The Wishing Stone By Teek © 2020

Summary: Making a wish on the Wishing Stone is a great honor. One that only ten people every hundred years gets to make. Many wishes throughout time have dramatically changed the life of the Wishee for the positive, but there are consequences to one's actions. When the youngest Wishee in history makes a life-altering wish, those around twelve-year-old Mikey must adjust to the changes.

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Chapter Summary: There are consequences to the wish that impact more than just Milly. Some people are more accepting than others.

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~o~O~o~

Note: In the future, some things are a little different from our time. Their currency is Zeeboes. The kids wear Zoombot shoes, and the futuristic equivalency of milk, which doesn’t have any harmful negative impacts on humans, is called Gubit. Yeah, I know. Who names something Gubit or wears Zoombots on their feet? I could ask the same about you. Did you wear Crocs in your younger days? Or did you drink Yoohoo? Just imagine what people in the future will think about our names for things. So, let’s not judge their names for things. Now, I return you to the future, where wishes really can come true.

“Mommy,” Milly asked. “Should the Fairy Godmother have kept me a boy?”

“What would make you ask such a crazy question Milly,” Marsha asked?

“Grandma is mad I’m not this Mikey you tell me I used to be. I don’t want Grandma to be mad.”

“Oh, Milly,” Marsha said, getting up from her seat and going over to Milly. “Never think that the Fairy Godmother made a mistake. You should always be who you are and never let anyone else hold you back from being that. The Fairy Godmother granted your wish to be a little girl because that is what you should be. She only grants true wishes, which means, at your core, you wanted with all of your heart to be a Little Princess. She made that possible, and now you will always be my princess. All I want is for you to be happy and loved for who you are. I am so happy that the Fairy Godmother helped me see the real you.”

“But . . .”

“No buts Milly. You are a little girl, and that is all that is important. No one should ever be forced to live the wrong gender. A girl growing up in a boy's body is bad enough, but that girl shouldn’t have to be treated like a boy. Your wish changed things for you. You now have a special treat, a chance to be the little girl you were born as. No one will ever again treat you like a boy. That is a very good thing.”

Gregg came barging into the room, “Kids, go play in your playroom!”

“Gregg, they haven’t finished dinner yet,” Marsha objected.

“They can finish dinner later. Sarah, take your little sister and go play,” Gregg ordered.

Sarah looked at Dad and then at Mom, unsure of what to do.

Marsha looked at Gregg, then Sarah, and finally at the little one she was hugging, “Whatever, go ahead Milly, go play with your sister in the playroom.”

The girls got down and ran off to the playroom.

“What is so important that it had to interrupt the girl’s dinner?”

“House, run the top news story please.”

A holo-projected news reporter was displayed sitting at a table with two other individuals, “Reports are coming in from all over the Solar System. At approximately 12:35 pm Greenwich Mean Time, Earth, 1% of the population magically changed gender. Individuals from prenatal to old age are suddenly facing life as the opposite gender. The current belief is that all these individuals were six or higher on the transgender spectrum scale. For adults that were transformed, they find themselves with a body that matches their mind, and not one has complained. Parents of children, however, are in a total uproar over the incident. Most did not know their children were transgender, and many claim their child wasn’t.”

“It is believed that Michael Soffin’s wish is the cause of all of this. The Vid Recording of that incident shows him changing from a 12-year-old boy to a young girl of seven. None of the other transformed individuals have regressed in age, but all have changed gender like Michael. As per Wish Law, no reporters are allowed to ask what the wish was. World Leader Evans pointed out a little-known element of the law, stating that a Wishee must be fifteen years old before any interviews can occur. With Michael’s regression, it will be eight years before we are allowed to ask any questions. Senior Wish Analyst George Marker is here to help us gain understanding. George, what is your take on all of this?”

“A wish always has the potential to have a life-changing impact on the Solar System. Based on current reports, I would guess that Michael wished to be a little girl and not have anyone struggle with being transgender. The unclear thing is how that happened. A Wishee is allowed one wish, and the stone has never before granted two wishes at one time. This looks like two different wishes. One that regressed and changed the Wishee to female, and a second one to change the physical body of all transgender individuals to match their true gender.”

