Justin disappears first.
Joy looks at Suzy, then at Charlie.
“I guess it’s morning,” Charlie says calmly, sitting on the sofa. “I’ll wake up early, Joy. I’ll ask my Mom to use the phone when I come back from school. I’ll call him, I promise.”
Joy nods. I have never seen her as speechless as this. She is overwhelmed by whatever may happen once Charlie reaches her father in the waking world and reminds him that he is raising a girl in his dreams.
“See you tomorrow, Joy,” Charlie says.
He looks down, and suddenly he’s gone.
There is silence now. There is silence in our home, there’s silence outside. The wind has died down. Most of the clouds are missing. The waves of the ocean become so small they do not make a noise.
I’ve learned to recognize this as the silence of a dream without dreamers.
Joy looks around and her fingers tap the wall.
“I must say I am as intrigued now as I was when first leaving the dream,” Master Mind says. “Both sides of me find the unknown exciting.”
There is another long silence. There is nothing to do but wait. Joy only needs to wait until she falls asleep. Suzy and I, oh, and Master Mind, too - we don’t sleep.
“Do you want to play chess?” I suggest to Joy. I’ve started teaching her lately.
Joy shakes her head.
“Do you want to go with me to the trampoline stairs?” Suzy offers one of Joy’s favorite pastimes.
She shakes her head.
“Do you want to--” Suzy starts again.
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” Joy says emphatically. “I’m going to look for Red.”
“ ‘Red’?” Suzy says.
“The Red Dragon,” Joy explains. “The last time Dad and I saw her was on my sixth birthday. She went to save her sister dragons from slavery. I’m seven now. I haven’t seen her. We’ve called her and she hasn’t come. If she was a dream that disappears, Dad would have made her come. But he couldn’t. I know that when I touched her I loved her, so I know she’s permanent and real. Which means that she’s somewhere in this dream. And maybe she’s in trouble, which is why she can’t come when we call her. I think she’s been captured.”
Suzy raises her eyebrows. “You’re not going to fight something that can capture a dragon, are you?”
Joy touches the sword sheathed on her belt. “I’m going to find her. I’ll wait for Dad to rescue her. We have time. I’m not going to sleep. Let’s go find her! Who’s coming?”
Master Mind steps forward, “I will be at your side, of course, Little Pirate.” Joy nods at him.
Suzy looks at me. “I think, uh, I should come this time.” I know her. She’s not there to find the Dragon, Suzy’s there to help Joy go through a rough few hours.
“Me, too,” I say. “A team of four.”
And off we go to Bonny’s Revenge, with Joy at the helm.
(To be continued…)
—Told by Grampa Walt