The roads had been easier to change than she’d thought. The cars came back with them. Some of the store fronts changed back, but not all of them. Mr. Murphy worked in a doughnut shop. He still wore his shopkeeper apron.
Miranda felt giddy. This all was much easier than she’d ever thought. They were on the corner of Warren and the road up the hill to the hospital looked much easier to walk. Miranda wondered if they imagined they were at the hospital, if they’d appear there. She giggled.
Cindy didn’t seem pleased. She looked out across the town.
Miranda poked her shoulder. “What’s going on?”
When Cindy turned to her, she seemed to be looking through Miranda to somewhere in the distance. “Do you think we can bring back my two dads?”
Miranda felt a little jolt to her confidence. She shook her head. “I don’t see why not.” If she could change a whole school, why not two people.
A thought still nagged her. Mr. Hanson hadn’t changed, just his circumstances. Why were Cindy’s dads different?
She smiled anyway. “It’s okay, don’t worry. I’m going to fix everything.”
Cindy rubbed her arms. She looked lost, scared. “Are you sure this is sure a good idea?”
Miranda had never felt so sure of something in her entire life. She could feel confidence and power running through her. She smiled bigger than she ever had before. She shouldn’t stop with getting things near to how they were. She should keep going till everything was perfect.
She looked around. What needed changing. Clearly Mr. Murphy needed his shop back. She closed her eyes and imagined the shelves, the neat little rows of items.
When she opened them again… it was back. The windows of Mr. Murphy’s store had the same hand-lettered title and hours. The awning was back, but a different green than she remembered.
She closed her eyes again.
When she opened them. The awning was the correct color, but the font on the lettering had changed. Mr. Murphy sat at a little table in front of the window. That was new. He was rubbing his temples.
She let out a frustrated breath.
Cindy gasped and Miranda looked at her. She was looking behind them.
The pink water tower was back.
The writing on it read. THIS IS FUN. THANKS!
Miranda felt the cold on her spine again.
Cindy said, “What’s that?”
Dad had been right. If she did this too much, the god might wake up. She’d have to be more sparing in her usage.
She remembered the photo in her back pocket. She pulled it out. Now it was Dad and Alice, but she still remembered the woman in the photo.
There was at least one more thing she had to do. “Come on, Cindy.”
