“So, you’re now the oldest,” Zara said as the girls worked on their morning assignment.

“Yeah. She’s just a little baby. She’s in diapers full time, she uses a pacifier and has netting on the side of her bed. She looked so small sleeping in her bed this morning.”

“Wow, a real baby sister,” Zara exclaimed as she pressed the button on the work she just did to see if she got the answer correct. “I wish my mom would get me a baby sister.”

“I’m not looking forward to a kid running around the house in stinky poopy diapers, though,” Sarah pinched her nose.

“Zara and Sarah cut the chit-chat and get back to work please,” their teacher reprimanded.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I have never met our CFO. . . Yes, sir, I am the CFO’s secretary. . . Yes sir, I have been the CFO’s secretary for several years, but . . . sir . . . No sir, I am not on any drugs. I can explain, sir. Yesterday our CFO was a guy named Fred Ells. When lunch was over yesterday, it was a lady named Marsha Soffin. . . Yes, sir. I assume she is related to the Wishing Stone Wishee. I can’t explain it sir. I saw the news too. The wish appeared to be making that transgender kid a little girl and all transgender individuals changing gender to their gender identity. I have no idea how the Wishee’s relative has become our CFO. . . I will have her contact you as soon as she comes in. . . Yes, sir. I will let her know.”

Marsha stood in the doorway, listening, waiting for the end of the Com-Link. As the secretary ended the link, Marsha went up to her desk.

“May I help you,” Erin asked?

“Maybe,” Marsha said. “If you can accept that I don’t have all the answers, and I need your help to get me through this.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hello, I am Marsha Soffin.”

“Oh, thank the Gods,” Erin said. “I was starting to think someone was pulling the worse prank in the Solar System on me.”

Marsha looked around Erin into her office and noticed a couch, “Let’s go in there and have a talk.”

“But the CEO wants you to call him immediately.”

“Yeah, and as you already pointed out to him, today is my first day on the job.”

The two chatted for about thirty minutes, strategizing how to approach the day. All meetings would be rescheduled for next week. Only people at or above Marsha’s level in the company could have any access to her. Erin would be the gatekeeper until Marsha could get current with the latest information. But first, Marsha needed to look at her personnel file.

“I never thought Wish Magic would impact me,” Erin said as she went back out to her desk to start rescheduling meetings.

“Sorry, Erin,” Marsha said. “Office, display my personnel file.”

Erin turned and smiled at Marsha, “Oh no, this is going to be an interesting challenge. Anyways, you appear to at least be a person. I couldn’t say that about the individual who was in this position yesterday morning.”

After spending some time getting familiar with the documents in her personnel file, Marsha took a deep breath, knowing what she had to do next, “Office, Com-Link the CEO.”

Forty-five minutes later, the link was disconnected.

“Erin,” Marsha said loudly. “Please come in here when you get a chance.”

“Now I know you are a person,” Erin said, coming into the room. Mr. Ells never said, Please.”

“I think I passed the job interview,” Marsha said. “He was not happy that Fred was no longer his CFO. Glad I looked at my resume in my personnel file before calling him. Thanks for recommending that. I probably would have been fired if I couldn’t have shown him that. It is so strange, not even knowing my own past. This Wish Magic has messed up my life so much.”

“Maybe,” Erin said, sitting down. “It looks to me like this is where you would have been if you hadn’t gotten pregnant with Mike. Haven’t you ever watched any of those time travel movies and wondered what your life would have been like if one element of your past was changed? It has actually happened to you. Your past was rewritten by the birth of your son never happening. Is it really worse now, or just different?”

“I have two loving children and a loving husband,” Marsha said while looking at a photo on her desk of her happy family. “My husband and I now have jobs we could only have dreamed of before, so you’re right. Not worse, just very bumpy at the moment. Well, time to get back to work. I need to get up to speed on the company, and fast, or I won’t have this job very long. Any critical reports or meetings in the next week I need to be ready for?”

“No,” Erin said with a smile. “I’ve rescheduled or canceled everything for the rest of this week and next. I hope you don’t mind, but I told a few just to send in a report rather than rescheduling.”

“That’s great, Erin. Anything to decrease the stress on me this next week.”

>>Marsha, Incoming Personal Com-Link from your mother.<<

“Any way, to get out of this,” Marsha asked Erin?

