Link: The Wisher's Paradox Title Page and Description

---

Staring into Kathy's eyes, Christina knew her best friend had listened in on the conversation with her mother. "You... you remember Christina? Kathy! I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I didn't think you'd believe me!"

Looking the girl up and down, Kathy could see nothing of the boy she'd called her best friend since before she could remember. The girl before her was pretty, way too pretty and small to be Walt, but somehow she knew things only Walt could know. A memory even she forgot. "I'm not sure I do yet. This had better be unbelievably good!"

Christina took a moment to collect her thoughts. "Um... well, do you believe in angels?"

Thinking a moment, she looked at the girl who stood six inches shorter than she did that used to stand three inches taller. "Um... you mean like with white robes, wings, and halos?"

With a nod, Christina tried to explain. "Yeah, but they don't have to look like that. Lisbeth just looked like a beautiful woman. She's the Angel of Lost Souls. She came to me last night and offered to grant me my wish."

"Why you?" Kathy almost spat. "And how did your wish end up making you into a girl? Admittedly you're a pretty girl, but..." Seeing her best friend blush at the compliment, she paused a moment. "Is it like one of those 'be careful what you wish for' things? I mean, did she like, trick you?"

"No." Christina admitted. "I... this is exactly what I wished for. I just didn't count on the side effects, like being a weakling midget and my own parents and friends not knowing who I was!"

Her familiar humor made Kathy giggle. Stopping after a moment, she looked deeply in Christina's eyes, as if searching for something. Finally her serious mien slowly grew into a gentle smile and Kathy's eyes lit up. "I... I can see you! In your eyes! They're the wrong color, but it... it's still the same! It's... you! You're really Walt!"

Tilting her head curiously at her, Christina knotted her brows. "How can you tell that? My own mother couldn't see it!"

Blushing and turning to start walking toward her parents' house again, Kathy answered, "I... I guess she never spent as long as me looking at your eyes."

Stopping their progress, Christina looked at her with wonder. "K... Kathy? Do... um... did you like me as Walt? I mean like-like me?"

Shaking her head slowly, Kathy resumed walking. "No. I... I loved Walt. Didn't you know?"

Suddenly feeling sick to her stomach, Christina sat on the curb a moment. When Kathy sat next to her, she noticed the smaller girl had started crying.

"Oh, Christina! Don't be sad! I... I'm sad enough for the both of us!" After a moment, she took Christina's hand. "Can... can I ask you something?" Seeing the girl nod and sniff back tears, she pressed forward. "Um... why'd you wanna be a girl? Is this about me calling you Christina when we were little?"

Shrugging, Christina tried to explain, but ended up asking, "I... I thought you forgot about Christina? When we started Kindergarten, you acted like you didn't know who she was!"

Kathy looked away, embarrassedly. "I... I didn't... until I heard you talking to your mom... and then it just sort of... clicked... and I remembered it." Turning back to her, her tone turned harsh. "Besides, you're the one that started insisting you were a boy all the time!"

"I... I thought I had to." she admitted. "Walt could never be seen as a girl!"

Putting her arm around her best friend, Kathy tried to console her. "It's alright. I... I think I understand. When you were Walt, you were pretty much a girl still, but you couldn't really ever look like one." Hesitating a moment, she asked a new question. "So... um... does this mean you like... boys?"

Going quickly from crying to laughing, she shook her head and giggled. "No! Being a girl is just what I've wanted since I was three! Lisbeth told me that becoming a girl wouldn't change who I am or who I would like, but I... I thought it would be like in a fairytale... like suddenly, whoosh! I'd be a girl and everyone would know that I was always a girl and I'd live happily ever after!" Getting up, she resumed walking toward Kathy's house. "What I didn't count on was that I would become a girl, but everything else would stay as it was. I also didn't know that you were falling for me as Walt. I'm sorry!"

"Yeah! This totally sounds like one of those 'be careful what you with for' things, like that old cartoon, The Flying Mouse. You shoulda got three wishes so you could use your second wish for everyone to know you as a girl, and then use the third wish to... um... maybe be to be rich... or something."

Noticing she'd cut herself off and switched mid-sentence, Christina looked over at her earnestly. "Kathy? Secret shake!"

This was something sacred between the two girls. Whenever one of them called for the secret shake, it meant that there could be no secrets between them. Gripping each other's fingers in a crisscross, the two went through an elaborate range of hand and finger motions until their hands were on the other person's heart.

"I promise..." Christina began and Kathy picked up, still amazed that this girl knew her and Walt's secret shake, "...that I will have no secrets from my best friend." they finished together.

"What do you think my third wish should have been, Kath?"

