Everyone Else is Dumb

Holding the stone, Jon said "I wish I was a genius." The stone glowed, indicating that the wish had been granted, but Jon really didn't feel any smarter. He thought that knowledge and ideas would fill up in his mind, but none of that happened. At first he thought that the stone didn't grant his wish, but it *did* glow, so that meant this his wish *was* granted. Still in confusion over what had happened, Jon left his bedroom to go downstairs. In the living room, he saw his mom. She was reading a book, as usual. But ... it wasn't a romance novel, as it usually was. When he got closer he saw that it was a children's book. "Mom? Why are you reading *that*?" he asked. She looked up at him with a blank smile. "It's like a totally great book, Jon." Why was she acting like an airhead? At that moment, his 14-year old sister Zoe came downstairs. Instead of her usual gothic clothes, she wore a fairly basic outfit, like something that a parent makes a child wear. "Hi, Jon," she said, happily. "Today was show-and-tell. My teacher gave me a gold star!" She smiled, as if it was the best news around. "Show-and-tell? But, you're in high school, right?" "Like, yeah." What was going on? When Jon went outside, he got an even bigger shock. Everyone he saw acted and dressed like a child. He saw several teenagers and even a few adults playing with toys on their lawns. It was like they were all stupid or ... Then Jon realized what was happening. The stone didn't make him *smarter*, it made everyone else *dumber* so that *he* would be a genius when compared to everyone else.