Nothing seemed to happen. At first, I was afraid my wish had been too vague. At best, a vague wish simply might not come true. At worst -- well, I didn't want to imagine what could go wrong.
Later I discovered just how intelligent the ring had been in interpreting my wish. First, there was the age issue. Not every male became a younger female. Children below puberty simply became girls of the same age. This seemed to be because they would be more flexible in accepting their new gender. But many men did become younger, some substantially so. It seemed to depend on just how masculine the individual was. It was as if the ring decided that men who were more in love with their manliness had to be brought back further so they would be able to grow up and grow into their new female selves.
Then there was the issue of authority. Men who were more used to having their own way and who might greatly resent magical manipulation in their lives found themselves as younger women now subject to the authority of (usually) women who they had known in their former lives. This change in role could be drastic. Middle aged husbands became the teenaged daughters of their former wives. Older brothers became younger sisters. Male high school teachers became indistinguishable from their students. And in all cases, the new women found themselves soft and obedient, their minds altered so that they could not help but admire and respect these new sources of authority in their lives.
Jean had heard my wish and seemed satisfied with it, but she also was wondering how it would be interpreted. When she gestured for the ring, I returned it to her without hesitation. She seemed to know exactly what she was going to do with it.
"I want to see this new world we've created," she told me. "Are you ready for that?" I nodded. "Ok. First, I wish that until I say otherwise we will be invisible to everyone but ourselves. That way, we will be able to observe without interfering or possibly being harmed."
Nothing seemed to happen and I wondered if the ring might be broken. But then I remembered that Jean had specified that she and I would still be able to see each other. That kind of exception was a good idea, just in case we got separated.
While I was thinking about this unpleasant possibility, she made her next wish. "I wish to be taken somewhere in this country where we can see the effect of our world-changing wish for ourselves. We want to see..." She paused, giggling. "We want to see what it has done to the really masculine men."
The room seemed to fade, and then we were somewhere else...