Embarrassed, the girl wanted to run and hide, but the oath had been sworn. "Um... your third wish could have been for me to be a boy so we could still... um..."

Stunned, Christina resumed their slow walk. "Do... do you want to be a boy, Kath?"

With a shrug, she looked away. "No, but... um... it'd be worth it so that..."

Now sadder than ever as the two turned up Kathy's walkway, the new girl shook her head. "It was a stupid wish! I wish I could take it back!"

"Can you?" Kathy asked hopefully. "Like a money-back guarantee?"

"Nope." Christina admitted. "Lisbeth warned me there was no going back."

"Oh."

Coming up to her door, she turned to Kathy. "Could... could I come in with you Kath? I... I don't really have anywhere else to go... Oh! and the cops are after me!"

Kathy's eyes widened. "The cops? How did that happen?"

"It's a long story."

Nodding, Kathy took Christina's hand. "Sure. I'd do anything to help... um... a friend."

Christina could see the sadness wrapping around Kathy like a blanket. She never knew how much Kathy liked her, and was only just then beginning to suspect that was the reason Kathy had started dressing more provocatively around her. And I had to go and ruin it for her!

Entering Kathy's home, one Christina had been in almost as often as her own, she found it both familiar and yet alien, like the building had grown overnight.

"Come on." Kathy led her towards the kitchen. "Mom won't be home until four. You hungry?"

"Starved!" she admitted. "I never got breakfast before... um... well, I guess I should start at the beginning."

While Kathy made them sandwiches, Christina told her about her dream, waking up and her parents' reaction to her, being taken to the hospital, and her 'daring escape'. As soon as she finished, Kathy sat next to her and slid the small plate over to her.

"Wow!" Kathy managed as Christina tore into her sandwich. "I can't believe your own parents didn't know you! I mean, now that I remember it all, you were Christina for like a year!" Seeing that the girl wasn't listening but just focused on inhaling her food, Kathy slapped her shoulder lightly. "Hey! Slow down or you're gonna choke! You act like you've never eaten before!"

Pausing to chew and swallow, Christina considered that. "Well... I guess in a way I never have. Walt ate dinner last night. I don't know what Lisbeth actually did to me. I think this is a whole new body. If so, it's never eaten anything before!" Looking at the sandwich, she shook her head. "Has peanut butter always tasted this good?"

Tilting her head, Kathy had to think a moment. "No... you actually didn't used to think so! Remember? You used to trade them with me for my bologna sandwiches until you told your mom you didn't really like it and she stopped making them for you? It's been a few years since then, though. I guess you forgot."

Thinking back several years, she recalled the time. "Oh yeah!" Turning to her hostess, she furrowed her brow and asked, "So why'd you make me one?" before taking another huge bite.

Kathy giggled and shrugged. "I don't know! I forgot! So did you!"

"Well, I like 'em now!" Christina pointed out. "They taste totally different!" Once she finished the sandwich and a glass of milk, she turned to Kathy. "I can kind of understand why my parents didn't know me." she admitted. "I... um... I never told them about Christina... not even when I was little."

Getting up and heading for her room with her guest following, Kathy shook her head. "Why not?"

As Kathy sat on her bed, Christina sat at her friend's desk. "Well, at first it was just between us. You just treated me like another girl, then one day you told me that Walt wasn't a good name for a girl and started calling me Christina, but only you ever did that. When I went home I was Walt again. I was close to asking Mother and Daddy if I could change my name when they started getting worried about me being girly. By then I knew I could never look like a girl, so I just told them I was a boy... which was true. I was a boy... on the outside, anyway."

Nodding in understanding, Kathy looked off into the distance. "Oh. I... I guess I remember that. Not really, though. It's kinda vague. I remember I was a sad when you started saying you were a boy, so I stopped calling you Christina... then I just sorta forgot after a while." Tilting her head slightly, she chuckled a little. "Huh! It's funny, though. Even after I started calling you Walt, you were still my best friend, even though you were a boy."

"Well..." Christina pointed out, "I didn't change how I acted. I just stopped calling myself a girl and you stopped calling me Christina. Nothing else changed. I could still beat you at jump rope!"

"That wasn't fair!" Kathy pointed out with a giggle. "You were stronger and had more endurance than me! Stupid testosterone, anyway!"

"Well, you don't need to worry about that now." Christina looked at her thin arms and down at her tiny stature. "I doubt I'm going to be beating anyone at anything athletic anymore." Pausing a moment, she started to giggle. "Besides, I don't think my football uniform will fit anymore!"

Laughing together a moment, Kathy grinned at her. "Well, you could always join me on the cheer squad!"