“You can delay, but not avoid, Moms. You better take it,” Erin suggested as she stood up and walked out.

“Office, accept Com-Link.”

“Marsha, you never called me back last night. Now, I want you to explain this to me,” Marsha’s mom held up a princess coloring page that was scribbled all over. “Why does Milly’s picture look like a 3-year-old did it?”

“Hi Mom,” Marsha said with a forced smile. “Nice to see you too.”

“Yeah, Yeah. Nice to see you, but first I lose Mikey’s lovely drawing. Now, I have Milly’s turned into just a scribbled-on page. What is going on?”

“Milly regressed more, and she is now 4-years-old. Scribbling is perfectly normal at that age,” Marsha explained. “I am sure Milly was very proud of her coloring, so you should be too.”

“What do you mean Mikey regressed more? How did he do that?”

“It is Milly, Mom. Milly. Milly is a girl. Trust me on that. I have changed her diapers. The Wishing Stone left Wish Particles in Milly, and last night when I was supposed to be calling you, they decided to regress her more. We think it finished last night when she was regressed to 4-years-old.”

“Diapers? Mikey is back in diapers?”

“Mom! Mikey is no more. She is Milly! Milly Mom! Milly! And yes, Milly, like half of the 4-year-olds in the Solar System, is in diapers,” Marsha said in frustration.

“Don’t get all huffy with me, young lady. I was just wondering where the pretty colored picture of a princess went.”

“You still have a pretty Milly masterpiece, Mom. Thanks for calling, but I am at work and need to get going.”

“Bye, Marsha.”

“Bye, Mom.”

Erin came back into the office as soon as Marsha’s Holographic Image vanished, “That sounded heated.”

“In the future, feel free to tell her I am busy when she calls. Just take a message and tell her I’ll call her back.”

“Will you?”

“Most of the time,” Marsha chuckled. “But I try to keep my personal life and business separate. There is one exception, though. If it is the schools, doctor, or even my husband calling about my kids, I can be interrupted in the middle of anything.”

“The more I get to know you, the more I like you,” Erin said as she turned and went back to her desk.

“House,” Gregg said. “I just finished reading through my first book. Show me my second, please.”

>>Do you want the second one in that series, your second published book, or your second book?<<

Gregg scrunched his eyes together and tilted his head to the side, “House, explain.”

>>Your first book has three books in the series. Your second published book was not part of any series. The second book you wrote was never submitted for publication.<<

“House, why was it never submitted?”

>>Unknown.<<

“Okay, now you have my curiosity peaked. House, let’s read them in the order that I wrote them, including the unpublished ones.”

>>Alright, next book, A Father’s Love. Never submitted for publication.<<

“Larry!”

“Yes, Dear, but can I please point something out. It isn’t like going out to dinner in London when you live in New Zealand. We live on a different planet.”

“But we have a brand-new granddaughter that I have never met. Are you really going to deprive me of seeing my grandbaby?”

“Another planet.”

“We both have vacation time. We have the Zeeboes to make the trip. A grandbaby!”

“Starla, I understand you want to see your new grandbaby, but . . .”

“Fine, you stay here. I’m going. I’ll just tell everyone you were too much of an idiot to make the trip to meet your new granddaughter. I am sure your son will understand you making me do the trip alone.”

“Don’t play the helpless girl routine with me,” Larry rolled his eyes. “You were moon hopping around Saturn when I met you. Alone! A trip back to Earth alone would be something you considered fun, so your guilt trip isn’t going to work. Knowing you, you’ll find the most expensive luxury liner to do the trip on.”

“I’m not as young as I used to be. Nothing wrong with traveling in comfort.”

“Starla. Gregg said they were trying to go on with life as if nothing happened. They say that Milly doesn’t even remember being a boy. Us showing up is not going to make things seem normal for Milly.”

“It may only be a four-and-a-half-hour direct flight from Neptune to Earth, but it will take us at least a week to reach Earth taking a Luxury Cruise Ship. You know how they like to stop at all the spaceports along the way. Anyways, who knows when the next one leaves Titan’s Spaceport? We could be waiting up to a week just to get on one.”

“House,” Larry asked? “When does the next cruise ship leave the Titan Spaceport?”

>>The Star Hopper departs Titan Spaceport in three days.<<

“See,” Starla smiled at her husband. “We can’t even leave for three days. It will be over a week before we show up. Plenty of time for Gregg and his family to adjust to Milly in their lives.”

