"Well," said John, "I just think that, since this wand seems to be so powerful and has the potential to change our lives so much, it should be something that we use together, with clear heads. So I think we should wait until tomorrow. Uh, if we use it at all." He looked at Katie, hoping she'd accepted that explanation.
"Ohh, you're right." She had accepted it, and, in fact, she leaned over and gave him a kiss.
That was all he got, though. Katie claimed she wasn't up for sex, and emphasized that fact by wearing an unflattering flannel nightgown to bed. She fell asleep almost immediately, as usual, while John was tossing and turning, thinking of what he wanted to do with the wand, running through dozens of possibilities in his mind.
Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore, and he quietly opened the drawer in the table next to his side of the bed and pulled the wand out from within. Surely, he thought, Katie wouldn't be mad if he made a few improvements to her. Just things he was sure she'd want to have done to her anyway.
John got out of bed and walked around it in the near darkness, standing over Katie. Yeah, she'd wake up, notice the changes he made, and she might be mad at first, but -- well, hmm, maybe he could make it so that whatever changes he made, she wouldn't notice them unless he wanted her to. And it would make it more convenient if the whole world except for him wouldn't notice any changes.
He was absent-mindedly tapping the wand in one hand, and with the completion of that thought, the end of the wand suddenly illuminated for a second, then went dark again. John's first thought was to look at Katie, but the light fortunately didn't seem to wake her. He realized he'd hit upon how to use the wand -- think of something, aim the wand in the general direction of something you were changing, and then snap your wrist. He thought about Katie falling into a deep sleep until he woke her up with the wand -- or until 10:00 tomorrow morning, he quickly added to his thought, just in case something went wrong.
The wand flashed, but there was seemingly no other effect. John cleared his throat. "Honey," he said, and then louder, "Katie!" He tried shaking the mattress and then shaking her. Nothing happened. Satisfied, he turned on the lamp that sat on her beside table, twisting the knob until the 3-way bulb reached its maximum illumination.
Fortunately, Katie slept on her back, which would give him a better view of things. He pulled back the covers and then waved the wand while thinking about her being naked. The flannel nightgown almost instantly disintegrated into a vapor that quickly dissipated.
John was briefly distracted by Katie's nude body. She looked good, like most 23- year-olds who kept themselves in reasonably good shape -- but, no, he wasn't going to think about that for now. What he was thinking about now was things about herself that Katie would complain about. The first thing to come to mind was her hair, which she kept short because it tended to be dry and brittle, with split ends. But John imagined her having hair straight out of a shampoo commercial, and waved the wand.
He wasn't expecting to see much of a difference, so he was surprised as her hair grew to shoulder length; it was obviously thicker, fuller, and shinier, too. He reached out to stroke it, and it felt nothing like it used to -- it was more like he was touching silken threads.
This was much better than being turned into a dog, thought Jon. Continuing on the hair theme, he knew Katie complained about shaving her legs, so with a wave of the wand, he freed her from that chore. Another wave, and she was free from body hair entirely, from her underarms to her pubic hair. Her skin would always be smooth and supple, with no moisturizers, lotions, or creams needed.
She'd also complained to him about her manicures and pedicures, so John gave her fingernails and toenails that were perfectly shaped and could magically heal themselves if necessary.
And then there were the PMS and the other "that time of the month" issues. John knew he had to be careful here -- he and Katie had talked about having children someday -- and ran through a few possibilities in his mind before deciding to let the magic figure it out. He thought about eliminating cramping, menstrual bleeding, and all that, but keeping Katie with normal reproductive functions and a normal sex drive.
Nothing changed on the outside, but John figured he'd know it had worked if Katie went four weeks without being irritable.
He tried to think of other things Katie had complained about in the past, and it suddenly occurred to him -- whenever she wore shoes with heels, he'd end up having to listen to her moan about how her feet hurt. Well, no more; he thought about her being perfectly comfortable wearing high heels, no matter how high, comfortable enough to stand for hours, dance for hours, or even run a marathon.
He waved the wand, and she was now wearing pink slippers with what looked like 4- inch heels. John was surprised because he certainly hadn't thought about any shoes appearing on her right then, but then he figured out that since his uses of the wand were causing reality to change, he'd now altered things so that Katie wore high-heeled shoes to bed, almost as if this were a porn movie.
At that point, the thought crossed his mind that he could easily make some additional improvements to Katie and turn her into his own personal porn star -- but then the thought crossed his mind that if he really loved her as much as he thought he did, maybe he should wait and discuss further changes with her in the morning.