“Mommy,” Sarah asked as she ate her cereal. “Can I pllllllllllllease have kitty cat nail polish?”

“I want Pwincess Stacy nail polish,” Milly chimed in.

“Neither of you are wearing holo-nail polish to school. You would not get any schoolwork done,” Mom pointed out. “Especially you, Sarah. The last time you had kitty nail polish, you kept playing with the kitty cats hovering above your nails.”

“It’s fun having the kitty cats play with each other,” Sarah said before taking another bite of cereal.

“But at school, you are supposed to be doing your schoolwork, not playing with holo-kitties.”

“Mommy,” Milly said. “Can you braid my pigtails?”

Marsha looked over at the two girls, “I think I could do that. Sarah, your School transport comes first. Do you want braids too?”

“Mommy braids are the best,” Sarah said. “Daddy can’t do the fancy ones.”

“ufffffff,” Dad got out, as he grabbed his heart.

Marsha smiled as she went over to a drawer and got out the hair supplies, “What do you want as the ties?”

“Kittens!” Sarah stated.

“Wibbons and bows,” Milly yelled out.

Marsha headed over to Sarah and started working on her hair as Sarah ate. By the time she was done eating, Mom had finished her hair.

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

“Perfect timing,” Marsha kissed Sarah. “Go get your School Bag, and off you go.”

“Kissy Sissy,” Milly held her arms out for a hug.

Sarah went over to Milly with a huge smile and gave her a hug and kiss, “Milly, you be a good girl at school today.”

“Me pwincess. Pwincesses always good,” Milly declared.

Sarah chuckled, “Well, Princess Milly. See you after school.”

Milly waved goodbye as Sarah hugged Mom and then headed up the stairs to get her school bag.

“Mommy,” Milly said. “Can I weaw my Pwincess Stacy cwown to school?”

“House, display Sarah until she gets on the School Transport,” Marsha said before turning to Milly. “Now, Princess Milly. Royalty needs to wear regular little girl clothing to school. It wouldn’t be fair to the other little boys and girls if you wore your crown and everyone treated you like royalty. No, you definitely need to be in regular little girl clothes.”

>>School Transportation inquiry. Milly did not ride the school transport to school the last two days. Is she riding the school transport to school today?<<

“House, let them know I will take her to school today.”

Milly looked down at her unicorn pajamas, “Can I go as a unicown?”

“Not today,” Mom said, approaching Milly’s hair. “Only on Pajama Day.”

Milly kept eating her breakfast as Mom did her hair up in two braided pigtails finished off with ribbons and bows.

After cleaning up a strawberry jam covered face, Marsha carried Milly upstairs to her bedroom. They went over to the closet to pick an outfit for the day, “Let’s see. No Princess Crown, but you could wear your dress with Princess Stacy on the chest.”

“Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!”

Marsha placed Milly down on the changing table and started taking her pajamas off.

“Mommy. Da going to pwetend today day don’t know me again?”

“Sorry, Milly,” Marsha hugged Milly. “I forget that this is hard on you too. They met you yesterday, so everyone should know you today.”

“Mommy, why do day pwetend no know me?”

Marsha looked at Milly with a quizzical look, “Don’t you remember Milly?”

“Memba what, Mommy?”

“Do you remember us telling you about Mikey and his wish?”

“Who Mikey?”

“No one important Milly, you’re the important one. Do you remember making a wish on the wishing stone Milly?”

“A wish like that, Lucy giwl who wish for unicown?”

“Yes, Milly. You made a wish just like she did. Do you remember?”

“No, Mommy. Did I wish for mewmaids?”

“No, you didn’t wish for mermaids. You wished to be a little princess. Do you remember the Fairy Godmother telling you that all your wishes were granted?”

“I have a Fairy Godmother?”

Marsha smiled, “Yes, Milly, all Princesses have a Fairy Godmother. Not just Cinderella. You’re my little princess, so you have a Fairy Godmother.”

