Jon tried to remember some things that Joseph had griped about in the past, and then made his wish.
"I wish that Joseph would say this next sentence out loud that I am about to say. 'I wish that I own a car and have a lot of money, that I was a little more popular at school, that I have no allergies, that the lunchroom at school serves better food, that my kid sister Sylvia wouldn't try to steal my stuff, and that I had a complete original Star Trek DVD set.'" He was going to add a girlfriend to that list, but didn't know if there was anyone in particular who Joseph liked.
Jon could feel the sensation of having to look away, as was usual with wishes from the stone, and then he heard Joseph make the wish. It was the exact sentence that he had commanded Joseph to say.
And then, the wish came true. Most of it wouldn't be visible, but not all. Joseph nearly tripped over the stack of DVD boxes that was right in front of his feet.
Jon began to walk towards him and immediately tripped over an identical looking set of boxes at his own feet. At which point it began to occur to him that something was wrong.
As Jon got up, he realized just what was wrong. For Jon to make Joseph get his wish, Jon had to speak it, so Jon got the wish too. They both got the same wish!
Suddenly Jon was very glad he hadn't named a girlfriend. At least the rest of the wish was harmless.
Joseph looked at the boxes on the ground and said "Whoa!"
Jon picked up his own boxes and approached Joseph again. "Look what I found!" he said, holding out the stack to Joseph.
"I got one too" said Joseph. "All of a sudden I felt I had to say something, like a wish, and I said a whole bunch of things. And then I got some DVDs! It was as if there was some kind of genie watching me. I wonder if the rest came true... we might even be able to stay on campus for lunch if the food becomes edible."
"Oh, I'm sure it did come true" said Jon.
"I don't understand why you got DVDs too though" said Joseph. "Maybe because we're twins, but you didn't make a wish...."
Jon choked. Maybe the wish wasn't so harmless after all. How could his sister Sylvia do anything unless he had Sylvia as his sister too? He opened his wallet to check and the first thing he saw was his driver's license--a license he hadn't had the day before. It listed him as Jon Paxton--Joseph's last name--and he was exactly 17. Joseph's non-identical twin brother.
"Jon?" said Joseph.
"Just checking to see if I got a car too" answered Jon.
"But you've had a car for a month ever since you won that contest" said Joseph.
"Oh, never mind" said Jon.
Jon would probably need to waste a wish later just to act correctly around Joseph's parents. But then, the wishes were in infinite supply. There was no such thing as wasting one--just getting one wrong. And boy, was that possible.
Jon wondered just how he was going to fix this mess and vowed to talk to Karyn about it.