“I’m not going to talk you out of this, am I?”

“Nope. I want to meet this new 6-year-old girl in our family.”

“House, display accommodation options on the Star Hopper’s next cruise from here to Earth.”

“Where is that freak brother of yours,” Emery said as he approached Sarah’s table, holding his lunch tray. “I told him what to wish for, and instead, he turns a bunch of freaks into bigger freaks.”

“You can get in big trouble for telling a Wishee what to wish for,” Zara said to Emery.

“Oh, shut up,” Emery said to Zara before turning to Sarah. “Where’s your brother?”

Sarah tried to ignore him and just kept eating.

“I am going to pulverize that weirdo brother of yours, and if you don’t tell me where he is, I will do the same to you. Now tell me!”

Sarah’s hand started to shake a little, so she put her spoon down and put her hands on her lap.

Emery slammed one of his hands down on the table, a sound heard throughout the cafeteria. With a raised voice, he stated, “I asked you a question.”

“Emery,” the cafeteria monitor said as they approached. “What are you doing over here with the 3rd graders?”

“Oh, I am just asking her where her brother is? I didn’t see him in school today,” Emery said in a calm voice.

The cafeteria monitor’s personal display showed an emergency medical alert on Sarah Soffin; her heart rate had skyrocketed, and her adrenaline levels were at a fight or flight level.

“Are you going to tell me the truth, or do I need to get the Principal?”

Emery turned and gave Sarah and Zara an evil look before looking at the cafeteria monitor with a smile, “As I said. I was just concerned about that girl’s brother, and I was asking where he was. Thought he might be sick.”

The cafeteria monitor activated a request for the Principal and School Nurse to come to the cafeteria.

“Very well, Emery,” the cafeteria monitor said, shaking her head back and forth. “You were given a chance and then lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie,” Emery claimed. “Ask those girls. They will tell you I was just being a concerned friend for her brother.”

The Cafeteria monitor didn’t even bother to look at the girls, “Come with me, please.”

“What? I didn’t do anything,” Emery protested.

“Now, Emery.”

“Fine!” Emery slammed his tray down on the table in front of Sarah and Zara, with food splattering off of it. Looking at Sarah, he said, “You’re now dead meat just like your brother. I don’t care how little you are. I’m going to pound you into nothingness.”

“And that just got you suspended,” Principal Janson said, coming up behind Emery. “My office, Now!”

The nurse was right behind the Principal. When he entered the cafeteria, the School Unit projected Sarah’s Emergency Alert information on the nurse’s display. Seeing them and the interactions with the Principal and Emery, the nurse went up to Sarah’s side and got her to turn her back to Emery, “Take a deep breath, Sarah, nice and slow.”

It took a little bit before Sarah’s numbers started to drop. Once her heart rate got down to 120, the nurse escorted Sarah to his office.

“Did he touch you?”

“No,” Sarah said blankly. “He was so mad at my baby sister. He wanted to hurt her and me.”

“Sarah,” Nurse John said. “You don’t have a baby sister.”

“He was mad at Mikey for not making the wish he told Mikey to make. He was going to beat her up, and then he got mad at me.”

“He told Mikey what to wish for?”

“Yeah,” Sarah said, finally looking the nurse in the eyes.

“School Unit,” Nurse John said. “Replay that for the Principal, please. Let her know about Emery’s violation of Wishing Stone Law and his threats to Sarah.”

>>Sarah Soffin’s comments on the situation are forwarded to Principal Janson.<<

“I’m the big sister,” Sarah rambled. “How can I protect Milly from kids like Emery?”

“You’re the little sister Sarah,” Nurse John said.

“No, Milly is my little sister. Emery wanted to beat her up. He is so much bigger than me. How can I protect her?”

“You don’t need to protect Mikey. He is older than you.”

“Mikey’s a girl now. I’m a big sister now. Big sisters protect little sisters.”

Nurse John hadn’t seen the wish Mikey made, but he knew all about it. He had dealt with helping a few parents yesterday deal with the sudden change of gender their children had gone through. He saw how the kids accepted the change, but he had never thought about the impact it might have on the siblings. What Nurse John didn’t understand was why Sarah kept saying she was the big sister. Mikey was older than Sarah, so as a girl, Mikey would still be older than Sarah. What had Emery done to Sarah?

