She was interrupted with a shriek from the ladies' store I had been in most recently. A nice-looking redheaded woman burst through the door, wailing in confusion as she hovered in the main hallway.
She hovered, as in flying without moving anywhere. Beautiful angel wings had sprouted between her shoulders and now fluttered gently. The motion didn't look strong enough to hold her aloft but aloft she was, her feet a good two feet from the floor. I realized she was wearing the evening gown I had wished on a few minutes ago. A security guard was hustling down the hall and a few heads were poking out of the nearby shops but nobody paid any attention to the girl and me.
"She's the shop manager," the girl informed me. "Your wishes you made the clothes you changed extremely appealing, you know. They almost compel people to look at them and even try them on. Looks like she couldn't resist her own merchandise. The clerk in the department store was the same way. She went for your mermaid swimsuit though so this youthening one was left for me."
I stared as the transformed store manager flew slowly down the hallway, a small entourage clustering a few feet behind her. She had stopped yelling at least but paused every few seconds to look frantically around as if someone would be coming to help her.
"At least it's only temporary," I said. "When she takes the dress off, she'll go back to normal, right?"
"I'm afraid not," she answered. "You didn't specify that when you made the wish on her dress. Actually, it wouldn't matter anyway. I don't intend to turn back into an old woman just because I take this swimsuit off, so I'm going to alter your wishes." She mumbled to herself briefly. "There. All the changes from your clothing wishes will be permanent now."
"The clerk in the swimsuit department?'
"She'll be a mermaid for the rest of her life, once she puts the suit on. At least she'll have company."
"What do you mean?"
"For one thing, if another girl wears her swimsuit, she'd turn into a mermaid too. Even if that doesn't happen, the suit you wished on for your little friend, is going to change somebody. These things are irresistible, you know. Somebody will find that suit."
"What about the other things I wished for?"
The girl sighed. "They all still exist, they'll all be used and their effects will be permanent. Some woman is going to wear the mermaid swimsuit and become a new mermaid. Some woman is going to wear the teenage swimsuit and turn into a teenager. Somebody is going to get sucked into the bottle and become a genie, a real a genie. You get the picture." She paused and turned to stare at me. "Look, I'm grateful for what you did. You got my youth back for me and you didn't hurt anybody. But I've got things to attend to, like getting some better clothes." She looked ruefully at her little-old lady outfit. "So run along and you can get to your friend's place before she gets home. You two can decide what change she gets and maybe who gets the other changes. But I've got to go." She turned away.
"What about my other wishes?" I cried. "What about the shrinking?" I reached for her arm but there was nothing there. She was gone. Up the hall, the angel-woman had stopped again and was surrounded by a small crowd of awed onlookers. She had a stunned look on her face and might be in tears. I didn't have time to worry about her, though. I had to get to Amanda before she was permanently changed.