§ § § -- November 30, 1995

The foursome sat around the table, which was laden with breakfast dreamed up by Peter and included eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, toast, waffles, pancakes and cold cereal. Doug, who had successfully rid himself of a monumental hangover, was packing away more food than any of the others, though he complained now and again about not getting to have a beer with the meal after his three friends had all expressed varying degrees of disgust and nausea at the very idea. As Sean said, "You gotta have some standards, dude."

"So what're we doin' today?" asked Cody, unusually subdued after his negative run-in with Leslie the previous night.

Peter thought it over. "The travel brochure said there's a big luau for all the guests every Saturday night," he said. "So that's one thing we can do."

"Yeah, well, it's only eleven in the morning now," Doug pointed out. "What happens till then? Got any suggestions, Mr. Cruise Director?"

"Geez, why do you need excitement around every corner?" Peter demanded, at the end of his rope. "This is a vacation, you idiot. Go lie on the beach and scope out women or something, and quit looking for something outrageous to wish for. Take a break already!"

"Y'know, the beach isn't a bad idea," Cody mused. "I gotta think awhile anyway and see if I can repair the damage."

The others knew what he meant and ignored him, having decided it was useless to try to convince him he had no chance with Leslie. "Why don't we hit the pool? We oughta actually try some swimming this time," Sean offered. "All we did last time was ogle babes. And if we get in the pool, one of those babes might wind up drowning and we can be heroes and save her life."

Peter snickered. "Dream on," he said, "but if I were you, I wouldn't wish for it and wind up torturing some poor innocent girl. No wonder that Japanese girl you flipped out over didn't want to be seen with you. You're right back playing the field."

Sean, reminded, let out a gusty sigh of depression. "Thanks, Gibbons, just what I needed—you mentioning her when I'm trying to forget her."

He was reminded again not long thereafter, when he and Peter and Doug headed for the pool while Cody struck out for the beach. As they ambled along a trail, he spied none other than Sayuri Sensei, holding the hand of a small boy and carrying an even smaller girl, taking a leisurely walk along another path that intersected with the one they were on. He dropped behind, letting Peter and Doug get some ways ahead of him, then loitered in the crossroad till Sayuri and the children caught up. Sean smiled at her. "Hi, Sayuri."

She peered at him. "Hi, uh…" There was some recognition in her eyes, but it was clear she couldn't remember his name.

Nothing daunted, Sean stuck out his hand. "Sean Howard. We met yesterday."

"Right," said Sayuri, shaking his hand for the briefest possible moment.

"Cute kids," Sean offered, though the toddlers didn't interest him in the least.

"My sister Myeko's children," said Sayuri. "It's actually about time I got them back home, we've already been out here nearly an hour."

Sean brightened. "I'll walk with you," he said eagerly. She eyed him doubtfully, but acquiesced with some reluctance and started back down the path the way she'd come. For a few minutes there was an awkward silence while Sean tried to sift through all the practiced lines he normally used on girls, in the hope of finding something meaningful to say to her. All he could come up with in the end was, "So where are you going to school?"

"University of Hawaii," Sayuri replied. "I'm in my junior year. You?"

"Senior at the University of Florida," Sean supplied eagerly, "majoring in engineering. I always had this thing about how stuff works, see, and…" He prattled on for another few minutes while Sayuri listened with strained patience. He could tell by her expression that she wanted to get away from him, but he kept trying.

"…and so I decided to make it my career," Sean concluded breathlessly. "How about you? I'd really like to hear more about you, Sayuri, honest…think we could do that over lunch?" She shook her head, and he pressed desperately, "What about the luau tonight?"

Sayuri sighed deeply. "Sean, I'm sure you're a nice guy and there's probably no shortage of girls who'd be thrilled to go to the luau with you. But I'm not one of them, and those girls are the reason." He gaped at her, and she raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Come on, Sean, did you really think I didn't have you pegged as a ladies' man from the first? You're like a pane of glass. You might have noble intentions for your professional life, but you have the attitude of a guy who can't stand the idea of settling down."

"Not anymore," Sean insisted. "I swear to you, Sayuri, the moment I saw you, that changed. I can't think about anybody but you. I don't know what happened, but it's true."

"Sorry," Sayuri said with a tiny half-smile. "I've heard too many guys say things just like that and then renege on them. Forget it, Sean. Hope you have a nice vacation." She tugged at her nephew's hand and headed away down the trail.