“Milly is just a baby.”

“Milly? Is that your sister?”

“Yeah, Milly.”

“Do you want me to call Milly down here? She will tell you that you don’t need to worry about Emery hurting her.”

“You can’t. She doesn’t go to this school.”

“Sarah,” Nurse John said. “I have been the nurse here since before Mikey started in 1st grade. He . . I mean, she is in 6th grade. Just down the hall.”

“No, Nurse John. Milly goes to Diamond Lake Early Learning Center.”

Nurse John chuckled, “A 12-year-old would look awfully silly going to the Early Learning Center.”

“Milly’s 4, not 12.”

“School,” Nurse John stated. “Can you please ask Milly Soffin’s teacher to send her down here to help Sarah with something?”

>>There is no student in this school named Milly Soffin.<<

“School, tell the teacher of Sarah Soffin’s sister to send her down to my office.”

>>Sarah Soffin does not have a sister at this school.<<

Nurse John looked at Sarah and then over to the School Unit display panel on his desk, “School, does Sarah have a sibling?”

>>Melissa Louise Soffin<<

“Tell Melissa’s teacher to send her down to my office.”

>>Melissa does not attend this school.<<

“School,” Sarah said. “Please tell Nurse John, my sister’s name, age, and school.”

>>Melissa Louise Soffin, age 4-years, 6-months. She attends Diamond Lake Early Learning Center.<<

Nurse John looked at Sarah and then over to his desk. He got up and went over to the desk and looked at the display. There it was clearly showing: Sarah’s sibling was 4. Looking back at Sarah and then at the display, before looking back at Sarah.

In response, Sarah shook her head up and down, “I’m the big sister now. She’s just a baby in diapers.”

Nurse John sat down on his chair, “Wish Magic . . . turned him . . . into a 4-year-old. . . girl . . . in diapers?”

Sarah shook her head up and down, “And a pacifier.”

“School, keyboard. Clip data, and add this note. Then send to Principal,” Nurse John put beneath the info on Melissa Soffin: ‘Mikey Soffin was turned into this little girl.’

“Elizabeth,” Tamra asked, coming out of her office. “What is this payment last month of five-hundred-thousand Zeeboes?”

“What? We didn’t pay anything that expensive last month,” Elizabeth said, looking over the display Tamra shared.

“Well, the financial records say otherwise. Figure this out. If the higher-ups see this, we will both be looking for new jobs.”

Elizabeth starts sifting through the data, “It is an advance to an author named Gregg Soffin.”

“We don’t have any clients named Gregg.

“According to this, we do,” Elizabeth said, showing Tamra her screen.

“Look at those sales and pre-orders. Who is this guy? That can’t be real. It says I have been handling the account for years, but I’ve never heard of him. We must have been hacked. Get the Tech guys to figure it out as soon as possible. Prepare a press release explaining that we have been hacked and robbed. As soon as the tech guys have figured it out, we’ll call the police.”

“Umm, Tamra,” Elizabeth said. “This Gregg Soffin is a real author. I just checked the sites of our top three booksellers, and his last three books are selling like crazy. All of their sites say we are the publisher. Corporate lists him as a Multi-Million Zeeboe author, with you in charge of the account.”

“Office, show me a bio on author Gregg Soffin.”

Tamra looked over the bio, “Office, show me the top media posting on author Gregg Soffin.”

>>Galaxy renowned author Gregg Soffin was seen today at the Wishing Stone ceremony as his son was turned into a girl after making a wish on the Wishing Stone. Fans are waiting for his next book with pre-orders climbing at alarming rates.<<

“Office, pause,” Tamra took a deep breath. “Elizabeth, could this be wish magic?”

“I guess, but wasn’t the wish to turn all transgender people to their proper gender?”

Tamra looked at Elizabeth and then back at her display, “This is too much of a coincidence. Hold off on the press release. Keep the Tech people checking our security, but inform them that there might not be a breach. It looks like I better become knowledgeable about this author. If this is right, we have a draft for his next book in our systems. Find out where it is in the release process?”

Tamra walked back into her office, talking to herself, “Wish magic. Grrrrrrrr! Sure, Mom, come visit. It’s an easy week at work. Not anymore. What am I going to tell her now? I sure hope this Gregg guy doesn’t com-link me before I can figure out what is going on. Office, remind me to call Gregg Soffin before I leave work today.”