"Are you kidding?" the new girl asked incredulously. "I've seen you guys working out! No way is this body going to keep up with that! Besides, the skirts are way too short!"

Her smile disappearing quickly, Kathy looked hurt. "Is... is that what you think of me, Christina? Is that what Walt thought? Is that why you made those jokes about my outfit yesterday?"

Looking away ashamedly, Christina felt her tears welling up again. "I... I'm sorry I said those things, Kathy. I... I was... um..."

Seeing her struggle to get it out, Kathy got up and stood in front of her. "You were what, Christina? What?"

"Jealous!" she blurted out after a moment. "I was jealous of you, OK? You're so pretty... and popular, and graceful, and... and... you were free to wear whatever you wanted! If you felt like it, you could come to school in gear you bought from the boy's department and no one would say anything except, 'I guess she's feeling grungy today.' right?" As she vented years of frustration, Christina began to cry. "Meanwhile I was huge, lumbering, my only friends were you, Lindsey, Beth, and a few other girls, and... and... and I could only ever wear frumpy boy clothes! I could never wear an outfit like that! I wasn't allowed to!"

Seeing her best friend reduced to tears of frustration, she wanted to console her. Rubbing Christina's back gently, she knotted her brow. "I'm sorry, Christina! You're right! It is unfair that you can't ever be pretty when..." Stopping mid-thought, she smiled. "Hey! What are we talking about! You're gorgeous now! And a girl who can wear whatever she likes, now!"

Sniffing back the tears, Christina shrugged. "Not that it matters. I'm homeless and penniless! I don't even know where I'm going to eat dinner or sleep tonight! So yea! I'm free now to wear girl or boy's donation clothes!" As she finished, she picked at the top she wore.

Finally looking over her outfit, her eyes widened. "Oh! I didn't even think about your clothes! Did... did you get them from a donation bin?"

Nodding sadly, Christina looked at the floor. "I... I stole them from one! Now I not only am a nobody, I'm a thief and a sinner!"

"Hold it right there!" Kathy snapped. "Christina! Those clothes were donated to the less fortunate, right? Can you think of anyone less fortunate than you right now? Are the people that get those donations stealing them, too?"

With a shrug, her friend looked away. "I... I guess you're right. OK, so I have just as much right to them as anyone. Still, as of right now, this is my entire wardrobe, Kathy! It's not exactly high fashion! Plus those cops at the hospital are probably still looking for me. Eventually they'll find my old PJs behind the donation bin. Officer Martinez isn't exactly Sherlock Holmes, but he's not stupid!"

"Wait! You were taken to the hospital in pajamas?"

"Worse. I was taken there in Walt's pajamas!" Christina pointed out. "When I woke up, I was still wearing the same PJs I went to bed in, but they were the size I used to be while I shrank. I had to hold up the bottoms! When I snuck out, I was lucky enough to find this open donation bin, so I snagged what I could find that would fit and stashed my old PJs behind it. When they find them, they'll know I'm in the city."

"Phoenix is a pretty big place to get lost in, Christina." Kathy pointed out. "There's like over a million people here!" Really looking at her friend, Kathy puzzled over something. "Um... so, did the angel pick how you'd look?"

"No." she answered half-heartedly. She was still very unsure of her chances of avoiding the police once she left to find a place to sleep. "This is always how I imagined myself as a girl."

"Really?" Kathy was surprised. "A blonde?"

"Just like my... um... like Mother." she explained sadly.

Realizing she'd missed something Christina had mentioned earlier, Kathy looked earnestly at her. "Um... Christina? Why did you say I was pretty earlier?"

Rolling her eyes at Kathy, she smirked. "Please! You know that you're gorgeous, Kathy! Tom Bates has only asked you out like a zillion times!"

Embarrassed, Kathy looked away. "Oh. I thought..."

Seeing that Kathy had been hoping she liked her the way Kathy liked Walt, Christina blushed. "Oh! Um... well, it... it's sorta weird with you. You're like, really pretty, but you're my best friend. Before you told me that you... um... you loved Walt, I didn't even think about you that way."

Turning to look at Christina, Kathy had to know. "And now that you know?"

"Now I feel awful!" she admitted. "It's like I took him away from you! It's so not fair! I didn't even think how my wish might affect everyone else! You, my parents, everyone! It's like I killed him and took his place, and he's me, but I'm not him! I want to fix it, but I can't! I'm stuck!"

"Are you happy, though?" Kathy asked hopefully.

"Not really. I mean, I'm happy that I'm finally a girl, but the cost was way too high! I wish I could take it back! I just want to go to sleep so I can wake up and find out it was all just a big nightmare!"

