“This is all my fault” Charlie shouts, crying.
“Charlie,” Justin lowers Joy and she takes a step towards Charlie. “What’s your fault?”
“General Hawk died because my dad killed him! My nightmare killed General Hawk!” Charlie is crying. “And he’s dead because I couldn’t kill my dad! Because I killed my dad!”
Joy looks down at Charlie’s shadow. I notice for the first time that it is not an ordinary shadow. There are things moving in it, like a bunch of black-and-white movies.
Joy points to one of them. In it, Charlie is being held by a young man and they are both in the air.
“You didn’t know,” Joy says. “You didn’t control him.”
“I couldn’t kill him! And because I couldn’t kill him General Hawk died! And you almost died!”
Joy shakes her head, but doesn’t seem to have anything to say.
Justin stands on his knees in front of Charlie and looks him in the eye. “Charlie, General Hawk didn’t die because you had a nightmare. He died because I made him that way. I created him. I made him an heroic villain. A villain with a good heart, a brave villain who would protect Joy no matter the cost once he realized the error of his ways. I made him that way. Do you understand?”
Charlie tries to nod, but bursts out again in a shout at the grave, “I’m sorry you’re dead, General Hawk!”
“Do you understand what I said, Charlie? Do you understand I created him that way. And if it wasn’t your nightmare, it would have been someone else’s. This is what General Hawk was born to do. See?”
Charlie nods and wipes away the tears.
He’s clearly not seeing Justin’s point, but trying to.
“Okay,” Justin stands up. “Maybe we’ll talk about it again another time, okay?”
I put my hand on Justin’s shoulder. “Good job,” I whisper to him.
He sighs and whispers to me, “It’s not done.” With a louder voice, he says, “Who wants to speak for His Majesty’s Fifth Flying Regiment?”
(To be continued…)
—Told by Grampa Walt