me and Zoe are the way we are because she's open-minded about women dressing and acting in different ways, and the example she set for us was that she chose her own way to live, not that she was a tomboy herself."
Jen's mother changed back instantly. Only... Something was bothering Jen about the whole thing.
"Of course!" she yelled.
Jen's mother and sister both gave her funny looks.
"I mean, of course I figured it out. It's a homework problem," lied Jen.
"You waited until the morning to do your homework?" asked Jen's mother.
"No, no, it isn't due until the end of the week."
Jen said nothing further, but as soon as they left the house for school, Jen explained the problem to Zoe. "The stone's not working right," she said. "When I got it from Grandpa, it had instructions. Not a lot of instructions, but it said that everyone who doesn't hear the wish thinks that things were always like that."
"I don't see..." answered Zoe.
"I wished for Mom to think it's normal that we're tomboys. But the way the stone works, Mom should have already thought it was normal. The stone should have done nothing, but I know it reacted."
"Well," said Zoe, "maybe it was normal already, but the stone just made it normal in a new way."
"It could be," said Jen. "But that wasn't the only time. I wished that you'd be a tomboy."
"But I've always been like this" said Zoe. "Your wish didn't do anything."
"Yes it did. You still liked to dress in black and stuff like that but you were feminine! I made the wish and you dressed like a Goth boy instead of a Goth girl and you thought you were always like that. But you're only supposed to think it's always like that if you don't hear the wish. You heard the wish. You should have kept your memory."
"I'm getting to the bottom of this," said Jen. She pulled out the stone. "I wish," she said, "that I knew if any other wishes affected memories the wrong way." A second later, she said "Oh my god, Zoe...."
"What?"
"It wasn't the first time. I really was Jon. By accident I wished to be a girl. I was supposed to remember who I was and everyone else was supposed to have their memories changed, but it worked in reverse. I forgot and everyone didn't! And that wasn't the only time. A little later I wished there was a good reason to have boys' clothes. And there was, but again it affected my memory, which shouldn't happen."
"I knew I really had a brother named Jon!" said Zoe. "You should try to find a way to change back."
"I'm not Jon" replied Jen. "No matter what happened, as far as I remember I've always been Jen. I look like a boy and I like boy things but I'm Jen. I don't want to become someone else. Now as I was saying... There's one last one. Mom touched my hand before she left and made an accidental wish. She wished that the girls nearby--like Sarah--would be tomboys. To anyone else Sarah had just become a tomboy now, but to Sarah she had always been like that. But everyone else should have thought it was always like that too, at least if they were in range of the wish."
"Sarah? The hot blonde cheerleader? Now that's funny" replied Zoe.
"So that's five wishes where memories weren't changed the way they were supposed to be. I wonder what's going on here?"
"Jon... Jen, if you want to stay Jen," said Zoe. "You know I've been interested in the occult for a while. I think I might know what's going on. You see...."
