Jon had never been to this room before, but all four of them found themselves in it, the walls were a red velvet, and a great rug dominated the floor, the furniture was a musky mahogany, and of course the chairs were of a well cared for leather, and it was lit by the light from a single window that looked out onto the at the tops of the trees and then skyward, a natural but cold light that traveled the room day by day from west to east like a sleepy guardian. The vibe was ominous, as if gravity was greater here, and noise knew to tame itself here lest some force act upon it to snuff it out, creating a forceful silence, only broken by the voice Richard from the near the window.
"There are certain advantages to this club, this room being one of them. This room, is the only room that is original to the building, no one will see it changed. It's our constant."
He turned to his wife and kissed her whispering as he did "I'm sorry about this my dear, there is nothing to be done." He did kiss Sarah or share any warmth with her at all instead moving directly to Linda and Jon.
"Hello, I'm Richard, you must be very confused, please, have a seat, I'll explain I promise." then he turned to Jon, giving him the first direct acknowledgement Jon had ever had from him. "Did you bring the stone?"
Jon was shocked by the question, how could he know about the wishing stone? "No Sarah...."
At last Richard turned to Sarah "Yes, I know." He gave her a stare of grave disappointment and with a voice that could command thunder said "Give it to me"
Sarah folded like a wet sock, immediately offering forth the red stone which Jon's Grandpa had given him. Richard took it.
"Linda you may be interested to know that your father came upon a stone that grants wishes. One of exactly 3 of these that anyone knows about." This was a ridiculous thing to say, but the weight of the room made it seem not only plausible but definitive.
"and that he left this wonder of the world to your son not two weeks ago." He turned his attention to Jon again as he handled the stone. "Tell me Jon, what did you wish for?"
Jon found the courage to respond "Well not much, my friend Karyn made a dumb wish which changed a lot about her, and so I've been really kind of scared to do anything with it since."
'Wise.' Richard responded, but this was directed like a dagger at his daughter.
"What was the wish?" Richard prodded. "the one that Karyn made."
Jon felt sheepish to have to admit even his friends vanity but he stumbled out "Well I guess she envied your daughter sir and so she wished she looked more like her...in certain respects, and the stone, well it does this flash thing when you wish on it and then suddenly she had those things." he gestured as if to indicate what he was talking about with out having to say it.
Richard continued "Was that all?"
"Well not really, she always had kinda blue green eyes but maybe it was the hair or I don't know but they started looking more blue, and her mom was now blond and bigger up top, and everyone was treating her different, but also like she had always been that way. The weird thing was after a couple days she started to act like it was completely normal for her to be that way too."
"Yes, that's right." Richard said "Because people don't believe in magic, the world isn't build to change constantly, and so when it happens it's best to just assume this is the way the world always was, otherwise we go mad."
Finally he turned to Sarah. " And what did you wish for?"
Sarah couldn't bring herself to speak.
"What did you wish for?" There was fire in his voice. Jon noticed an angry scowling stare emanating from Susan at Sarah as well. She had clearly messed up.
From the rock in his hand Sarah's voice rang out "I wish they knew what it was like to be us; maybe then they wouldn't be so boorish."
Susan turned and immediately slapped Sarah hard in the face. "Idiot!" "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Sarah sobbed "it was just a stupid wish I didn't think anything would happen." Susan slapped her again "Careless!" finally Richard restrained her.
"Its not as bad as it seems, while it is certainly not good, there are certain advantages from being with the club." The light seemed to change as he spoke, as if to sharpen his words.
"with this" He held in his hands a blue stone, similar in size and weight to the red wishing stone. "I can at least choose how this wish is granted, but it must be granted and soon."
So now you see why you are all here.