"Speaking of sleep..." Kathy segued, "Got any idea where you're gonna do that tonight?"

"No!" the smaller girl snapped. "I don't know what I'm doing for dinner either... or what I'm gonna do tomorrow, or the next day..."

"Aren't you gonna come back to school?" Kathy inquired.

"I can't exactly go to school and tell everyone I'm Walt!" she pointed out. "Christina Cocoran isn't even enrolled at our elementary school, and she can't even get enrolled because she doesn't have a birth certificate, shot record, or more importantly, parents that can enroll her! On top of that, I only have this one outfit! I'm doomed because my parents don't know me."

"Well, I think I can solve the clothes problem." Kathy opined. "Mom still has a lot of the outfits I outgrew last year in a box in the storage shed. You can have your pick of 'em. As for where you can have dinner and sleep, you can stay here tonight... if you like." Even as she offered it, her cheeks flushed at the idea that she might share a room with the person she'd been slowly falling in love with for the last several years.

"I can't, though!" Christina exclaimed. "I mean, if you ask your parents if I can stay, they're going to want to call my parents and find out if it's OK, right? I can't exactly give them my parents' phone numbers! They've disowned me, effectively! I don't even have a last name I can give them!"

"What was your mom's maiden name?"

Thinking for a moment, she tried to remember her maternal grandparents' last name. She hadn't seen them in so long, it was difficult. "Um... I think it was Robbins. Yeah! That's it! Grandpa and Grandma Robbins! I haven't seen either of them in like six years. They live back east where Mother grew up. Boston, I think."

"So why not Christina Robbins? Do you have a girl middle name?"

"Yeah." Christina grumbled. "Joy, ironically."

"So, now you're Christina Joy Robbins! As for getting my parents' to give their permission for you to stay, I have an idea. There's a website where you can text cell phones. I can just use that, text them like I'm your mom and say that you asked to stay at my house since 'she' has to work late tonight and 'she' just wanted to text and find out if they're OK with it... or something."

Thinking about the idea, Christina shrugged. "OK. I guess it might work. It means doing an awful lot of lying, though. I don't like that. I'm supposed to be the best girl I can be, and lying isn't exactly a good way to start my new life off with!"

"What other choice is there, Christina?" Kathy asked as she moved closer. "I mean, it's either that or you sleep on the street tonight! Do you know the kind of things that happen to a girl living on the streets of a big city? You aren't Walt anymore! You wouldn't last five minutes!"

Seeing no other options, Christina sagged her shoulders and nodded. "OK."

With a cheerful grin, Kathy set to work on her plan. When the website asked her to confirm that she was thirteen years of age or older, she just checked the box and moved on. Setting up a free account with the name Marie Robbins, she spent a few minutes composing a text to send to her mother. When she was sure it was perfect, she hit send and waited.

She didn't have to wait more than a minute before the site pinged that there was a reply. Reading it, she looked up at Christina and grinned. "We're in!"

Reading the brief text exchange with Kathy's mom, Christina felt a lump raise in her throat. "I don't know, Kathy! I have a bad feeling about this! Why did you tell her that my mom was going out of town for three days? I know your mom said it was fine, but I can't go to school with you! What do I do when I'm supposed to be gone all day?"

Shaking her head, Kathy rolled her eyes in disbelief at how innocent her best friend could be sometimes. "Look! We'll get ready for school, you'll leave with me, I'll give you my house key, then when we get close to school you head back here and go through my old clothes until I get home! Mom leaves for work about fifteen minutes after I leave, so by the time you get back here she'll be gone!"

"Yeah? Isn't it going to be a little odd that I won't have a change of clothes?" Christina pointed out. "I mean, if my mother sent me here, she would have at least packed me a few days of outfits, right? Not to mention a nightgown or two. Underwear? A toothbrush? I don't have any of that, and I can't use your old clothes because your mom would recognize them! It won't work!"

Kathy bit her lower lip. "Oh yeah. I hadn't thought of that." Looking at the texts that she'd exchanged with her mother, she tried to think of any way to solve these new issues, but couldn't. "I guess I'll have to text her and tell her that your 'mom' made other arrangements... like staying with your uncle or something." Typing out the reply, she glumly sent it and put her phone away. "So... what're you gonna do then?"

Thinking hard, Christina shook her head slowly. "I don't know."

Meanwhile, four blocks away, David and Ruth Cocoran sat at their kitchen table staring at their phones, hoping and praying that they would get some word from the police that their son had been found and was OK.

