(Reminder: The year: 2007)
“Hugh. Nice to meet you,” Justin offers his hand. “I’m Justin.”
“Pleasure,” Hugh shakes his hand.
“This is my father, Walter. My mother, Susanne. And you just met my daughter, Joy. Her friend was Charlie. The big robot, that, uh, chased her in the flying ship,” he sneaks a look at Colin to see if it’s okay to mention a robot and a flying ship, “that’s Master Mind.”
“Pleasure,” Hugh shakes my hand. “Enchanted,” he kisses Suzy’s hand.
“Oh, laying it on a bit too thick, aren’t you?” Colin tells him.
“She’s enchanting, I’m enchanted,” Hugh tells him.
“What happened with Charlie?” Justin asks. “I feel responsible for him when he’s in the dream. If you know what he reacted to…”
Hugh shakes his head. “I was just talking about the movie I’m making.”
“The one where you follow a woman transitioning to be a man?” Colin says with an accusing tone. “Maybe he reacted to that?”
Justin shakes his head. “Maybe he’s never heard of that, but I don’t think Charlie would react like that to–”
“Not everyone is so open to all the different possibilities out there as you think they are,” Colin tells Hugh angrily. “Some people are not open to–”
“The City is not a seven-year-old kid,” Hugh raises his voice. “And even the City, with all its old white conservative money types may be more open than you think. They let you in, didn’t they? They may not see you’re gay but they can definitely see you’re black.”
“Guys, guys, guys,” Justin says. “What happened with Charlie?”
“Hugh didn’t hurt him,” Colin says.
Justin is taken aback. “I didn’t think he did. I just want to know why he ran away.”
Hugh holds Colin’s arm softly. “It didn’t cross his mind that I’d hurt him, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me that in public,” Colin whispers through his teeth.
He looks at the three of us as if he’d been caught red-handed. “This is, uh, a far more private affair than it seems. This is my dream, and I seem to not have privacy in it. I’d like some privacy.”
“This is my dream,” Justin says with abruptness. “You can go to yours. That’s the way out,” he points to the suns.
Colin nods. A jetpack appears on his back and he flies up to the sun .
“I’ll see you soon!” Justin calls out to him awkwardly as Hugh disappears.
—Told by Grampa Walt