Justin raises his hands. “Hey there, hey there,” he says in a calm voice. “We come in peace.” 

Three of the children are aiming their guns at us over their breakfast table, here in the desert. The other children look at us with fear in their eyes. 

“Everybody, keep your guns down,” Justin instructs everyone in a calm tone. “Master Mind, step in front of her.” 

The three kids all point their guns at Justin. 

“You’re not going to shoot me, are you going to shoot me?” he says in a very calm voice, his arms still raised, as Master Mind places himself between Joy and the children. “Do you understand English? Parlez vous Francais? Dreamers, prepare something that will protect us from bullets,” he says that last sentence in the same tone as if speaking to the children.

One of the children with the guns, the tallest one, shakes his head. “Francais non.” 

“Okay. Okay. We will just go…” But his voice dies as one of the kids shouts loudly. 

Justin looks sideways. “I have created an invisible wall between us and them,” Madelyn says. Justin nods. 

Joy is hiding behind Master Mind’s legs. “They’re all dreams,” she whispers. She must have looked at their shadows. I don’t. I can’t. I’m too nervous. My hands are up, I’m behind everyone, but no one’s protecting me. That’s reasonable, I’m only a dream. But I’m still me. 

I hear two adult voices shouting now in a language I don’t recognize. We are in Somalia, after all. 

Their voices are getting closer.

“There’s no need for trouble,” Justin says with his calm voice. “We’ll just go.” And he takes a step back. 

An adult around Justin’s age comes into view from behind the tent. He’s black, probably local, and his face shows a life of hardships. You don’t often get that on people Justin’s age. He is armed with a gun in each hand, and is wearing a dirty T-shirt, long jeans, and a beret. 

He sees us and immediately starts shouting for help in a foreign language. 

Unlike the children, he doesn’t wait. He aims the guns and fires at all of us with both, right above the dream kids’ heads. 

Everything becomes chaos! I duck. The kids duck. The bullets seem to bounce off Madelyn’s invisible wall. Justin waves his hands and something explodes far behind the man. Charlie puts his hands to his face and a huge rock falls on the dinner table. 

“Distract and retreat! Now! Everybody to the tunnel!” Justin shouts. 

The man doesn’t stop firing. There’s so much noise. Things are exploding all around me. I can’t see what’s protected or not. Madelyn shouts something. Justin shouts something. Charlie screams. Master Mind’s voice says something. 

I feel his hand around my stomach and we rise into the air. I have a jetpack, but I didn’t even think to use it. 

I look up and see Joy flying towards the tunnel. Madelyn is behind her on her flying super wheelchair, a protective bubble surrounding the two of them. Justin is behind them, flying backwards, as he fires with machine guns back at the camp. I don’t spot Charlie.

There’s so much noise. 

Then we’re in the tunnel. 

There’s still chaos. Joy is here, I can see her, lying on the ground. Justin is checking her, asking if she’s all right. Madelyn looks from the exit to Joy. Charlie is here, talking about how scary that was. Master Mind lets me go. And I can’t think straight. 

We’re slowly getting calmer. 

“Okay. Let’s count,” Justin says. “Is everyone all here?” 

As we count heads, I relax a bit, and everybody seems to relax as well. “That was crazy,” Justin says. “That was too close. Good job, everyone!” 

(To be continued….)

—Told by Grampa Walt