Originally posted to writing.com
The rest of the drive home was silent except for occasional noises coming from the girls' phones. Kevin wondered what they were doing, but soon decided that it was better than having them make more wishes that Jason Henderson might actually grant.
It just seemed like any other quiet night on the suburban street as he pulled into the driveway -- which, instead of Jennifer's old Honda Civic, had a bright red Ferrari sitting there. So Jennifer had gotten that wish, too -- Kevin wondered if there were any wishes that Jason wasn't granting.
The girls were getting out of the back seat. Kevin assumed they'd comment on the other new vehicle, but instead he heard Emma say, "Oh, my gosh, Kim, you did get his autograph!"
"What do you mean?" Kim asked.
"Hey, she's right!" Annabelle exclaimed. "And Emma's got one, too!"
Emma said, "I bet you have one."
Kevin had finally walked around to where the girls were standing. It was lighter here, with a nearby streetlight, than it had been in the arena parking lot -- and with Kim and Emma's midriff-baring tops, he could see that they both had what appeared to be a tattoo on their lower backs, identical scrawls that resembled "J---- H--------."
"Oh, no," he said, but then he heard his wife's voice. "Kevin?!" she yelled. She'd just walked out of the front door.
"Mommy, you look beautiful!" exclaimed Annabelle, just as Kevin turned. He could tell it was Jennifer, but gone was her doughy early-40s body. Now she looked no more than 18 years old, trim but with breasts that seemed a bit too big for her frame, dressed in an outfit that was little more than a black bra and ruffled microskirt, platform-heeled shoes on her feet, platinum blonde hair extending to her waist.
Jennifer was smiling, but looked like she wanted to cry at the same time, seeing her altered daughters. "Hi, girls. You look -- you look beautiful, too."
"Thank you, Mommy!" said Emma, and Kim said, "Thanks, Mrs. Jones."
"You don't seem too upset looking at us," Kevin observed.
Jennifer shrugged a bit. "I've been watching the news. You four look just like I was expecting -- plus, you know, there's me." She waved a hand toward herself. "You should come in and watch the news. They're saying Jason's going to give a press conference soon."
"Okay, yeah, let's go inside, girls," Kevin said. "You can start using Mommy's makeup remover."
"Uh..." Jennifer said.
"What?"
She lowered her voice as she pointed to her face, which was as heavily made up as the girls' faces, if not more so. "I tried -- first thing I did after I got off the phone with you and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. Nothing worked. And I got my nail clippers out." She held up one hand to show the inch-long manicured fingernails. "I cut 'em, they grow back right away."
"Wow, really?" Annabelle was looking at her own fingernails, having obviously heard her mother.
Kevin sighed. "Okay, we'll just -- we're not the only ones who this has affected. There were, what, 20,000 people at the concert tonight --"
"Wonder how many of them got new cars," Jennifer said, now looking over at the Ferrari. "I just wish..."