Marsha finished dressing Milly and sent her over to the toys in the room, “House, please see if Dr. Mire is available regarding something with Milly. Mark as non-emergency.”

>>Dr. Mire will join you when she is done with her current patient. Melissa has been automatically marked as high priority by the Doctor’s Office System.<<

“Not sure that is necessary, but I’m not complaining,” Marsha said as she stood at the changing table, looking over at Milly.

After a few minutes, Dr. Mire appeared, “Hi Mrs. Soffin. Has something changed?”

“She doesn’t even remember the wishing stone saying, ‘All wishes granted’ anymore. What’s going on with my baby?”

Dr. Mire ran a few scans, asked Milly a few questions, and then turned to Mrs. Soffin, “Everything is reading within normal limits. She still has the Wish Particle in her, but it is stable at 5. It has been there for a while now. You’re right. Milly has no recollection of making a wish or even her made-up story of a Fairy Godmother turning her back into a girl. Little kids have funny memories, but she should remember what happened two days ago. As far as she is concerned, two days ago she was at school. No memory of even being up on stage being examined by the medics. Doesn’t even remember Professor Ian and I visiting. To her, this has just been a typical week. She thinks the last time I saw her was when you brought her in for her 4-year-old checkup. She remembers that clearly.”

“The wish magic is erasing her past?”

“I don’t think so,” Dr. Mire said. “I think it is blocking it from her awareness. The scans show sections of memory with no access to the rest of her brain. I suspect at some point in her life she will remember her life as Mikey, but for the moment, the magic is doing everything possible to give her a normal childhood.”

“Why is it still changing her?”

“That I cannot answer,” Dr. Mire said. “There are a lot of unknowns. I talked with Professor Ian yesterday afternoon. His teams have been busy scanning as many of the individuals that had switched biological gender. They had scanned millions of individuals, and none had Wish Particles when they did the scanning. The only place they are still finding wish particles is in Milly and her medical records.”

“Her medical records still have Wish Particles in them?”

“They still did yesterday afternoon. Office, are there still Wish Particles in Milly’s Records?”

>>Yes<<

“So,” Dr. Mire said. “I would guess that means that the transformations aren’t done.”

Marsha looked at Milly as Dr. Mire flipped through the hard copy data from last night.

“That is interesting,” Dr. Mire said. “There was an increase in Wish Particles around 1 am. The level went up to 50 and then back down to 5. I bet that is when she lost connections to her memories of making the wish.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

“I think so,” Dr. Mire said. “The wish magic is working hard to make her okay: physically and psychologically. I bet Sarah will have a greater psychological impact from all of this than Milly.”

“What should I look out for?”

“Kids Sarah’s age tend to show disruptive or regressive behaviors. In this case, disruptive behaviors would be to get attention because she would feel Milly is getting more attention than her. The regressive behaviors would be more due to stress levels. The more stressed she is, the farther she would regress, showing behaviors that she has outgrown. She might play with toys she hasn’t played with for years or watch TV shows she previously stopped watching. She might start having potty accidents or want to be carried.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for anything,” Marsha responded. “What should I do if she shows any of these little kid behaviors?”

“You may not like this answer, but you treat her the way she is acting. Don’t punish her or reprimand her. Just let her be the guide of what she needs. Give her a bit of extra attention in a positive way. Then contact me, and I will set her up with a counselor to talk with about her issues.”

“Thanks, Dr. Mire.”

“Let me know if you have any other concerns and keep me up to date on Sarah.”

“Okay, Sorry to get all worried Mommy, on you.”

Dr. Mire smiled, “That is perfectly normal, Mrs. Soffin. Even with Milly being your third Little Kid. Catch you later.”

Dr. Mire vanished.

Marsha stood there watching Milly play with her Little Ones, Princess Stacy Play Castle. She had Susie and BooBear with her. Princess Stacy was on an adventure, seeking a magical treasure, which was Milly’s Princess hat. Her stuffed dog was guarding the treasure, and BooBear was trying to talk the stuffed doggy into letting Princess Stacy have the treasure.

