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: Time for Milly and Sarah to go back to school.

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NOTE: Little kid talk.
- The letter “R” is replaced with a “W”
- “ER” at the end of words is replaced with a short “A” sound or short "U" sound
- “ING” at the end of words is just “IN”

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“Sarah, get out of there,” Marsha said in a loud whisper as she maneuvered Sarah out of Milly’s room. “I told you, we are letting her sleep until she wakes up. Your school transport will be here in ten minutes, and you are not dressed yet.”

“But Mom,” Sarah protested. “I want to meet her. She looks so little. She’s just a baby.”

“She’s four. She’s not a baby,” Mom explained as she moved Sarah into her room. “No crib, no highchair, and no baby bottles.”

“But she has a pacifier. I saw it next to her bed. Only babies have pacifiers.”

“Little boys and girls still use pacifiers from time to time. You didn’t completely give yours up until you turned five.”

Marsha worked on getting Sarah’s pajamas off a highly distracted child.

“Please, Mommy. I want to be here when she wakes up.”

“NO! You are getting on that Transport when it shows up. If you’re just in your nighttime training pants when it gets here, then I am putting you on the Transport in just your wet training pants. Now move it!”

Marsha went to the dresser and tossed some socks and panties over onto Sarah’s bed. Then she went to the closet and grabbed a dress. With Sarah focused on convincing Mom to let her stay home, Marsha managed to get her dressed for school.

“But Mom, Milly needs her big sister on her first day.”

Marsha started working on combing Sarah’s hair when they were interrupted by the house.

>>School Transport for Sarah is five minutes away from the pick-up spot.<<

“Piggies or Pony,” Mom asked?

“Pony, Please. Can you braid it?”

“No, we don’t have enough time,” Marsha said, as she moved Sarah out of her room and down the hall.

“Where’s the pick-up spot,” Sarah asked?

“Good question,” Mom looked at Sarah. “House, where is the pick-up spot?”

>>Two houses down the street,<< the house stated while projecting a holographic image of the route from the house to the pick-up spot.

“Come on,” Mom started, continuing to move Sarah down the hall while she was still combing the hair.

As Sarah put on her Zoombot shoes, Mom finished getting the hair into a ponytail.

“Is your School Pad in your backpack?”

“I put it in there after I finished my reading homework.”

As the two went through the garage door and headed down the stairs to the ground floor, “Be good at school and try to calm down enough that you don’t bug your teacher to death. Remember, If people ask about Mikey, you can tell them that he was turned into a little girl, but that is it. Her age and any other information is private. If they ask where she is? Tell them she goes to a different school now. They don’t need to know anything else. No talking about Mikey playing dress-up with you or about all the stuff that happened yesterday after the wish.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

Marsha kissed Sarah and looked down the street, “Do you see any kids you know?”

“One of the girls is in my class,” Sarah said.

“Well, go say hi to your new neighbors,” Mom smiled as she scooted her off to the School Transport pick-up spot.

>>School Transport for Sarah is two minutes away from the pick-up spot.<<

Marsha walked over to the ground floor entrance to the house and waited in the doorway until she saw Sarah get on the transport. She then headed to the kitchen. As she was pouring her morning refresher, the House notified her that Milly was in stage one of waking up. Marsha quickly drank her morning refresher and then headed up to Milly’s room.

Entering the room, Marsha saw a little girl curled up with her dolly hugged tight. Looking at the House Display Panel, she pressed a few buttons, and the windows started to let in some sunlight, a little kid wake up song began to play at .1 volume, and child status readings were displayed above the bed. Mood hormones were in line for a positive day. Temp and blood pressure were in a normal range. Diaper needed changing, but that really would only be noteworthy if it didn’t.

Marsha went over and lowered the bedside netting so she could sit down. Looking at the displays, she saw that Milly’s wake indicator bar was about to move from stage one to stage two. As soon as it moved into stage-two, the music and sunlight levels increased. Marsha started to rub Milly’s back.

A very groggy little girl voice said, “Stop Susie. I sleepin, go back to sleep.”

Mom reached over and held on to the back of the Susie doll. Wiggling it around a little, Mom pretended to be Susie talking, “Mommy Milly, the sun is coming in, and I hear the wake-up song. Time to get up.”

Milly opened her eyes and looked at Susie, “At least you didn’t jump up and down on the bed like I do with Mommy and Daddy. They weally hate it when I do that to wake them up.”

Mom took the Susie doll and made it jump up and down.

“Mommy!” Milly complained.

“Morning Princess.”

“Mornin Mommy.”

“Ready for a fun day at school today? It’s Green Day!”

“Pink Day!” Milly blurted out.

