At my helpless shouts for help, Justin comes running out of the house.
“Oh my god!” he stops in the pathway leading up to Bonny’s Revenge as soon as he sees Joy and the kids looking at weapons in the weapons cabinet. “Joy! No weapons! No one touch the weapons!”
Angela comes out running.
“Justin, what’s–Holy shit! Dad, Mom, there’s a huge ship parked outside your house!”
“Joy! Now!” Justin orders her.
“Mom, look!” Tommy raises a laser pistol into the air. “Pew-pew-pew!” he mimes shooting the clouds. It takes me a second to realize he doesn’t know it’s a real gun. From the corner of my eye I see Suzy come out of the house.
“Tommy, give it to me!” Joy tries to reach for his hand. “Dad says–”
“A pirate’s trying to take my gun!” Tommy jumps backwards and aims the pistol at Joy.
“No!” Justin leaps into the air towards him, but too late.
“Take that!” Tommy fires at Joy.
But as he begins to fire, Charlie steps right in front of him, and the pistol shoots laser at Charlie’s stomach.
“Ow!” Charlie flies backwards at Joy, and the two of them fall on the deck. Justin lands on the deck next to where Tommy had been. But he’s a few steps away now.
“Yee-ha!” Tommy’s happy. “Pew!” He fires again at Joy, but Master Mind slaps his hand from behind, and he shoots into the air.
Justin grabs Tommy’s hand and squeezes.
“Ow! Ow!” Tommy cries out in pain. The laser pistol cracks, shatters, and turns to dust.
Angela is now on the deck and grabs Tommy from Justin, hugging her child.
“What the hell is going on here?!”
Tommy’s crying as Joy and Charlie stand up.
“Did you just hurt Tommy?” Angela accuses Justin. “Did you just hurt my kid?”
Justin, panting, looks at her. Then at Tommy. Then at Joy. Then at Master Mind. Then at the weapons cabinet. Then back at Angela.
“Joy could have died,” he says.
“From what? A toy?”
Justin pants and doesn’t answer.
“Justin, I’m talking to you!”
But Justin doesn’t answer. He’s trying to think and calm down.
“Yeah,” he finally says, looking at her. “You have to go.”
Angela, Tommy, and Grace disappear. Justin looks at Charlie.
“Charlie. That was very brave what you did. That was very very brave.”
Charlie beams.
“Master Mind,” Justin looks at the killer robot. “Even friends and family can be dangerous.”
“I understand that now. I have failed the Little Pirate. I will not fail her again.”
“Joy, weapons are not toys,” Justin tells her.
“Yes, they are, you just have to know how to use them.”
Justin whirls around. “Weapons are not toys!”
“Adventures are our games,” she responds, matching his tone. “So the weapons are our toys! You just have to know how to use them!”
“Weapons! Are not! Toys!”
“We use them as toys! All! The time!”
Justin stomps his foot on the deck in frustration. “I am done with this goddamn day!”
—Told by Grampa Walt