Sean stared after her; by the time he recovered, she was too far away to call back, and he stomped toward the pool, swearing up a storm. Just for that, he thought furiously, I'll live down to her lousy expectations of me and find ten women to hang out with at that luau tonight! She's so sure she's got me pegged, I might as well prove her right!

He located Doug at an umbrella-shaded table near the pool; there was already one empty beer bottle in front of him, and he was steadily reducing the contents of a second one. Sean thudded into a chair and glared blackly around him. "Problem?" asked Doug, then let out a loud burp that made people turn and stare with disapproval. "Oh, pardon me."

"I struck out with Sayuri Sensei again," Sean grumbled. "Hell, now I wish I had a beer." He grabbed the bottle that materialized in front of him and tilted it back.

"Way to go," Doug said with approval and burped again, even more loudly. "Whatcha gonna do about it then?"

Sean looked around. "I need to find about ten women to come to the luau with me." He fielded Doug's skeptical grin and sighed. "Damn, dude, even one'd do."

Doug finished his beer, wished up another and drank deeply from it. After awhile he remarked very thoughtfully, "Y'know, you could just wish that the perfect woman would show up at this table."

"I'd have to describe her," Sean mused, staring without seeing into his beer bottle, formulating an image in his mind. "Just so I could be sure she's exactly what I want. I mean, if I'm gonna wish for a woman, I might as well wish for my dream woman." He paused, glanced around again, then grinned and began to recite. "I wish that a woman with long, thick red hair, huge green eyes, legs from here to Mars, a size 38 double-D chest, and a really sexy voice would show up and ask me to stay with her at her place tonight after the luau."

Doug smirked, only to find himself gaping when the most frightening apparition they had ever seen materialized beside Sean's chair. The well-endowed redhead lay on her back, gazing at Sean with wide green eyes. Her legs started at her hips and stretched up…and up…and up… Slowly their eyes followed the never-ending legs till they vanished into the farthest reaches of the sky. They had no doubt that said legs did indeed reach all the way to Mars, and they shuddered. The crowd had begun to react with screams and shouts, pointing in horror.

"I wish this woman would disappear right now," Sean blurted, and the leggy female was gone as suddenly as she had appeared. Sean blew out his breath and rested his head in his hands. "Damn, dude, that was brutal!"

"Man, after that, I think I need to get outta here," Doug decided. "You with me?"

"Hell yeah," Sean said, looking very rattled by the strange experience they'd just gone through, and arose from the table. They paused only long enough to acknowledge Peter's hail as they passed him.

"Where you guys going, to the beach?" Peter asked as they lumbered by.

"Uh, no…we gotta see Mr. Roarke about something," Sean said hastily, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "You gonna come?" He and Doug barreled out of the area without waiting for his reply.

"I think they've been drinking too much," Peter muttered, sure he couldn't be far off the mark. He'd seen the woman with the endless legs, and had no doubt that whichever one had wished for her must have had several drinks too many. Then he came back to reality with a start and ran from the pool area. He, too, wanted to question Roarke.

But when he caught up with his friends and they had reached the main house, they found only Leslie therein. She looked up and spotted the three boys in the foyer. "What can I do for you fellows?"

"Uh…is Mr. Roarke around?" Doug asked.

Leslie shook her head, taking in their collectively unnerved demeanor. "Not at the moment, I'm sorry. Is something wrong?"

"It's just that…well, we been wondering for a while now exactly how literal this wishing business is," Sean finally said. "Maybe you could tell us."

Leslie regarded them with some dread, and after a long moment she asked slowly, "What happened that made you ask that?"

"The ugliest thing we ever saw, that's what," Doug informed her. "Worse than any horror movie, and it was all Howard's fault." He proceeded to describe Sean's last wish, and she gawked at them in disbelief.

"Oh…my…God," she breathed. "That really is a nightmare." She sighed, gave her head a good hard shake to dispel the visible shudder that shot up her spine, and leveled the threesome with a stern gaze. "Didn't Father and I tell you to be careful?"

"Yeah, well, we thought there was room for idiom," Peter protested. "When Sean said 'legs from here to Mars', he was being figurative."

"Not only that…but Cody wished that I'd take a flying leap, and next thing I knew I was freakin' skydiving," Doug added heatedly.

"Well," Leslie said slowly, blinking and taking it in, "it seems to me that if you got a woman whose legs truly did stretch all the way to the planet Mars—and if you wound up taking an actual 'flying leap'—then that should answer your question about how literal your power is." She leaned forward in Roarke's chair, her stare intense. "I think you'd better keep that in mind from now on, and try to put your wishes in words that aren't quite so metaphorical."