Gregg walked in and hugged Marsha, “You okay?”

“Just got done talking to Dr. Mire. The magic is still changing her.”

“Getting younger?”

“No, she’s not, but she is getting trapped in her new world. She is losing access to all memories connected to Mikey and making the wish. Doesn’t even remember the day of the wish.”

“Just little girl memories. Wish magic is so cool,” Gregg smiled at Milly’s play.

“You would be impressed with it, Mr. Fantasy World Writer.”

“Actually,” Gregg replied. “Not all of my books were in a fantasy world, only the published ones.”

Marsha looked at Gregg in confusion.

“I’ve written a few other books but never submitted them for publication. They are . . . well, maybe you should read them and judge for yourself. The one I read yesterday brought me to tears.”

“Books that can bring a reader to tears are usually popular, so why haven’t you submitted it for publication?”

“Look, Mommy,” Milly yelled out. “Stacy on top.”

Marsha and Gregg looked at the Princess Stacy figure balanced on the top of the castle.

“Wow, Milly,” Marsha said. “That must have been really hard to get her to balance up there.”

Milly smiled and ran a unicorn into the castle, knocking over the Princess Stacy figure. Giggling, she picked up Stacy and put her on the unicorn.

“She’s happy,” Gregg pointed out. “Maybe that is all we should be worried about. Mikey never got to be the little princess, and we never got to see the Milly side of him. Now, we both get to experience Milly. If we only got to know her from 12 years old and up, we would forever regret missing her little and big girl years. Missing the magic years of childhood would be devastating.”

Marsha kissed Gregg on his cheek, “Just when I think I couldn’t love you anymore, you go and say something like that. I just feel like we lost a child, and he was erased from history.”

“We can get in big trouble if we do this.”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Laren said as he laid down on the roof. “As long as we don’t interview him or disrupt his day, they can’t do anything to us.”

“That is not exactly what the law says, and you know it. That law attempts to protect the Wishee from people like us.”

“All we’re doing is taking a picture of him,” Laren pointed out

“You do know he is now a she?

“Just because he wished to be a girl, that does not make him a girl. He was born a boy and will die a boy. Some magical power giving him the body of a girl is just perverted. Look at him.”

“I thought the Wishing Stone turned him into a 6 or 7-year-old. That kid looks to be three.”

“Oh, big money,” Laren said, zooming in on Marsha lifting Milly out of the car. “That sure looked like a diaper. I’ll have to replay that sequence later to be certain. Someone will pay big for info like that. 12-year-old boy put in a dress and diapers by the wishing stone.”

“Are you sure that’s the Wishee,” Eric asked? “It sure looks like a 3-year-old girl.”

“We followed that transport from the Wishee’s house. They only have two kids, an 8-year-old girl and the Wishee,” Laren stated as he filmed Marsha taking Milly into the school. “That kid who got on the school transport this morning had to be the Wishee’s sister, since this kid is definitely not eight. This is the Wishee.”

“And what exactly do you want with the Wishee?”

Lauren and Eric instantly turned around at that question, only to see three military soldiers standing on the roof and several more in a military transport behind them.

“Put the camera down and put your hands up,” one of the soldiers said. “You are under arrest for violation of the Wishee Child Protection Clause of the Wish Accords.”

“Told you this was illegal,” Eric said.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Hi Teacha,” Milly said as she pranced into the classroom.

“Morning, Milly,” Miss Kepper said, walking up to Milly and Marsha.

>>The Building is now in security level 1, ordered by an outside agency. The Building is Secure, level 1.<<

The windows went opaque, and a green glow appeared all around them. Miss Kepper and Marsha looked at each other while Milly went to hang up her backpack.

“That’s strange,” Miss Kepper said. “I’ve never heard that before.”

