After Madelyn flies off god-knows-where, Joy wants to go after her, but Master Mind refuses to let her out of the hammock. Her protests do not help, since he no longer accepts her orders after what happened with the magic carpet.
Joy stops her protests as her own leg hurts more and more.
She lies back and moans in pain.
I look at Suzy. “Do we have anything against pain in the house?”
Suzy shakes her head. “All our medicine is gone. Justin didn’t make it part of the house when he created it.”
I nod. Makes sense. You can’t expect him to think of everything.
Joy moans and groans for a couple of hours while we can’t help her. Her wound is serious. An arrow went through her leg, after all. The pain seems unbearable.
She holds Suzy’s hand but soon gets tired of that
After another hour or so Justin appears on the deck. “Justin! Justin! Quickly!” I yell at him.
A jetpack appears on his back and he’s next to me in a few seconds. “Is everything okay? Is Joy okay?”
We all start talking at the same time. Joy immediately starts talking about Madelyn and her permanent legs. Master Mind begins to retell the incident with the magic carpet. Suzy tells Justin Joy is in pain, and I ask him if he can make medicine.
“Stop stop stop!” Justin says. “One at a time! Most urgent, who’s the most urgent?”
“Pain killers,” I tell him. “I need you to give Joy a pain killer. She’s in terrible pain!”
“Oh my god,” Justin goes up to her and caresses her. “How are you doing? How’s your leg?”
“Doesn’t hurt,” she says.
“She’s been groaning for two hours,” Suzy tells him. “Don’t listen to her!”
“It’s okay,” Joy insists.
“Joy, you don’t need to be a hero for me. Pain tells you you should take care of your body.” A pill appears in his hand. “Take this. After a few minutes it will make the pain go away. Swallow it with water.”
Joy takes the pill. It glows the familiar soft blue. She puts it in her mouth and takes a big gulp from her bottle.
A thought occurs to me, as a chemist. “Are you sure it’ll work? Creating pills out of nothing, without you knowing what’s in them.”
Justin shrugs and shakes his head. “I hope it works. You have a body. I don’t know how that works.”
“Why don’t you want me to be a hero?” Joy asks.
Justin looks at her. “Huh?”
“You said not to be a hero. Why shouldn’t I be a hero?”
Justin laughs. “Joy, Joy, you’re a heroine. You’re a great heroine. It’s a… an idiom or whatever it’s called. It’s a phrase that means that you never have to show me that you’re not hurt. Because… Because some people think they’re heroes if they never show pain and hurt. But you know and I know that you have to show pain and you have to say when you’re hurt. That’s not what makes a heroine.”
Joy nods. “Winning adventures makes you a heroine!”
Justin thinks about it for a second, then says, “That’s a lesson for another day. What else happened?”
Master Mind, Joy, Suzy and I all start talking at the same time.
(To be continued…)
—Told by Grampa Walt