After twenty more minutes, we see Justin, Joy, and Charlie begin to head back slowly from General Hawk’s grave.
They walk around our home, but remain on the porch and in the walkway. When I see they’re not going up the ramp, I motion to Suzy and we head down to join them. Master Mind walks behind us.
“I think we’re not going to have an adventure today,” Justin says, sitting on the steps.
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Suzy sighs. “A friend sacrificed his life for hers when she was six,” she says as she looks at me meaningfully.
“That is incorrect, Pirate Mother,” Master Mind says. “Two friends sacrificed themselves for her when she was six.”
Suzy looks at him, and her gaze lingers around the thread that she and Joy had sewn Master Mind’s two halves back together.
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Suzy and I wait for Justin on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge. Joy has banished us from our own home because we asked too many questions. Charlie has not been banished, but he stands there on the deck and looks at Joy from afar and does not move to join her.
Justin finally appears on the deck, always in the same place, always at the same angle.
He sees Suzy’s and my worried looks and immediately says, “What happened? Is she okay?”
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“Asshole,” Joy says. “Asshole. Asshole.”
Suzy looks at me and shakes her head. Justin just cursed the villain he and Joy and Charlie were fighting and disappeared.
The villain vanished with him, but the bad word stayed behind.
“I don’t understand why it’s a curse.” Joy parked the ship next to our island and she, Charlie, and Master Mind came to talk to Suzy and me.
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Master Mind takes two steps forward, grabs Joy around the torso, and steps back.
“Hey!” Joy says.
Amahle’s spooky music rises.
“Guys, guys, there’s no need for panic,” Justin raises his hands. “This mummy is not going to move!”
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Colin, Madelyn, and Yumio enter our living room first. Then Justin does. Then Charlie and Joy, holding hands. Joy and Justin are the only ones who don’t seem afraid. Justin, perhaps, because it is his mummy. And I’m not sure why Joy isn’t more cautious. But at least she’s protected by five Dreamers who will leap to her aid if one Dreamer goes crazy.
Master Mind follows next. Suzy peeks through.
“Oh, my,” Suzy says. “There is a mummy in our living room!”
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It’s a busy morning on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge. We have all our dreamers here at once when Justin arrives: Amahle, Madelyn, Yumio, Charlie, Colin, and now Justin has joined.
Joy, Charlie, Madelyn and Yumio have been playing Catch in the Clouds, all wearing Yumio’s mechas. Colin has been drinking tea with Suzy and me on the deck while waiting for Justin.
When Justin appears, everyone gathers and tells him the plan.
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“So why would she take so much trouble to break our mirror in secret and then hide part of it?’
Justin smiles at me. “What?! I know something you don’t know?”
“All right,” I tell him.
“I figured something out that you didn’t figure out, Dad?”
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“Yumio, you want to take Joy and Charlie to Mecha Planet? I’ll drop off my parents and join you.”
Charlie and Joy smile at each other in approval.
“Sure thing,” Yumio says. She jumps off the railing and into the air.
One of these big robots I’ve learned to call mechas - one of those mechas takes form around Yumio, and with it she is as tall as the mast.
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We wait for the Dreamers.
Madelyn appears first on Bonny Revenge’s deck. She says she heard nothing and knows nothing about the broken mirror.
Yumio comes next, flying in from her dream inside the body of one of her flying mecha robots that Joy had made permanent for her.
Yumio says she knows nothing.
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“Well, uh,” Suzy says as none of us have anything to add to the mystery of the broken mirror. “Let’s, uh…”
“You know what,” I say. “Let’s leave it till someone comes.”
“I’ll go get the broom,” Suzy says.
I know I should volunteer to sweep the floor instead of her, but, like always, I don’t feel like it, and she’s always done it.
“By my evil maker,” Master Mind says, staring at the pieces. “I have just organized the pieces in my mind.” Suzy walks in with a broom and a dustpan as Master Mind finishes his thought, “There is a piece missing.”
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Joy is asleep. The Dreamers who appear on Bonny’s Revenge - Justin, Madelyn, Amahle, Charlie - are all awake. The Dreamers who visit - Colin and Yumio - have woken up as well. Master Mind as usual guards Joy on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, and Suzy and I sit on the porch, talking.
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“Madelyn, please get rid of the babies,” Justin implores her. I’ve counted fifteen babies on the limo seats and floor. Suzy is holding two of them, Madelyn another one, I took another one, but it’s not helping. And the babies are beginning to cry.
“Get rid of the traffic jam, Justin,” she tells him. “We have to get to Bordeaux, not Paris!”
“The babies, Madelyn!”
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As Madelyn descends with her super wheelchair towards the convertible limo, Justin suddenly returns to normal size.
He cups his face in his hands. “This is so embarrassing,” he says.
“Dad, why’d you turn into a baby?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he says quickly.
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“Grampa, what’s the matter with Dad!” Joy is frightened. “Grandma, why are you laughing?”
“I’m going to die,” he looks at his wrinkled hands. “It’s the end.”
Suzy can’t stop laughing.
“It’s going to be all right, Joy,” I tell her. “It’s going to be all right. It’s just his–”
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“Three!” Master Mind ends his count.
Justin’s face is all clenched in anger at the traffic jam in front of him, the one he had created.
It doesn’t seem that Master Mind is having any influence on him.
Master Mind lowers the rope ladder. “Grab the rope, Little Pirate,” Master Mind says loudly enough for us to hear. “I will take you to safety before this gets out of hand.”
Joy looks at the rope hanging just to the side. She takes Justin’s hand in both of hers. “Calm down, Dad. Calm down. Let’s have a birthday party.”
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We can see Paris through the driver’s window, not more than a few kilometers away.
“This is nice,” Joy lies down on some of the chairs next to Suzy and me. “What kind of a car did you say this is?”
“It’s a limousine,” Justin says impatiently as the driver begins to decelerate approaching the highway.
“Why’d you say ‘limo’ before?”
“Oh, no!” Justin says, looking forward through the window. “God damn traffic jam!”
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Justin is in a bad mood. He turns down Suzy’s idea to eat in Scaramouche, saying he just did that with the two of us. He turns down the idea of any restaurant, since it’s the Dream, and he doesn’t really need to eat.
“Look,” Suzy tells him, exasperated. “I understand you just went through this with the two of us. But we weren’t there. And, you know what, she wasn’t there,” she points to Joy. “How many times is her father going to turn thirty?”
Justin’s annoyance turns milder. “Just this once, Mom.”
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Justin appears on the ship, exactly in the same position as always, right down to the angle of the face and the position of the eyes.
We’re all there, waiting right where we knew would be the first place he looked at, all there, on a deck filled with colorful balloons.
As soon as he appears, Master Mind, Joy, Suzy, and I yell: “Surprise!”
Justin jumps back as a sword appears in one hand and a laser pistol in the other.
He looks around in panic.
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