“Don’t you run security drills with the kids?” Marsha asked. “Is this a drill?”

“We run drills, but,” Miss Kepper looked around the room, counting all the children and assuring the windows were in a lockdown setting. “I’ve never heard of an outside agency securing the building. It is usually the Police or Fire Department.”

“What does Level 1 mean,” Marsha asked?

“It means the building is in lockdown, but all things inside the building can continue as usual.”

“Are the kids safe,” Marsha asked, looking around at the kids playing.

“The green light around the windows means the security force fields are in place. The windows have changed to opaque so no one can see in. Yeah, the kids are very safe,” Miss Kepper said, looking around the room.

“You’re focused on the kids. I’ll let you get to them,” Marsha said as she turned to leave.

“Have a good day Mrs. Soffin,” Miss Kepper said as she turned to look over the room.

Marsha made her way to the office, only pausing for a moment as she looked at the front door windows all opaque and the green glow around the whole door.

The secretary entered the office right behind Marsha, “I will be right with you. I just need to do one more thing connected with securing the building.”

Mrs. Oster came out of her office and looked at the secretary’s desk display, “Looks like the School Unit says the building is secure. Were all the door’s security force fields up?”

“Yes, and all teachers have reported in that the windows in their classrooms are all opaque with security screens activated.”

Mrs. Oster noticed Marsha standing there, “Mrs. Soffin, I think you should come into my office. I have to make a Com, but maybe you should be there when I make it.”

Marsha followed Mrs. Oster into her office.

“School, Com-Link the Superintendent. Send ID as School Emergency Alert,” Mrs. Oster said, gesturing for Marsha to sit down at the conference table.

Superintendent Gould appeared around the conference table, “State the nature of the emergency.”

“An outside agency put our school onto Security Lockdown Level 1. The building is secure,” Mrs. Oster replied. “I immediately received a Com-Link from World Leader Evan’s Protection Squad. They arrested two individuals on a building rooftop across the street. The individuals were violating the Wishee Child Protection Clause of the Wish Accords. I was told more information would be given soon.”

Superintendent Gould looked at Principal Oster and then at Marsha, “If you are there, were you dropping Milly off at school?”

“Yes,” Marsha said.

“Were you or Milly injured?”

“No, we didn’t even know anything about this until the School Unit announced that it was securing the building.”

“You have another child,” Superintendent Gould said. “What school do they go to?”

Marsha’s eyes went wide, “Sarah goes to Diamond Lake Elementary.”

“Office, set security level 1 at Diamond Lake Elementary. Com-Link the Elementary Principal into this conversation.”

>>Security Level 1 set at Diamond Lake Elementary.<<

“Hello,” Principal Janson said as she appeared and looked around at the table.

“Office,” Superintendent Gould said. “I want parallel security settings for Diamond Lake Elementary and Diamond Lake Early Learning Center until I deactivate the command. Once a security alert is triggered, only me or the Assistant Superintendent can deactivate it.”

>>Security between the two buildings is now in parallel. Deactivation of security alerts is limited to the Superintendent or the Assistant Superintendent.<<

“Okay,” Superintendent Gould said. “Principal Janson, there has been an arrest of two individuals connected with a violation of the Wishee Child Protection Clause. World Leader Evans’ Protection Squad put Diamond Lake Early Learning center on security lockdown. I have decided to link your two buildings' security settings since the Wishee’s sister goes to your school.”

Principal Janson nodded in agreement.

“I want to make it clear to all three of you,” Superintendent Gould stated. “The security of the children is more important than the education. I will always provide more security than recommended. I was hoping we wouldn’t run into any problems, but I did prepare for this. Office, initiate Wish Protocol 1 at the two buildings when the current security settings are deactivated.”

The two principals looked at each other and then at the Superintendent.

“The full details of what I have just done has been sent to you three and the Police Department.”

>>Incoming Com-Link from World Leader Evans Protection Squad.<< Diamond Lake Early Learning Center School Unit stated.

