Charlie and Joy sit calmly on Justin’s Shroom. Justin has woken up. Charlie will wake up soon. Joy will go to sleep in a few hours.
They both wear their jetpacks - a must, since Joy can fall into the abyss - which really helps me calm down when I see them sitting almost at the edge of the Shroom, legs stretched forward, and feet dangling over the endlessness. If they could sit right on the edge, they would. But it bends downwards like the top of a globe.
Master Mind stands near the stem, keeping his distance from the Fairy Flies on the stem. I’m sitting right at the exit of the tunnel. I’m a watcher, not a protector.
“Look at that,” Charlie points at his Shroom, about ten meters below them. “My Shroom is so far down that you can’t jump to it.”
Joy shrugs. “I think it’s because you appear on Bonny’s Revenge in Dad’s dream. The Shroom just drops without you.”
Charlie nods in agreement.
They look around.
“Do you ever think, Joy,” he says, “about all the dreams and Dreamers we’ve seen?”
“Sure.”
“I mean… They’re all grownups.”
“Mmm hmmm.”
“They’re all your dad’s age.”
“That’s the way it is in the Dream.”
“But it isn’t. My dream is right here, outside your dad’s dream.”
She looks at him in surprise. She’d never thought about that. And, to be honest, neither have I.
“So kids can be right here.”
“Yeah…” she answers slowly, deep in thought.
“Where are all the kids?” Charlie asks. “In all the Dreams we’ve seen, where are they?”
Joy stands up, pumped. She looks at the Shrooms around her, clearly marking in her head the Dreamer in each one of them. As she looks at Shrooms that are three Shrooms away or more, she begins to point at them with her finger. She does this, checking Shroom by Shroom, as she walks around Justin’s Shroom.
“Where are all the children?” she says, once she completes the circle. “We haven’t seen one except you.”
“I don’t know. It’s strange, huh?”
“Maybe there aren’t a lot children in the waking world?”
“No, no, there’s tons of them!”
They look around at the Shrooms in silence.
“We need to find the children,” she tells him.
“We need to find the children,” he nods.
I stand up. “Joy, just to make sure we’re on the same page. We have to wait till tomorrow for your dad to come here, before we start looking for the children.”
“Bah!” Joy says. She looks aside at Charlie for support, but he’s no longer there. He’d woken up. “Blah!” she says at that, lowers her head, and heads for the tunnel. “Okay.”
I guess that tomorrow we start looking for the children.
—Told by Grampa Walt