“What about the parents that say their transformed children were not transgender,” the news reporter asked?

“Based on previous wish investigations, I suspect those parents are wrong, but further investigation will be done. The Wish Magic is very accurate in its work. With all the adults transformed being transgender, I would be shocked to find a child wasn’t. I can understand, however, how the parent of a young child would be confused and upset by this.”

The news reporter turned to the third guest, “Eileen Simmons is president of the Age Matters Organization. They have been lobbying for over thirty years for the minimum age a Wishee can be should be at least 25, and preferably 30. They have spearheaded several protests throughout the Solar System this afternoon, using this wish as proof that children shouldn’t be granted wishes.”

“That is right, Larry. The immaturity of the Wishee has led to this chaos. We wouldn’t see such a disaster if an adult made the wish. Michael was only 12 years old. An adult would never have caused all transgender individuals to transform against their will.”

“We have had several people older than 30 make wishes that have caused significant changes throughout the Solar System, including last decade’s Wishee who was 57. How can you blame all of this on the age of the Wishee? Especially with this wish, the only people truly affected get a problem solved for the better.”

“How can you say that, Larry? The parents of a 4-year-old boy who is now a girl are devastated by the loss of their son. All because some immature kid didn’t think before making his wish.”

“But that kid will no longer grow up with the challenges of being transgender. . .”

“House, turn off the news,” Marsha commanded. “Can you believe that woman?”

“Definitely not in sync with reality.”

“Gregg, the wish changed all those people. Our baby is going to be hated by people for the rest of her life.”

“Marsha, she is also going to be loved by all those people for sharing her wish with them. We knew this was part of the challenge of making a wish. The possibilities were all explained to Mikey several times before he made his wish. He heard the protests and objections to a 12-year-old making a wish and knew things would probably get worse after the wish.”

“I know. It’s just,” Marsha broke out in tears.

Gregg hugged his wife, “We tried to shield Mikey from all the possibilities, but he was too determined to research the wishing stone. He read everything he could get his hands on. He knew the power that stone has and how a wish could change the world.”

Marsha smiled, “You know who his favorite Wishee was?”

“No.”

“It was Lisa, that lady who was intellectually disabled who wished for unicorns.”

“He has always loved unicorns,” Gregg said. “I guess it was a sign of his girl side we were never willing to see.”

“Boys like unicorns,” Marsha retorted.

Gregg rolled his eyes and hugged Marsha.

“How did we not know he was transgender?”

“We never considered it because no one expects their son to want to be a girl. We just thought he was a nice big brother to his little sister,” Gregg commented.

“Instead, his playtime with her was his only chance to be the girl she was. It must have been so hard for her watching Sarah get all those girl things that he wanted just as much,” tears started to flow again down Marsha’s face.

“What gets at me,” Gregg commented. “Is that he didn’t feel he could tell us.”

The two were silent for a few minutes. They could hear the kids playing together in the playroom. Milly was playing Princess, and Sarah was the queen. Sarah would occasionally tell Milly what to do and how to be a proper Princess.

“What are we going to do about all of this,” Marsha asked?

“We raise our little girl to the best of our ability. Like any kid, we shield her from as much as we can until she is able to handle it. Her regression younger than she was at the Wish Ceremony may work in our favor. Except for the school, doctor, and family, no one needs to know she is the one that made the wish. The public will be looking for an older kid. No one will expect the Wishee to be a little girl so young. Even if they make the connection, who is going to attack a little kid who’s only six years old?”

“I guess,” Marsha replied. “Come on, let’s get those two through dinner. Looking at Sarah’s plate, we have a big challenge in front of us. She hasn’t touched any of her vegetables.”

The family was soon all sitting down again, eating dinner. Gregg tried to get Sarah to eat the vegetables with no luck.

“You can’t make me eat that horrible thing. Isn’t it illegal to make kids eat broccoli?”

“No dessert if you don’t eat all your vegetables,” Gregg finally said in frustration.