“Accept Com-Link, and bring into currently active Com-Link,” Principal Oster said.

“Mrs. Oster,” An officer said before looking around at everyone at the table.

“Officer, I am Superintendent Gould. This is Principal Janson from the local Elementary School where the Wishee’s sister attends, and I assume you know Mrs. Soffin, the Wishee’s mother. Please continue.”

“Greetings all. I am Lieutenant Stiles. I am in charge of the Protection Squad attached to the Wishee.”

“What do you mean Protection Squad attached to Milly,” Marsha asked?

“Mam,” Lieutenant Stiles answered. “World Leader Evans assigned my team to protect your child as soon as he learned that the Wishee was a child. We have tried hard to avoid disrupting your family while still providing the protection ordered by World Leader Evans. Today we arrested two individuals that were following and recording the Wishee. They are part of a radical fringe anti-transgender group that has become very active since the wish. When we identified them breaching the 2 Kilometer bubble around the Wishee, my team scanned them and determined they had no weapons. Not knowing their intentions, I decided to observe from a distance as long as they didn’t get too close. As soon as we had proof they were breaking the Wishee Child Protection Clause, we moved in and took them into custody. I apologize for disrupting your day. They were transmitting the recordings to an unknown location. Until we could track down all who received that recording, I felt it would be best to have extra protection on the Wishee. Fortunately, schools are very good at protecting children without disrupting their days too much.”

“Lieutenant,” Superintendent Gould said. “Thank You. Security of the students is of top priority.”

“We tracked the recording to memory banks at the home of one of the individuals we arrested. Since no one else had seen the recording, we rescind the security alert.”

“What is the threat analysis,” Superintendent Gould asked?

“Several anti-transgender organizations and groups are protesting and objecting to the changes the Wishee caused. We are not tracking any direct threats to the Wishee at this time. We feel you can go back to operations as usual. We will be widening our protection squad to include the Wishee’s sister. The two we picked up today were unsure which was the Wishee: Milly or Sarah. They knew the Wishing Stone had transformed the Wishee into a child around Sarah’s age.”

“Thank You, I think,” Marsha said. “I am still not sure what to think about my children having protection squads assigned to them.”

“Hopefully, they will never know, mam,” Lieutenant Stiles said.

“Do I need to coordinate with you whenever we go somewhere,” Marsha asked?

“No, Mam. Unless there is a credible direct threat to any of you, we want you to go throughout your day as usual.”

“If we are doing our job right, you will never see us.”

After getting several more reassurances that Milly and Sarah would be okay, Lieutenant Stiles and Marsha left.

“Okay,” Superintendent Gould said, turning to the two principals. “Time to talk school security for all children. The new school security settings have all windows on permanent security lock. All outside sensors will scan everyone who enters the grounds, including the parking lot, for weapons. If any are detected, the School Unit will automatically put the building on lockdown and notify the police. I will send out a notice today to all parents letting them know the new security settings will lock down the building if a weapon is detected on school grounds. We may get a few false alarms, but I would rather get them than miss a real threat.”

“Why are you setting all the windows in the school to sun deflection all the time,” Mrs. Oster asked, looking over the security details the Superintendent sent?

“Ah, our multi-function windows,” Superintendent Gould answered. “In sun deflection setting, they are darkened, but more importantly, they will allow the kids to look out without allowing others to look in. It will make the rooms a bit darker, but everyone will adjust to that quickly.”

“House, who is my agent,” Gregg asked?

>>Dee Farstone<<

“House, Com-link Dee.”

“Cleary Writing Agency,” a man answered the Com-Link. “How may I help you?”

“Hello,” Gregg said. “Dee Farstone is my agent. Is she available?”

The receptionist looked at the Com-Link ID and checked his list of clients, “Please hold on Mr. Soffin, and I will see if she is available.”

