Justin appears on the deck of Bonnie’s Revenge and looks around.
He quickly spots Joy at the wheel and Charlie next to her, he spots me leaning on the deck next to the kids. Turning around, he spots Master Mind, standing firm at the door to the Infinite Prison, ever the watchful guard.
“Uh… what are you guys doing?” he asks.
“Charlie’s taking me to see a movie!”
Justin turns away, distracted, and looks at the suns. “Oh, that’s great, that’s great,” he says.
“Have you ever seen a movie, Dad?” Joy looks over her shoulder.
“Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, plenty of times,” he mumbles as a jetpack appears on his back. “You guys are okay, right?”
“You going somewhere, son?” I ask.
“Yeah, I just, I just have someplace to go.” Joy looks at him over her shoulder again. “Joy, you’re okay with Master Mind and your grampa, right? You don’t need me to protect you, right?”
Joy, pleased, looks ahead. “I’m fine. I don’t need them, either!”
“Dad, Master Mind, Charlie, take care of her. Joy, go see a movie, don’t follow me.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she waves him off.
He rises into the air.
I stand up, feeling like something strange has happened. I’ve been in the dream for almost five months now, and not once had Justin left Joy alone and left the dream. What was he doing?!
Justin flew straight into a sun and disappeared from view.
He’d left her alone. I couldn’t believe it.
Where was he going? Why? And why now?
The kids seemed to not notice. They were too busy talking about which movie Charlie should show her and what a movie theater was.
This was strange. It was very strange.
—Told by Grampa Walt