The day had been an absolute nightmare. Both calling off work, they had spent all day driving around to the places where they thought Christina might be. When Ruth had received the call from Kathy's cell phone, it only reinforced with the two of them that 'Walt' was doing this to them for some reason. Now they were just waiting to hear back from the police to find out what they learned from Kathy.

The knock on the door caused both girls to jump in fright. Looking at her friend, Kathy's eyes went wide. "Who could that be? Mom's not supposed to be here for another half hour, and she wouldn't knock!"

In a near panic, Christina stood up and grabbed Kathy's shoulders "Please! You have to hide me!"

Hearing another louder knock, Kathy looked toward the door and then back at Christina. "OK! Calm down!" Thinking fast, she looked around her room before her eyes settled on her dresser. Looking Christina up and down, she pulled her over to the white oak piece of furniture, opened the bottom drawer, moved her sweaters underneath her bed, and stood back. "Climb in! Quick!"

Hesitating only a moment, she got down on all fours and slowly shifted her weight into the tiny space. Curling up in a ball, she lay down until she was all the way in.

Kathy sat down and pushed with her legs against the drawer, using her bed as a brace against her back. The drawer groaned, but soon was closed. Getting up, she ran to the front door just as someone knocked very loudly and she heard a voice from the other side of the door.

"Police!" the man's voice yelled. "Open up!"

Pausing in fear, Kathy calmed herself before opening the small door in the large oak door. "Yes? Can I help you?" she asked politely.

Raul Martinez looked at the little opening, but couldn't see anything inside. "I'm Officer Martinez. This is my partner, Officer Johnson. Are you Kathy Grant?"

"Yes." she answered simply.

"May we come in, Miss Grant?"

"My mother's not home, officer." Kathy stated honestly. "I'm not supposed to open the door to anyone! You might be faking being police officers!"

Irritated, Officer Martinez held his emotions in check. "Look, we're searching for a missing boy! Walter Cocoran! His parents received a call from your cell phone a short time ago. It was someone who obviously had Walter with her. Was that you, Miss Grant?"

Thinking quickly, she pulled out her phone and shut it off, knowing the officers couldn't see her. "No. I lost my phone sometime today. Somebody must have taken it."

Pulling out his own phone, he dialed the number he was given for Kathy's cell and heard as it went directly to voicemail. "Damn!" He'd hoped that on hearing the phone ringing from the other side of the door he could catch the girl in a lie. "Look, we need to ask you a few questions about Walter. May we come in?"

"Not unless you got a warrant!" Kathy shot back. "Even then, you'd have to wait for my mom to get home! I'm not opening this door for anyone! If you try and break in, I'll call the cops!"

"I thought you didn't have your phone?" he tried again to trick her.

"I can use the house phone, stupid!" she fired back. "My parents still have one! I'm calling the cops!" Running to the old landline phone, Kathy dumped her cell into the drawer of the table it sat on and picked up the receiver. Dialing the emergency number, she only had to wait a moment before a voice came on the line.

"Nine-one-one. What's your emergency?" the woman's calm voice asked.

"My name's Kathy Grant. There are two men on my porch claiming to be police officers and they want me to let them in, but my mom's not home!"

"OK. You did the right thing, Kathy. Don't let them in." Getting the girl's address, the woman reached out to the police department to advise them and find out if they were actually police or if a unit needed to be dispatched there quickly.

"I'm on the phone with the police!" Kathy shouted. "You better get outta here!"

"Kathy?" the woman called out to her.

"Yes ma'am?"

"OK. I contacted the police and they verified that Officers Martinez and Johnson were in fact last reported heading to your house. Is that who they said they were?"

"Yes ma'am."

"OK. Make them show you their ID, and if it is them then it's alright. OK?"

"Am I gonna get in trouble for calling since it's legit?"

With a smile the girl could hear in her voice, the woman shook her head. "No, sweetie! You won't! You did the right thing, OK? Go check their ID and if it's OK then tell me and I'll hang up."

Putting the phone down, she walked back to the door. "Show me your ID. Hold it up to the little window!"

Frustrated by having to jump through hoops just to talk to the girl, he pulled out his department ID and held it up. "There! See?"

When the other officer did the same, Kathy ran back to the phone. "It's OK! Thanks!"

"I'm glad it was really the police, Kathy!" she replied. "Don't hesitate to call if you need us! Goodbye!"

Hanging up, she slowly walked back to the door and unlocked it. Opening up only just enough to let them see her, she sighed. "Sorry, officer. I was just doing what my parents told me to do."

Calming down, Raul smiled and turned on his charm. "That's OK, Kathy! You did good! Can we come in?"

"No." she denied them. "I'll come out, though." Slipping out the door and closing it behind her, she turned to them. "So... what do you want to know about Walt?"