Joy takes the helm. Again. 

“Come on, Charlie, come on!” she urges him to stand next to her. 

The grownups are hanging back, letting the kids have their fun. Suzy, Justin, and me. Oh, the grownups and the ex-villain. Master Mind is leaning on the railing. His top half and bottom half are only half sewn together. 

For some reason, a robot being sewn back to health should not make sense to me, but it does. I look at the kids enjoying themselves. 

“What, you drive the ship?” Charlie walks up to her, amazed. 

“Just like Dad!” 

Suzy looks at Justin. Justin raises an eyebrow in comment but doesn’t say anything. I think he’s saying, Let her have this. 

Joy pulls on the wheel and Bonny’s Revenge begins to move forward and up. 

Charlie gasps. “Oh! Cool!” 

We begin flying over the ocean, gaining speed. 

“See that ocean? It goes on forever!” Joy points forward. 

Justin opens his mouth to protest. Then he shuts it again. “Right, a dream,” he says under his breath. 

“See over there? That’s Cloud City! When Dad’s here, it’s full of people!” 

“Whoa! Cool!” 

I see Justin looking at the city and realization sinks in. “Ohhh….” he mutters. “Right…” 

“And over there, that’s the place Dad created just for me. It has a waterfall and wind pushes you up in the air. So you can practice flipping in the air.” 

“I didn’t create it just for…” Justin whispers to himself. “It was just there...Oh…” 

“You want to practice flip flopping in the air later?” Joy asks Charlie.

“Ehhhh… I’m not sure,” he says.

“And over there we’ve got the trampoline stairs! You can just jump up and up and up till you get to their kingdom! It’s so much fun!” 

“Whoa! Cool!” Charlie’s face is so happy and full of wonder as if he was seeing the greatest thing he’d ever seen.

Justin moves away from me. He leans against the railing and looks out. 

Like Charlie, he seems to be looking at this world for the first time. 

Suzy goes up to him. I hang back, but close enough to hear. “What’s the matter, son?” she asks, putting her hand on his back. 

“Jesus Christ,” he says. “I created this place! Dream by dream, day by day, I created this crazy place! And this is where she’d been living. This is where she’d grown up!” 

Suzy nods and caresses his back. She doesn’t say anything. 

I don’t know. What can you say?

“Want me to take you to other planets?” Joy says. 

Charlie screams in delight. 

—Told by Grampa Walt