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"Let me do this for you," I said, acting like a big he-man.

"I always have trouble starting it the first time," Merry said.

"You just need a few more muscles in your arm," I told her.

I put my foot against the machine and gave the cord a quick pull. The engine roared to life, but started to sputter down. I quick adjusted the choke and the engine soon was at its normal speed.

"Here," I said, shouting a bit over the din of the engine.

"Thanks, Jimmy… Jim!" She said, correcting herself.

"No problem."

Merry took the handle of the mower and started to cut the grass.

I looked over to the driveway and Mom was just leaving to go to Aunt Peggy’s. I jogged over to where she was and gave her a kiss good bye.

"Mom… Since Merry is gonna do the lawn, I’m going to hang out with Jack again today. OK?"

My mother looked down the street toward where Jack lived. She looked back at me and smiled. "OK, Jim. But could you stay here for fifteen minutes to make sure that Merry has no more problems with the mower?"

I glanced at where my step-sister was pushing the mower and back to my mother. "Sure. I’ll be glad to. It’s easy starting once it’s warm, though."

"Maybe. But I’d rather she be careful. She’s just thirteen…"

"Fourteen next month! Don’t forget. She’s not letting ME forget!"

Mom and I laughed. When she first remarried, she had been worried to death that she might forget some important date, and I had done my best to make sure that she never forgot any. "I’m not about to forget, but thanks."

Mom started her car and pulled out the driveway. I watched her car drive down the street.

I looked over at Merry, and waved at her. She waved back at me. I went into the house.

Upstairs, I retrieved that roll of "Lucky Tickets" that I had found. Were these really magic? Where did they come from? Did they really make Merry strip naked yesterday and last night?

I told myself that this could be a game that Merry was playing. Although it was totally against her character, such a thing was still possible. After all, she did seem to notice when I touched her, and when I kissed her. Was she just pretending?

How could I tell?

I put the tickets into my duffel bag where I had my Frisbee and a baseball mitt. I wanted to try them out someplace where Merry wasn’t around.

The phone rang. It was Jack.

I asked him if he wanted to throw the saucer around again. He seemed to like that idea. I also suggested that we go to the Jack-in-the-Box for lunch later. Jack didn’t like that place much, I think mostly because he felt that they stole "his" name, but he agreed to go.

I told him that I’d meet him at his house.

* * *

I got to Jack’s about forty-five minutes later. Merry was about half-way done with our lawn and had restarted the mower without any problem.

When I got to Jack’s, I went to his side door and knocked. Jack’s sister, Patrice, answered the door. She was seventeen and didn’t think much of her brother or any of his friends. She looked at me with disdain and called out to Jack that one of his "loser friends was at the door."

Patrice had always done things like this. I was used to it. But for some reason, her attitude pissed me off today.

Yeah. She’d be behaving differently if I gave her a ticket, huh?

What was I thinking? I didn’t even know if the tickets really worked, and I was already thinking of using them to teach a lesson to Jack’s older sister???

Jack came to the door, interrupting my thoughts. He led me downstairs to the basement which his parents had converted into some sort of a den.

"What’s with your sister? I heard her call me a loser again!" I complained to Jack.

"She’s probably on the rag," he answered, shrugging.

That was a standard response when any female seemed a bit grouchy. I don’t think either of us actually knew what it meant at the time.

We went downstairs, and I was trying to think of some way of testing the tickets now that I was away from Merry.

Jack told me with a sullen face, "My parents left while I was on the phone. I don’t have permission to go to the park yet. I’m going to call Mom when she gets to the office."

Unlike my mother, Jack’s mother worked full time. Apparently, Jack was home alone with his bitchy sister. Once again, I was thinking what I would do with her if those damn tickets actually worked.

Suddenly, an idea sprang into my head.

I went into my duffel bag and pulled out the roll of tickets. "Hey, Jack. Do you remember these?"

Jack looked at the tickets. "Oh, yeah. You gonna put on a show, huh?"

I knew that Jack said that to needle me for what I had suggested the other day. I was still just a little hurt from his telling me that only "kids and dorks" put on shows.

I grinned at him. "Jack. Take a ticket." I tore off a ticket and handed it to him.

Without a word, he reached out and grabbed it from me. He then intoned, "You have one wish."

"Jack, I wish for you to stay down here. Do nothing until I come back down. When I come down, I want you to think that we spent all that time just talking and playing around. OK?"

"Your wish is my command," he intoned.

"Far fucking out," I thought to myself.

* * *

I quietly walked up the stairs into Jack’s kitchen. I wasn’t sure where Patrice was, but that was a central location in Jack’s small house. I immediately heard the television on in the living room. Patrice was probably in there.

I knew that we were alone; Jack was downstairs and would stay downstairs until I returned. I still had the roll of tickets in my hand.

I walked into Jack’s living room. Patrice was watching something on the TV, and didn’t immediately notice that I had come in.

When I saw Patrice, a thousand ideas went into my head. I was going to make her pay for every time she insulted me or any of Jack’s other friends. She was going to beg for mercy… she was going to…

"What are you doing up here, you little dork?" came Patrice’s snide remark. While I was trying to decide what to say, she apparently noticed that I had entered the living room.

"Um…" I said, a bit on the defensive. "Would you like a ticket?"

"A ticket? What for? You losers doing some sort of raffle?" she asked.

I pulled a ticket off the roll and handed it to her.

She looked at the ticket and then intoned, "Your wish is my command."

"I wish you to do whatever I say forever. I wish that you will never be able to tell anybody that I have any power over you. You are helpless and at my mercy."

"Your wish is too complicated. Please try again," Patrice intoned.

This was the first time that I had ever had a wish rejected. But it appeared that I had another attempt.

"Why is it too complicated?" I asked.

"Your wish cannot last longer than a day."

"May I ask you for another wish then?"

"Yes," Patrice intoned.

"I wish you to do whatever I say until I leave. You will immediately forget whatever we do afterwards. During the time we are together, you will be helpless and at my mercy."

"Your wish is my command."

I looked at my prize. Patrice was seventeen. She had short black hair, smallish tits, and a slim figure. She wasn’t one of the better looking girls by any means.

But she was mine.

"So, what’s this ticket good for, dickless?" Patrice sneered.

I was taken aback by her curt remark. I thought she was supposed to do whatever I said.

"You too chicken-shit to talk to me?" she asked, giving me an evil smile.

Oh, fuck. I hadn’t told her to do anything.