Gregg nodded as the receptionist's holo-image vanished, and a display of books the agency represented was displayed. Gregg scrolled through the books as he waited.

“Greetings, Mr. Soffin,” a lady said as she appeared. “The receptionist said you were a client of our agency and you asked for me. I’m not sure why you want to talk to me instead of your agent, but how may I help you?”

Gregg smiled and took a deep breath, “Ms. Farstone, my name is Gregg Soffin. You actually are my agent, and I am a major author throughout the Galaxy. You just don’t have any knowledge of this. Don’t worry, I don’t have any memory of working with you either.”

Dee started to respond but stopped when she saw Gregg hold up a finger, asking her to wait a minute.

“I know this may sound unbelievable, but my son, now my daughter, made a wish on the Wishing Stone, changing his/her life and mine. We are dealing with Wishing Stone magic changes, so I ask for a little patience as we both figure out the changes. I was contacted by Amz Publishing House last night about my next book's release, which I apparently delivered to them last month. My bank account shows the deposit of Five-Hundred-Thousand Zeeboes as an advance once they got the draft. I am sure your bank account will show your cut of that transaction. Now, that all being said, records and reality are two different things. You and I have no memory of working together. We need to build up our relationship. I spent yesterday learning about my changed life. I would like you to spend some time today learning about the changes on your end, then the two of us can talk tomorrow.”

“Mr. Soffin,” Dee smiled. “I can see here that my records do say you are my client. A quick scan shows that you are a popular author. But I have never heard of you before. Thank you for giving me some time to figure things out. If you are about to have another book released, I better be on top of things quickly.”

“Ms. Farstone, as I see things. We have a big problem with the release of that book. Records may show that I am a popular author, and the pre-sales of the book are high. Unfortunately, no one has ever heard of me. No one has ever read any of my books. Pre-Sales are going to fall off a cliff because of this. There needs to be a huge publicity campaign to introduce me and my books to the galaxy. I don’t think the publisher has figured this out yet, or if they have, they didn’t bring it up when talking to me last night.”

“Oh, my,” Dee said as she pulled up pre-sales data. “You are right. There have been no pre-sales of the book since the wish was made. Okay, I have some work to do. Are you prepared to go on a Galaxy Wide book tour?”

“Not exactly,” Gregg said. “I am the father of two little girls, eight and four. I need to stay local to something I could do while the girls are in school. My parents are coming from Neptune to see their new granddaughter and will be here in about a week. Until then, let’s not book anything any farther away than Saturn. I can get there, do an event, and get back before the kids come home from school. I need to be here when they get home. My wife’s job doesn’t allow for her to leave early at the moment.”

“Okay,” Dee said. “I can work with that. Anything during the week is allowed as long as you are home when the kids get back from school, but weekends are open.”

“Wait,” Gregg said. “I didn’t say that. But . . . Yeah, I guess. Go with that. Marsha will understand.”

“Can I book you on early shows? Can your wife get the kids off to school?”

“We can make that work. She usually doesn’t leave for work until after they leave anyways.”

“Okay, let me learn all about you, your books, and our signed agreement. I will get back to you tomorrow morning. It has been nice meeting you Gregg. I look forward to working with you.”

“Nice meeting you Ms. Farstone. See you tomorrow.”

As Dee Farstone faded away, Gregg walked over to the window, looking out at the view, “House, start a new book. Let’s put a temporary title on it of . . . Life Upside Down. Chapter One, Allen looked around the room wondering where he was. . .”

“I put the baby to bed last night,” Sarah said as she climbed the astro wall. “It was so cute. She came running to me to save her from Mom trying to put her to bed.”

“That’s so cool,” Zara said.

“She fell asleep as I told her a story.”

“Awwwwwwwww.”

Sarah smiled as she reached the top, “She wouldn’t let me leave for school this morning without giving me a hug and kiss.”

“You are so lucky,” Zara said as she caught up with Sarah. “Can we have a playdate so I can see this baby sister of yours?”

