"What's the matter, Karyn?" asked Zoe. "If you need to talk to Jon, just call him. I can tell you his number."
"Thanks, Zoe. You're right... but I don't need the number. I already know it."
"What? How could you know his..."
"It's a long story," said Karyn. "A long story."
Karyn fumbled around for her phone. It was hard to find things, but it turned out the phone was at the bottom of her book bag. Punching in the numbers, she briefly wondered if changing history also changed Jon's phone number, but she was relieved when the call went through.
"Hello?" said Jon.
"It's me. Karyn! You know what you just did with the rock, don't you?"
"I know, Karyn! It's a mess!"
"Can you wish me and Zoe up a car or something? Uh, and make sure she knows you wished for it."
"What in the world are you talking about?" asked Zoe. "Wishes? Cars? You don't have a car, Karyn. Are you feeling okay?"
Karyn heard Jon's wish over the cell phone. "Sure. And I'm not supposed to have classes today anyway, so you can just drive over. I wish that Karyn would own a car like she did before but with as few other changes as possible, and that Zoe would still know that the car wasn't there a moment ago."
"Your hand!" yelled Zoe.
"Wha--?" Karyn realized, then, that she was holding her familiar car keys in her left hand. "Oh. Well, looks like it worked. Bye, Jon, we'll see you there...."
She hung up the phone and said, "Zoe, we're driving over to the college to see Jon. Come on, let's go..."
"But you don't..."
Karyn opened the door and led Zoe out of her room and outside the house, where Karyn's car was parked. As she walked up to it she noticed that though the car itself was just like her old car, a few of the things in it were different--there was one CD of a band she never listened to, and a bumper sticker was missing. "Hop in," she said.
"I don't get it! This is impossible. I know you weren't holding those keys, and when I came in there was no car here, particularly not a car with enough leaves on it that it obviously was here all night."
"It's very possible," said Karyn. "We've got over an hour of driving. I'll explain on the way."
...
"You mean we never knew each other? This is just a wish? And you were friends with Jon and that's why you know his number? If I wasn't in a car that didn't exist, I'd never believe you... As it is I'm getting weirded out."
"It's like that girl on Buffy, Dawn," explained Karyn. She hoped that Zoe did watch the show. "Once she got created, everyone remembered she had always been there. Even the photos changed."
"But you said Jon only wished to be older."
"It was all a side effect. Like Buffy's hair. It used to be fake, it was hair color. But after Dawn existed they had a flashback showing she remembered being a blonde as a girl. Nobody could have guessed the side effect, but something about creating Dawn made Buffy a natural blonde. Just like all the wish side effects. Come to think of it I did get blonde hair by magic, but that was a different wish."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I bet you don't want to just forget me, but Jon has to be able to think of something..."
"Wait, Karyn, there's the exit."
"Oh, yeah, right, I wasn't paying attention." She turned into the right lane and took the exit to Jon and Megan's college. Parking by the dorms, she and Zoe got out, went up to Jon's dorm and knocked....