“No, Green Day. Green Show and Tell item and green on your clothes. If I remember correctly, your dress for today does have pink on it, but it is Green Day.”

“Poopy!”

“Watch your language young lady. No bad words.”

Milly was picked up and brought over to the changing table, still holding on tight to Susie. The sunlight in the room continued to increase, along with the little kid wake up music. The diaper was quickly changed, and then Milly was zipped back up into the unicorn pajamas. Marsha picked her up and carried her down to the Kitchen. Milly was placed on the counter while Marsha got breakfast together for Milly.

“Pwincess Stacy sippy cup, please Mommy.”

“Okay, your Gubit in your Princess Stacy sippy cup. Do you want some orange juice?”

“It gween day. Gween juice?”

“hmmmm, can’t make the orange juice green, but I can make the Gubit green. Do you want green Gubit?”

“Yes,” Milly said, clapping her hands.

Marsha put two drops of food coloring into the Gubit and stirred it up. She showed it to Milly before placing the lid on.

“Gween,” Milly said in such a way that Marsha wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement.

“Green Gubit for my little princess,” Marsha said. Then after pouring the Orange Juice into another sippy cup, she showed it to Milly. “Orange Juice.”

“Owange,” Milly said as she looked in the cup.

Marsha put some scrambled eggs on Milly’s plate and showed them to Milly, “What color are the eggs?”

“Ellow”

“Good Girl, that’s right. The eggs are Yellow. You’re so smart.”

“Pwincess Stacy has a ellow dwess.”

“Yes, she does.”

Milly smiled.

Gregg entered the Kitchen, coming over and kissing Milly on her forehead, “Morning Milly.”

“Pwincess Milly!”

Gregg picked Milly up and carried her over to her booster seat, “Use your silver wear. Okay?”

“Otay,” Milly said, grabbing the toddler fork next to her plate.

“Didn’t expect the speech deficits,” Gregg said to Marsha. “But it is cute.”

“Sounds age-appropriate,” Marsha said, sitting down at the table. “Yeah, very cute.”

“So, how do you want to play this?” Gregg asked.

“I was thinking of just going in like she has been going there for a year-and-a-half and be totally confused when they have no recollection of her.”

“You wouldn’t,” Gregg questioned?

“Think about who you are talking to,” Marsha said with an evil smile.

“Fine, you would, but you won’t.”

“Okay, I probably won’t,” Marsha huffed. “You are taking all the fun out of this. Milly’s teacher is probably already confused as can be. She walked into her classroom today and probably found all indications of another kid in her class, but no recollection of the kid. She probably has Milly’s name written out in the teacher’s handwriting a few times throughout the room. That would just freak me out if it happened to me.”

“Okay,” Gregg chuckled. “That does sound a little freaky. I would kind of want to watch that surveillance vid. Seeing artwork up in the room and her name on things, but not remember the kid.”

“Then Milly walks in the room knowing everyone and the routines, but no one knows her.”

Gregg smiled, “Not sure who to feel sorry for. Sweet little Milly, or everyone else.”

“Oh, given the age and the personality of our children, you better feel sorry for everyone else.”

“Milly might be different than Mikey and Sarah were.”

Marsha giggled, “I highly doubt it. There’s too much of you in her Gregg.”

Milly picked up some scrambled eggs with her hands and stuffed it in her mouth.

“Be a big girl Milly and use your fork,” Mom directed.

“Me big giwl. Sarah little giwl. Me go thiwd gwade. Sawah go Eawly Leawnin Centa.”

“What,” Mom put her hands on her chest. “I sent the wrong kid off to third grade this morning? Oh no. My Little Girl should be in Early Learner 2, but I sent her off to Big Kid school instead. My poor baby.”

“Yup. Sawah baby. Me da Big Giwl.”

“Well Big Girl,” Mom smiled at Milly. “Eat up then. Someone is really late for third grade.”

Milly reached for some more food on her plate with her hands.

“And remember. Big girls don’t eat with their hands.”

“humf, Me baby. Goo-Goo Gaa-Gaa,” Milly said as she grabbed some eggs and stuffed them in her mouth.

“And I thought yesterday’s age fluctuations were fast and big,” Gregg commented.

After Breakfast, Milly was changed and dressed for the day. After a quick look in the school bag to make sure there was still a green toy in there, Milly ran off to Daddy’s office to give him a hug and kiss goodbye. Then off to school.

In the Transport, Marsha was reminded just how little her 12-year-old had become. The safety seat was a baby one, not even a Little Kid booster seat. She got Milly in the seat and activated the safety force fields.

>>Child is Secure<< the baby seat stated.