Just then Roarke came in through the open shutter doors. "Ah, good morning," he greeted their guests. "May I help you?"

"Uh, Leslie just kinda did," Sean said, and as one, the boys began edging back toward the foyer. Doug nearly tripped on the steps backing up them. "Thanks anyway, Mr. Roarke. See you later." With that, all three of them bolted.

"Might I ask precisely what I missed?" Roarke asked with interest.

Leslie grinned and explained what had happened; and when she finished, Roarke burst into laughter, his whole upper torso tipping back with the force of his mirth. "I believe that is the most entertaining anecdote I have heard this entire year," he said when he had regained enough control to speak.

Leslie chuckled ruefully. "By the way, Father, you didn't hear about the Terpening fantasy. The son came in here yesterday about an hour after lunch with the whitest face I've ever seen, and claimed that he was flying his carpet around the southwestern edge of the island when he saw an enormous man falling out of the sky at him, screaming and waving his arms and legs everywhere. When he steered the carpet to get out of the way, he fell off and landed in a swamp."

"Indeed," Roarke said through new laughter. "It's almost a shame that I have been so deeply involved with the Deering fantasy since Thursday evening. It would seem that I am missing a great deal."

"If you ask me, you've been getting off lightly," Leslie parried. "Actually, if that long-legged woman and the frat party last night are the worst things that have happened in this fantasy, we've both been getting off lightly. It's funny, that's the first question we've had from those college guys since they first arrived here Thursday morning."

Roarke considered this and nodded. "Unless I miss my guess—and I don't believe I do—they have already made a number of ill-advised wishes, and have refrained from coming to us out of pure embarrassment." This time Leslie burst out laughing.

Peter, Sean and Doug decided the wisest course of action was to go back to their bungalow; but they soon wished they'd chosen a jungle path to follow instead of going up the Main House Lane and along the Ring Road, because all the way back they overheard people speculating as to what that horrible apparition at the pool could have been. Some said they might have been kite strings (but why hadn't they seen the kite?); others posited that it was rescue ropes from a helicopter (but no one had seen the actual aircraft, nor heard the rotors beating the air). A few insisted it must have been the landing of a UFO and made speculations involving assorted enemy-space-creature films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien; one person even announced that it couldn't possibly have been anything but the Starship Enterprise beaming up Captain James T. Kirk. That one provided some much-needed comic relief for the boys, who laughed a bit hysterically all the way back to their bungalow after that.

Waiting there for them was Kerry Denberg, who brightened at sight of Peter. "Hi, Peter," she said. "I was thinking…I'd like to try my luck at the casino. Would you be interested in coming with me?"

"Oh, sure," Peter agreed. "Just don't expect to win much." He tossed a farewell wave at Sean and Doug and sauntered away at Kerry's side.

"He's such an ass sometimes," Sean remarked, shaking his head. "Maybe he won't wish to win himself, but cripes, he could wish it for her."

"She probably doesn't even know about this whole fantasy," Doug said, pushing open the bungalow door. "If you ask me, she's better off not knowing."

Sean shut the door after him and Doug and thought for a bit. "Well, I got nothing against wishing for me. I wonder if I could get Sayuri to come to the luau with me if I made a wish that she would." Doug glanced at him but made no comment, dropping heavily onto the sofa and draping an arm across his closed eyes. Sean ruminated aloud: "I mean, geez, dude, she won't give me the time of day otherwise, and she thinks I'm fickle."

"Well, you are," Doug mumbled.

"On the other hand…I bet somehow the word would get back to Leslie, and she'd be all up in arms that I did that to her friend's little sister. Dude, I can't believe my crummy luck. Why'd it have to be her I went and fell for?"

"Wish it away," Doug said.

"No way, dude!" Sean exclaimed. "I don't wanna wish it away! I kinda like it!"

"You're insane," Doug told him.

Sean sighed. "Yeah, probably," he agreed gloomily. "After that stupid wish I made at the pool…" He broke off, eyes going wide with alarm, and charged into the room, yanking Doug's arm off his face. "Listen, man, we gotta make a vow. No more wishes without thinkin' real hard about what we're wishing for. Deal?"

Doug regarded him for all of three seconds, the memory of the leggy redhead dancing ominously in his mind's eye, before sticking out his hand and shaking with Sean. "Deal."