Sarah wiggled her loose tooth with her tongue before answering, “I’ll ask Dad. Maybe tomorrow after school.”

“I’m sure my Mom will be okay with it,” Zara said as she headed for the twisty slide. “Race you to the climbing web.”

Sarah sees Zara with a lead and turns to go the opposite direction. She grabs the fireman pole and slides down to the ground just as Zara started down the slide.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Zara screams out as she went down the twisty slide.

Sarah laughed as she raced off to the Climbing Web. As Zara came running up to the Web, Sarah said, “What took ya?”

Zara stuck her tongue out and then started climbing, “Beat you to the top.”

When the two were at the top, they sat there looking out over the playground.

“Does someone have to feed her,” Zara asked?

“Nah, she can feed herself, but she uses her hands a lot. Mom did load two loads onto the fork at the end and fed her after she said she was done, but she can feed herself. There are some bibs in the kitchen, but she hasn’t worn one yet. Dad says she will only wear a bib for messy foods.”

“Mom threatens to put a bib on me when we eat spaghetti, but she never does,” Zara said. “That would be soooooo embarrassing.”

“Parents can be so strange at times,” Sarah complained. “They just don’t understand how hard it is to be a kid.”

“Definitely!”

The two of them sat there for a while, watching the other kids play. All the time, Sarah was playing with her loose tooth.

“That was a strange emergency drill they had this morning,” Zara commented. “Then when it was done, the windows didn’t go back to normal.”

“And look over there at the playground fence. It still has the green lights on them. Doesn’t that mean they are still set for Lock-Down mode,” Sarah asked?

“That’s strange,” Zara looked around the playground at the fence. “It looks like we are still on Lock-Down.”

“But we’re not allowed to come outside and play on the playground during a Lock-Down.”

“Yeah, strange,” Zara said. “Must be a glitch in the system, and they couldn’t turn some of the security settings off.”

“Maybe,” Sarah pondered. “Or there is some danger they are not telling us about.”

“Oh, stop being a worry wort,” Zara brushed Sarah’s idea away. “They wouldn’t let us out here if there was any danger. Look below us. They won’t even let us climb up here without turning on the Safety Ground, just in case we fall. I wouldn’t get hurt if I fell on that, but someone would come running and checking me all over if I fell. We’re not babies, but they treat us that way.”

“Goo-Goo Gaa-Gaa,” Sarah said before the two girls broke out in a fit of giggles.

“World Leader Evans,” Lucy said, coming into his office. “There was an incident over in Diamond Lake, Weetoon Province. Two individuals were arrested in violation of the Wish Protocols Child Clause.”

“What? Is the kid okay? Was anyone hurt?”

“Everyone is fine. It was just some radical anti-transgender fanatics taking pictures of the Wishee. There was no direct interaction with the Wishee or her family. The family does now know, however, that there is a Protection Squad assigned to the Wishee. The Squad leader has expanded protection to include the older sister since the two arrested were not positive which kid was the Wishee.”

“Smart move,” World Leader Evans said. “Give him whatever troops and resources he needs. I will not have the first child Wishee, or her sister, get hurt on my watch. Get a press release ready with all the pertinent information and call a press conference for me to explain this all to the press. I need it to stress the significance of this violation to the Child Clause of the Wish Protocols. We need to scare people away from even getting close to that kid. Get one or two displays that point out the Child Clause's key features requiring people to leave the kid alone. I want the Justice Department there with me, explaining the consequences if the Child Clause is violated.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Put a clampdown on any news releases on this incident until I talk to the press. They’re going to gripe and complain, so we better pull this all off quickly. Within the next hour if possible. I want a Com-Link in the next fifteen minutes with the Protection Squad leader and whoever the Justice Department will put on this issue. After that Com-Link, I want one with the Wishee’s parents before I talk to the press.”

“Yes, Sir. Anything else?”

“No, except for clearing my schedule until after the Press Conference.”