Marsha got in next to Milly and activated the Transport, “Diamond Lake Early Learning Center.”

>>5 minute flight time with current traffic.<< the transport announced as it took off.

“Okay, Milly,” Marsha said, looking her right in the eyes. “The kids and teachers are going to play a game today. They are going to pretend they don’t know you. I want you to just ignore their silly game. You just go through the day like normal.”

“Otay, Mommy,” Milly said with a huge smile.

As they walked into Diamond Lake Early Learning center, Marsha smiled at all the memories. Milly tried to go down to her classroom, but Mom held on tight to her hands and walked into the office.

“Can I help you,” the school secretary asked?

“I would like to see the Principal please.”

“I’ll see if she’s in. May I ask what it is in regards to?”

“I want to talk to her about Milly here.”

Milly smiled and waved at the secretary.

“If you want to register a new student, you can start filling out the forms while you wait. There’s a pad over on the counter there. Just click Register New Student.”

“Oh, no. Milly is already a student here. Your records will show she has been attending here for a year and a half.”

“I have been the secretary here for three years, and I don’t recognize either of you. Are you sure you are in the right place?”

“We are definitely in the right place. If you would get the Principal, all this could be cleared up.”

The secretary pressed a button on her desk and opened a private Com-Link, “We have someone out here that would like to see you about a new student, but they are saying the child’s been coming here for a while. . . . The child’s name is Milly.”

The principal was quickly out of her office and approaching them, “Mrs. Soffin, it has been a while since I last saw you. How is Sarah doing?”

“She is doing just fine. She is in 3rd grade this year.”

“My, they grow up fast. Seems like just yesterday she was running around this building.”

“Yeah.”

“And this must be Milly.”

Milly smiled and waved.

“Can we go to your office to talk?”

“Sure,” Mrs. Oster gestured towards her office.

“Oh,” Marsha said, turning back to the secretary. “While we’re in there, I suggest you look up in your records: Melissa Soffin, Early Learner level 2.”

With that, Marsha went into the principal’s office, still holding onto Milly’s hand. When she sat down, she pulled Milly up onto her lap.

“Okay,” Mrs. Oster said when she sat down behind her desk. “I have heard enough to piece some things together, so I will start. This morning I had one of my teachers confused over strange things happening in her room. She appeared to have a new student named Milly, but there were signs that the student had been there all year. Including artwork and a picture from the 1st day of term. Then you show up with a kid named Milly.”

Marsha hugged Milly and smiled at the Principal.

“I can put two and two together to get Milly here. Your oldest wished on the Wishing Stone yesterday. Crazy news stories talked about the Wishee turning into a little girl of about 7-years-old. The only real question is why they are calling this little thing seven. She doesn’t even look like she’s five yet.”

“She isn’t. School Unit, please identify the name, age, and classroom for the child on my lap,” Marsha directed.

>>Melissa Louise Soffin, goes by Milly. Age 4 years, 6-months-old. A student in Miss Kepper’s Early Learning 2 classroom<<

“How did the news get the age so wrong?”

“Because,” Marsha looked down at Milly. “When Mikey made the wish, the stone turned him into a 7-year-old girl. Over the next 12 hours, it regressed him down to this age. Our best guess is that the process is done. She has been this age for over eight hours.”

“O-kay, from 12 to 4 in twelve hours. Must be quite a shock on you.”

“We didn’t even know he was transgender. Sarah knew, but we didn’t.”

“Amazing that we haven’t found a way to raise kids, so they are more able to reveal that information to parents. We had two kids magically change gender yesterday in the middle of the day. It was quite a shock for everyone, especially since no one knew they were transgender until it happened. Trust me, there is no easy way to call a parent up and tell them that their Early Learner has switched gender. One of the parents took it pretty well. Once she got over the initial shock, she asked if that is why her son kept wanting to wear his sister’s dresses. The other, though, had a hard time accepting their baby girl was now a boy.”

“I am sorry.”

“Oh, you have nothing to apologize for. We, as a society, have decided to accept Wish Magic. That means we have to accept the consequences of that magic. This wish changed the long term life for many people for the positive. I don’t know how much you have been watching the news, but the current discussion is around how we raise children. Some of the colonies out in the Solar System have already mandated all children at six years old be given the Gender Rating Scale. They also passed legislation banning gender-specific marketing of toys and clothing. They’re not banning any of the toys or clothes, just the marketing approaches. There is also a push to drop all judgment of choices by children on what clothes they wear or toys they choose to play with.”

“We heard one news burst yesterday, but I didn’t hear anything about that.”

“How much did the wish magic change her? Do we have a 4-year-old with a 12-year-old’s knowledge?”

