"Can I have one?" she asked.
"What for?"
"Same reason you want the whole roll. To have it," she said, simply.
"They’re numbered. See? The first one is number one. If I gave you that one, then I won’t have them all anymore."
Merry looked at the numbers. She now was more determined to get that first one. Ticket number one must be pretty special!
"Aw, c’mon, Jimmy." I hated the name Jimmy, and Merry knew it.
"C’mon yourself, Shortcake," I retorted, using a nickname that I knew she disliked.
"Sorry, Jim," she corrected. "Please, please, please?"
As I said, I actually liked my step-sister. She probably knew that I’d give her what she wanted.
"Oh, fine," I said.
"Goody!" she squealed, sounding like a kindergarten student.
I tore off the first ticket. I looked at it one last time, and handed it to Meredith.
A big grin broke out on her face and she reached out to grab it.
Her expression immediately turned serious when she took it.
"You have one wish," she monotoned.
"Huh?" I asked, surprised by her sudden change in demeanor.
"You have one wish," she repeated, in the same voice.
This was weird. Was Meredith playing some sort of game?
"I get a free wish for a ticket?" I asked, playing alone.
"Whatever you want," she repeated.
Her game was weirding me out. "Fine. I want a bicycle." That would put an end to that game. I had broken my bike a couple of months ago, and my step-father had gotten very angry and told me that I would have to purchase my next bike. To a fifteen-year-old, this was almost akin to being grounded.
Meredith looked uncertain. "I… I cannot purchase you a bicycle," she said. "If you want, you can have mine. Or do you want me to steal you one?"
Huh? "I don’t want no girl’s bike, Merry. And if your dad caught you stealing anything, he’d tan your hide."
"Then I cannot grant that wish," she answered.
I was getting tired of her game. Merry was a nice girl, but sometimes, she could drive me up the wall. I used a device that I had used a few times before in order to call her bluff and stop her games.
"Fine. Take off your shorts and panties." I smirked, knowing that she’d never do that.
"Your wish is my command," she monotoned. As if in a dream, she unbuttoned the shorts, and undid her zipper.
I struck me that she was actually going to do this!
I glanced at the door to my bedroom, which was still wide open. My mother could walk by at any time!
I turned back to Merry, and saw her shorts were now in a pile at the floor, and her panties were down by her knees. She was lifting one leg to remove them.
My step-sister was naked from the waist down.
Up until this time, I had not so much as seen her underwear, except tiny glimpses underneath her T-shirts. She was always very careful in the bathroom and her bedroom to not allow me to accidentally see her in any state of undress. She was, in fact, pretty prudish.
And here she was, stepping out of her panties.
I couldn’t help but stare at her crotch. I could see a fold of skin, but her legs were close together, keeping me from getting a good view.
Without saying anything, Merry started pulling on her panties. I watched, still in disbelief, as she then pulled on her short pants.
Once her shorts where zippered and buttoned, she shook her head, as if waking up.
"Why’d you do that?" I finally managed to say.
"Do what?" Merry asked, confused. "You said I could have the ticket!"
"Why’d you get undressed?"
"Huh?" she said, genuinely surprised. She glanced down at herself, making sure she was still dressed. She then looked up at me as if I had two heads. "What are you talking about?"
Was she denying that she had just stripped in front of me?
Did she really do what I thought she had done?
"You know, Jim, you get really weird sometimes. Thanks for the ticket, though."
"Wait!" I said as she turned to leave the room.
"What?"
I offered her the second ticket. I wanted to see if she’d play that game again.
"No thanks. I got number one. That’s the one I wanted."
Merry left my room, shutting the door behind her.
I looked over towards my bed where my step-sister had just undressed in front of me. Had it really happened?
I had a throbbing erection that was attesting to the fact that it had.
I decided to go into the bathroom and relieve myself before dinner, which was fast approaching. It didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to reach orgasm.
Dinner was quiet. Merry gave me no indication that she had done anything unusual. We just had our small talk.
After dinner, Merry and I did the dishes. I washed, while she dried and put the dishes away. I kept stealing glances at her, but never caught her giving me any indication that she had been playing any sex games earlier.
I still wanted to know what had happened earlier. It was completely out of character for Merry to act that way. Did she want something from me?
I finally got up the nerve to bring up the subject. "What did you do with your ticket?" I asked.
"Ticket?" she asked, frowning. "Oh… that. I think I put it in my room. Why?"
"You seemed to want it. I thought you had a special plan for it."
Merry shrugged. "Nah. I was just playing with you. You seemed to think that roll of tickets was worth something." She gave me a smile.
I looked at her. Her smile did nothing to suggest that she had done anything out of the ordinary.
"Oh. That’s why you didn’t want another one, huh?"
"Do you want me to have another one, Jim?" she asked.
I shrugged. "If you want it. If not, I’ll find something to do with them."
Merry shrugged as she put four dishes into a cabinet. "Whatever."
Later in the evening, I was in my room, listening to some songs on my record player. There was a knock on my door.
"Who is it?" I called out.
"Merry. Can I come in?"
"Sure."
My step-sister walked into my room. She listened for a couple moments to the song on my record player, and then said, "Jim, did you come into my room after dinner?"
"No. What’s wrong?" I asked.
"That ticket you gave me. I put it on my dresser. Now it’s gone." She looked at me accusingly.
"I didn’t take it. I was in here since dinner."
"Well, Mom and Dad were downstairs all that time. My ticket’s missing."
I walked over to my junk drawer where I had stashed the roll of tickets. The roll still started at number two.
"It’s not here, Merry."
She looked at me, trying to see if I was playing some sort of trick on her.
"Are you sure you didn’t take it?" she asked, softly.
"Cross my heart and hope to die," I said, crossing my heart.
Her face drooped. I could tell she was disappointed.
"Look, Merry. I’ll give you another ticket. OK?"
"I don’t want it. I want the one that I had…"
I pulled the second ticket off the roll. As I did, Merry stopped in mid-sentence.
"I’ll take that ticket," she said. Her tone was one again monotonic.
I handed her the ticket, wondering if she’d play her game again.
Sure enough, Merry monotoned, "You have one wish."
I smirked at her, but her expression was quite solemn. She seemed quite serious.
"You will allow me to wish for anything?" I asked.
"Anything that is within my power to grant," she answered.
There was no amusement in her eyes. In fact, there wasn’t even any "Merry" behind her eyes. She had a vacant look; she was staring at me, waiting for me to make a wish.