Powerful Decisions

John lay on his bed, deep in thought, for quite some time. The sun set. Most days, Eli would have come back and broken him out of his reverie, but he had late fencing practice today, and so it wouldn't be until 10 or later that he put in an appearance. Despite the somewhat glib way he had treated his first couple wishes, given time to consider, the full weight of what he now possessed was considerable. Some thought and questioning had revealed that his hasty wishes had changed things even before he had gotten this power. It had not occurred to him at the time, but his wish to have a good day had echoed backwards months, touching many other people, resulting in his winning a scholarship and getting a job, and perhaps a host of other unrelated events. It was all quite heavy.

By the time Eli returned, John had come to a decision about what to do. He now had unlimited power at his fingertips. That meant that whatever mess he got himself into, he could just as easily get out of. It was a heady feeling, but for the first time in his life, he could do whatever he wanted, without having to worry about the consequences. All kinds of ideas bounced around in his head, vying for attention. He wasn't sure what to do first, but whatever. He had almost died and he was damn well going to live it up now.

The lock in the door turned over with a click, and John's roommate, Eli, came in, slinging his fencing bag into his closet. "Yo, what's up? How'd the award ceremony go?" he asked, plopping down in his desk chair and queuing up his e-mail.

"It went fine," John replied. "Everything I thought it would be."

"Good to hear it, man. You've been working on it for a year, you deserve it," Eli said, reaching over and punching John in the shins lightly. "Don't forget, you promised to actually come with me to a party or two once your workload let up. I'm gonna get the crew together; we're taking you out to dinner tomorrow and you aren't claiming you're too busy this time."

John knew he wasn't going to get out of it, and quite frankly he had no interest in escaping. He had been a bit of a busy body for the last two semesters; it would be good to get out and have some fun. Scratch that, he was going to have a lot of fun, he thought, remembering his new powers. He continued to make smalltalk with Eli, silently wishing his homework done. Much later, John fell asleep, dreaming of what he would do tomorrow.