“Medical scans by her Pediatrician last night put her at a 4-year-old level in all areas. Even back in diapers. I assume the test results are in your School Files.”

“Many of those scan results are automatically put in the School File unless the doctor intentionally tells them not to go there. Same thing with our scans showing up in the Pediatrician files.”

“I have always appreciated that,” Marsha said. “It has helped everyone work as one to meet the needs of the kids.”

Milly started to squirm to get down.

“We should probably get her off to class,” Mrs. Oster said. “Before she finds something fun to tear apart in my office.”

Marsha chuckled as she stood up, putting Milly on her hip. After a minute of dealing with a fidgety child, she put Milly down. Holding on to her hand, they walked down the hall to the classroom.

“Here we are,” Mrs. Oster said, walking into the classroom. “Miss Kepper, I found your mystery student. You were right. It was Wish Magic that has brought her to you.”

Milly escaped Mommy’s grasp and ran off to her cubby. She quickly hung up her backpack and then ran off to the attendance chart. She grabbed the picture of herself and put it on the board to show she was here. Then she went off to the toys.

“She appears to know exactly what to do. How does she know,” Miss Kepper asked?

“As far as I can figure out,” Marsha said. “She has memories like she had grown up normally. Some are borrowed from the first time she was this age, but others are new. I ask that you treat her like she has been in your class all term. That is what she believes.”

“Weird, but okay,” Miss Kepper said. “I read her file this morning, including the notes written by me. Strange reading notes I wrote but knowing I didn’t write them.”

“Yeah, lots of strange things with all of this,” Marsha said. “I guess I should start with a formal introduction. Hello, I am Marsha Soffin, and that pigtailed bundle of energy over there is my daughter Milly.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ellen Kepper, and my assistants are Susan Mitchell and Maggy Johnson. The kids usually call us Teacher Ellen, Teacher Susan, and Teacher Maggy.”

“I know your busy,” Marsha said looking around at the room full of kids. “So, I’ll make this brief. You need to know a few things. Her Little Kid mind has put an interesting twist on the Wishing Stone. She is very into Princesses. When we told her, she used to be a boy but had magically turned her into a girl, she twisted it all around. She thinks an evil witch had turned her into a boy, and a Fairy Godmother came to her rescue and turned her back into a girl.”

“Oh, my,” Miss Kepper smile. “Good imagination. Interesting way to put order into a crazy situation.”

“Little Kid make-believe worlds are fun at times,” Marsha agreed. “Milly is very much into Princesses and anything little girl pink. She has no memory of her previous life, and I would prefer it not be a topic brought up.”

“Okay,” Miss Kepper said as a little kid came up, pulling on her shirt. Before turning to the kid, she said to the adults, “Excuse me.”

“Let’s go back to my office,” Mrs. Oster said to Marsha.

Once they reached the office, “So Mrs. Soffin, Is there anything we need to know.”

“You know she is the Wishee, but I want to keep that a secret as much as possible.”

“I can understand. Fortunately, Early Learners are so ego-centric they won’t notice or care.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“Did you know what he was going to wish for before he made it?”

“No,” Marsha said. “Mike was adamant about keeping it a secret. He never told us he was transgender, so I am not surprised he didn’t want to tell us he was going to wish to be a little girl. He knew his rights, and he knew the dangers of making a wish. He was concerned about the Wishing Stone granting only True Wishes. He was concerned his wish wouldn’t be considered a True Wish.”

“I’ve heard that is something a lot of Wishees are concerned about.”

“I am sorry the wish has caused you so many problems,” Marsha added.

“Oh no, Mrs. Soffin. It added challenges to my day yesterday and today, but no real problems. As a society, we have chosen to live with the consequences of the wishes, no matter what happens. Some may gripe and complain, but if you ask them if we should stop wishing, they would all say, no.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Wishes have given us everything from unicorns to light speed drives. Very rarely are they viewed as negative in the long run. This one won’t either.”

“I hope not.”

After a few minutes of silence, Mrs. Oster asked, “So, who is the primary contact?”

“It is Gregg, my husband. He works from home and can drop whatever he is doing to help with the kids. I can’t really do that in my job,” Marsha said, wondering what challenges she was about to face in her new job. “Speaking of which, I probably should get to work. Thank You for listening to my concerns.”

“Mrs. Soffin,” Mrs. Oster said, standing up. “You have a second chance with Milly that parents of transgender kids usually never get. You get to raise her from a little girl, with her being herself. I know all of this is a little overwhelming at the moment but try to step back and see the positives. 4-year-old little girls are great little cuddlers, and love someone just sitting down and reading them a story.”