Once Justin makes sure Charlie has memorized his phone number and once he told him what times are good to call, we suddenly have nothing to do.
Joy is jumping on the sofa up and down, up and down, up and down. “When are you going to wake up, Charlie?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you going to wake up now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dad, what time is it in the waking world?”
“I don’t know. It’s been a while since we came here, but… I don’t know.”
Joy collapses on the sofa, as if bereft of all strength.
“When is everybody going to wake up?!” she’s exasperated.
I try to find a way to pass the time. “Do you guys want to go on an adventure?”
Justin shakes his head. Charlie says “Nah” and Joy groans.
A few minutes pass in silence.
Joy goes to the window and stares outside. “I hate waiting,” she says through her teeth.
She looks at Charlie, who has not disappeared, and walks to the door. She looks outside. “I hate waiting!”
She stares at the clouds for another minute, then shouts at them, “I HATE WAITING!”
“Justin, do you know what I do when I have to wait for a long time?” Suzy asks Justin, but is clearly talking to Joy.
“What, Mom?”
“Sometimes I like to draw. I just sit down and draw something. And that just passes the time.”
“That sounds really nice, Mom. What do you think, Joy? Do you want to draw something?”
“Charlie,” Joy goes up to him, ignoring Suzy’s advice. “Can I kill you? Please please please please pleeeeeez?”
“No!” Charlie crosses his arms. “You can never ever kill me!”
Joy pouts. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just going to scare you so you wake up.”
“No! You can’t ever ever ever kill me! We’re friends!”
Joy, still pouting, looks down. “Okay. I’ll never kill you. I don’t want to kill you anyway. Do you think you’ll wake up soon?”
“I dunno.”
Joy sighs. She finally has a way to reach into the waking world. Charlie is going to get Justin to remember Joy after he wakes up. If everything goes well, Joy’s entire life will change.
Waiting is hard. We wait.
(To be continued…)
—Told by Grampa Walt