“Fine, I didn’t want that piece of chocolate cake anyway.”

Marsha smiled at that comment. Looking over at Milly, who had most of her vegetables eaten already, “Eat up, Milly. It looks like Sarah won’t be having her piece of cake for dessert, so I guess you can have more.”

“What?” Sarah shouted. “That’s not fair. It’s my piece of cake. Milly can’t have my cake.”

“Well, Sarah,” Mom said. “You don’t want it.”

Milly grabbed a carrot stick in one hand and a chicken nugget in the other. She took a bite of each.

“Milly is eating her veggies, so . . .”

Sarah huffed and grabbed one of her two pieces of broccoli and stuffed it in her mouth.

“I bow to the master,” Gregg said.

Marsha just smiled and dug into her dinner. Between bites, she asked, “You were only up there long enough for one Com-Link. Who did you talk to?”

“I called my parents, who told me about the news. We didn’t have time to talk. They said I needed to watch the news and I could call them back after the kids were in bed.”

“Your parents are so great. They always understand the struggles of being a parent.”

“My sister and I weren’t exactly the easiest kids to raise.”

“You should probably go call your sister . . .”

“All done, Mommy!” Milly said with a mouth full of food.

“Good job Milly, but chew and swallow, please,” Mom replied.

Sarah shivered and made a face that clearly showed her dislike as she put the last piece of broccoli in her mouth, “Done. Cake mine.”

“Neither of you can have any cake until you swallow the food.”

Sarah slumped her shoulders and started to chew.

Swallowing, Milly looked at Mommy, “Cake now?”

“Go put your plate in the cleaner.”

Milly got down, took her Princess Stacy plate to the kitchen cleaner, and quickly returned to her Princess booster seat. By the time Milly was sitting down, Sarah was bringing her plate to the cleaner.

Marsha got up to get the girls their cake. After cutting a small piece for each girl, she placed them on the table. She refilled the girl’s cups of Gubit, for chocolate cake just isn’t the same without Gubit.

Looking at the two girls, the age difference could be seen. Sarah was using her fork to eat the cake, getting some chocolate on her face. Milly was mostly using her hands, getting chocolate covering her face, hands, cup, and dress. Looking at her dress, it was now obvious why there were still bibs in the kitchen. Marsha stuck that fact in her head for the next time she served chocolate cake to the girls.

While Sarah brought her plate and silverware to the cleaner, Mom attacked Milly with a damp washcloth. Seconds after Sarah put the last of her dishes in the cleaner, the House spoke.

>>HOMEWORK REMINDER: Sarah has a math assignment to do for homework and read for 20 minutes.<<

“Do I have to Mom?” Sarah complained.

“You may have gotten today off from school for the Wish Ceremony, but that doesn’t mean you can get out of doing your homework. Go get your School Pad, but first, stop by the bathroom and clean the rest of the chocolate off your face.”

“I’ll read first,” Sarah stated.

“No. You will do your math first. Go get your School Pad and bring it down here.”

“Fine!” Sarah said as she stomped off.

“As for you,” Mom said, examining Milly’s face and hands to make sure she got everything. “I think we need to get you out of that dress. I’m not sure which got more of the cake, it or your tummy.”

Milly smiled, “It was yummy.”

“Let’s go get you in your jammies.”

Milly got down off her booster seat and charged off to her room. When Marsha finally caught up to her, the bed had a one-piece footed pajamas on it and some unicorn slippers. Milly was trying to get the dress off.

“I need to undo the zipper in the back silly,” Mom said, coming up to Milly. “Hands up.”

Milly raised her arms, and Mom took the dress off. She immediately brought it over to the clothes cleaner in the closet, “House. Clean the dress, with extra attention to get all of the chocolate off of it.”

When Marsha turned around, she saw Milly putting on the pajamas.

“Waaaaaait a minute. Tights off first.”

Milly got down on the floor to take her tights off. Marsha smiled at the struggles, determination, and fast pace of the process. In no time, Milly had her Unicorn one-piece pajamas on with the hood up, so the horn was sticking up above her head. Then she put on her Unicorn slippers.

