AICS5-I cannot reflect by specifying an axis--alt-Click does not bring up dialog box

Question

I follow the instructions below.  But when I alt-click, the dialog box does not pop up ---at least not until I give up and move my cursor off the artboard. Then the dialog box comes up, but the "preview" shows my object no where near reflected off the axis I designated???
Reflect by specifying an axis
Select the object to reflect.
To reflect the object around the object’s center point, choose Object > Transform > Reflect or double-click the Reflect tool .
To reflect the object around a different reference point, Alt‑click (Windows) or Option‑click (Mac OS) anywhere in the document window.
In the Reflect dialog box, select the axis across which you want the object to be reflected. You can reflect an object across a horizontal, a vertical, or an angled axis.
If the object contains patterns and you want to reflect the patterns, select Patterns. (To reflect only the patterns, deselect Objects.)
To preview the effect before you apply it, select Preview.
Do one of the following:
To reflect the object, click OK.
To reflect a copy of the object, click Copy.
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Answer 1

Thanks for your quick help.  I am new to Illustrator and in the middle of a 7-day free training session at Lynda
.com.   This was driving me crazy--and yes make a star was wonky and now I know why.