“Okay, my baby girl has been turned into a unicorn,” Mom smiled. “I wonder if I need to get a unicorn stall in the back yard?”

“Don’t be silly Mommy. Unicorns have to live in the house, or you can’t take advantage of their kindness powers.”

Marsha went up and embraced Milly in a big hug, “Oh, we wouldn’t want to lose out on this unicorn’s super kindness powers.”

Milly giggled.

“I guess we will just have to have the Unicorn live here in Milly’s room. If Milly comes back to us, I guess we can find someplace for her to sleep.”

“Milly can sleep with you and Daddy?”

“I think Milly is a big girl who can sleep in her own bed.”

“If I havta.”

Mom tickled Milly, who instantly broke out in a giggle fit.

“House,” Marsha asked? “Does Milly have any homework?”

>>Green Day: wear something green and bring in something green that can fit inside a closed school backpack.<<

“Last time I brought Hoppy,” Milly announced. “I’ll go get Hoppy.”

Mom stopped the unicorn before she could run off, “Hold on a minute, little one. If you brought Hoppy on last month’s Green Day, you are not allowed to bring her again this time.”

“But Mom.”

“Wait a minute. 1st graders don’t do a color day one day a week. House, please confirm Milly’s Homework.”

>> Diamond Lake Early Learning Center school-wide homework: Green Day: wear something green and bring in something green that can fit inside a closed school backpack.<<

“House, Milly goes to Elementary School.”

>>Checking . . . No, Melissa Louise Soffin is a student in Mrs. Erksin’s Early Learner 4 classroom at Diamond Lake Early Learning Center.<<

Marsha looked at Milly, who was shaking her head up and down.

“Teacher Erksin the bestest teacher ever,” Milly declared.

“House, how old is Milly?”

>>Melissa is 6 years, 3 months old.<<

“Yup, I’m 6!”

“Okay. Well, we better get back to your homework. You said you brought Hoppy last month,” Marsha quizzically looked at Milly. “You remember what you brought last month for Green Day?”

“Yeah, Mommy,” Milly said, looking around her room.

“Do you remember the one before that?”

“Celery? Or four-leaf clover card you helped me make for Teacher. I don’t remember,” Milly suddenly got a big smile. “Mommy, can I ask?”

Mom smiled at her little girl, “Sure, sweetie. Go ahead. Speak clearly, and start by saying, ‘House’.”

Milly stood up tall and said, “House.”

With no command following, the House Unit replied, >>How may I help you Princess Milly?<<

“I love it when she calls me that,” Milly told Mom. “House, what did I bring to show and tell on Green Days?”

>>Last Month was your stuffed animal Hoppy, before that was a green card you made for your teacher, celery, Little Ones Christmas Tree, and green candy canes. More are available if you want me to go back further.<<

“That Milly is why we tell House what you bring each time, so we can always remember,” Mom explained. “Wouldn’t want to bring the same thing in twice.”

Marsha looked at Milly and then at the House Control Panel in the room. How could it know what she brought for the last five months of homework when Milly just came into existence today. The list sounded familiar, though. Marsha’s eyes went wide when she finally connected where she had heard that list before. It was what Mikey brought one of the years he was in the Early Learning Center. The magic didn’t entirely create a new history for Milly. It just modified Mikey’s history.

“Mommy,” Milly asked? “Why can’t it be Pink day? Pink is the bestest color. I have lots of pink stuff.”

Looking around the room, Marsha smiled, “You certainly do Milly, but we need to be fair to all the colors. Green would be sad if we skipped her. Let’s go down to the playroom to see if we can find something green to bring.”

“Race you,” Milly went running out of the room.

When Marsha reached the hallway, she expected to see Milly running down the stairs and planned on telling her not to run in the house. Milly, however, was nowhere in sight. Marsha couldn’t even hear the pitter-patter of little feet running in the house. When Marsha reached the dining room, she checked on Sarah, working on her math problems.

“Did your sister come running through here,” Marsha asked?

“Nope,” Sarah said, only looking up for a moment. “Haven’t seen her since I passed the two of you when you went up to her room.”

“That’s strange. Milly went running off to the Playroom. You should have seen her go by.”

“No, Prince Charming, you can’t bring a silver unicorn to Green Day,” Sarah and Mom heard Milly say.

“Sounds like she is in the Playroom,” Sarah said before going back to her math.

Marsha headed into the Playroom to find Milly down on the ground playing with her Princess Stacy toys.

“Prince Charming, Stacy’s dresses are yellow and blue. I can’t bring Stacy to Green Day. Yeah, I know. She would be a great show and tell, but it has to be green. Princess Stacy isn’t green.”

Marsha smiled. It had been a while since she saw a kid work through their problems in a make-believe world. It was always so cute to watch. To help speed up the process, “Why don’t you take Prince Charming around the room looking for something green.”

“Come on Prince Charming,” Milly said, getting up off the floor with the Prince Charming toy still in her hand. “You are a great Knight. Time for a quest to find green.”

Marsha saw a few green things in the room, but she held her tongue. Milly was old enough to do this homework by herself. At least she thought Milly was. So far, she does appear to be labeling the colors correctly. Mikey and Sarah had mastered their colors by age four. Does that mean Milly learned them when Mikey did?

“Prince Charming,” Milly said, exasperated. “We can bring the Mystical Flying Fairy in on Purple Day, but not on Green Day.”

Milly had the toy Prince look up and down the shelves, skipping over various green items without comment. It was obvious Milly knew what green was, so Marsha went back to the Dining Room.

“Need any help,” Marsha asked as she entered the room?

“Think I’ve got it Mom,” Sarah said as she worked on the math problem. “After this problem, I only have the two word-problems left. Too bad Mikey isn’t here. He always helped me understand the word problems.”

“He was a good big brother, wasn’t he,” Mom said with a smile.

“I will never understand why they combine words with math. It is math. There should only be numbers.”

“I tend to agree with you. At my job, the math is almost always just numbers, but that math often starts with someone asking a question, wanting to know something: words that lead to a number problem. Sort of like your word-problems. You read the words and then turn it into a number problem.”

“Fine, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it, especially without Mikey to help me.”

Marsha went over and hugged Sarah. When she stood back up, she heard a ding.

“House,” Marsha said. “Show me my display. Well, it looks like it is someone’s bedtime.”

Sarah looked down at the clock display on the bottom of her School Pad, “Why do I have to go to bed so early?”

Marsha smiled as she looked down at Sarah, “Not you. Remember, you’re not the youngest anymore, so someone in the house goes to bed before you.”

“Milly!”

“Yup.”

“Serves her right. I always hated it when Mikey got to stay up later than me. Now I get to stay up later.”

“Be nice to your new sister.”

“I will.”

“In five minutes, your Holo-Display program is on. If you're done with your math by then, you can watch it before doing your reading homework.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Sarah said, turning back to her math.

Marsha went into the Playroom. Milly was sitting down on the floor, surrounded by five different green things. “I see Prince Charming found some green things for you to pick from. Which one do you want to bring to school tomorrow?”

Milly looked at her selection and pointed to one, “Can’t bring this one. It won’t fit in my school backpack.”

“Good point,” Mom said, picking it up and putting it on one of the shelves.

“That one only has a bitty bit of green, so not that one.”

Mom picked it up and put it away.

“How many do you have left?”

Milly pointed to each toy and counted, “1 . . . 2 . . . 3. Can I bring three toys?”

“No. Only one.”

Milly looked at the three toys in front of her. She reached for one and then took her hand back. Then she grabbed another, “This one.”

“Okay,” Mom said, picking up the other two. “Go put it in your backpack, and then up to bed.”

Grabbing the toy, Milly headed for the stairs at little kid speed, with Mom following behind her at a much slower pace. They stopped at the door to the garage. Off to the side were the girls’ school backpacks hanging on hooks. Milly put the toy in hers and then headed to her room.

“Mommy,” Milly asked as she entered her room. “Can I wear my Princess Stacy outfit to school tomorrow?”

“Is it green,” Mom asked. “I believe you have to wear something green. Do you want to wear a dress tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Milly responded like it was a very stupid question.

“House, holo-display the various dresses Milly has that are green or have some green on them.”

Five dresses were displayed in front of Milly.

“You pick one,” Mom stated.

Milly pointed to a pink dress with green flowers, “Can I wear that one, Mommy?”

“You will look very pretty in that dress,” Mom smiled. “House, tomorrow’s outfit for Milly will be that dress, her green tights, and her Zoombot shoes.”

>>Recorded. All items are currently clean and available.<<

“Okay, off to sanitize your teeth. Don’t want any of those sugar monsters to eat away at your teeth.”

Milly went running into her bathroom and stood on the step stool. Grabbing the tooth sanitizer, she turned it on and listened to the song it played.

“It’s supposed to be in your mouth while it plays the song.”

“Oh yeah,” Milly said, putting the sanitizer stick into her mouth.

Marsha noticed something in the bathroom that probably meant they had two more things to do before Milly could be tucked in and read a story. Next to the toilet was a castle-shaped diaper disposer, with one of the towers sticking up higher than the others with a diaper dispenser in it. Sarah still wore training pants to bed every night, which probably means Milly does too. Mikey did at this age.

Milly passed the sanitizing stick along the back of the teeth first, then on the front of the teeth, before ending on her tongue. When she pulled it out of her mouth, the song was still playing but shortly stopped.

“Next time, you need to keep it in your mouth for the whole song. If you’re not a big enough girl to do it right, I’ll go back to doing it.”

“No, I’m a big girl Mommy.”

>>House, does Milly wear diapers to bed?<<

“No, Mommy,” Milly protested. “I’m a big girl. I wear training pants.”

>>Mellissa wears level 2 training pants to bed.<<

“House, print a level 2 training pants for Milly.”

>>Princess Milly, what pattern do you want on your training pants?<<

“Hmmm, Rainbows and Unicorns,” Milly stated.

A magical twinkling sound was heard, and a pair of training pants appeared on the diaper dispenser.

Milly unzipped her pajamas and took them along with her panties off. Grabbing the training pants, she put them on. She was interrupted while starting to get her pajamas back on.

“Um,” Marsha said in her Mom voice. “Try to go potty first.”

Quick potty trip, and Milly was running over to the bed and jumped in. After tucking Milly and her Susie Doll into bed, Marsha sat on the bed to read a bedtime story.

>>You asked to be reminded that Dr. Mire would like a height measurement before Milly goes to bed.<<

“Thank You, House,” Marsha said. “Please inform Sarah to come up here at the first commercial.

>>That will be in four minutes.<<

Mom opened The Book and typed in A Princess At Bedtime. Marsha was almost done with the story when Sarah showed up. Milly was instructed to go up and hug Sarah.

“House, measure from the bottom of the eye to the top of Milly’s head. Send results to Dr. Mire.”

Both Sarah and Mom could easily see that Milly was smaller than the last time they had done this.

“Nighty Night, Milly,” Sarah said, giving one big hug and then heading back downstairs to watch her program.

Mom tucked Milly back into bed and finished the story.

“House,” Mom said at the end of the story as she was getting up. “What are Milly’s bedtime settings?”

>>Melissa is set for Little Kid Sleep Monitoring, training pants monitoring, and temperature control. Fairy and Butterfly holo-display for falling asleep, with quiet lullaby heard around her bed. Little Kid Night-time access to House Unit. There are also all the scans ordered by Dr. Mire and Professor Ian. Princess Milly has ordered Baby Sleep Monitoring settings for Susie.<<

“Thank You, House. Those settings will be just fine,” Marsha kissed Milly on the forehead and did the same for the Susie Doll. “Nighty Night Princess.”

“Night, Mommy.”

“House,” Marsha said as she reached the doorway, “Bedtime.”

The lights went out, except for a slight glow in the light strips. Windows were darkened, and holographic fairies and butterflies danced around above the bed. Marsha couldn’t hear it, but she knew there was a lullaby playing that Milly could hear. Shutting the door, she left just a crack open.