Suzy and I finally convince Master Mind that privacy for humans is important.
He gets on the ship as we look from the window.
He is searching for something. And, finally, when he finds it, he straightens and turns to look at us. He is now waving a flare gun.
I smile at him through the window and wave. “Okay,” I say softly. “Then pilot the ship, and when you can’t hear us, give us a flare.”
Master Mind nods his huge, robotic head. Apparently, he can indeed hear us from the ship through our home’s walls closed door.
Suzy looks at me and shakes her head.
Bonny’s Revenge begins to move. It rises into the air and heads to the clouds.
“All right, I’ll be speaking speaking speaking,” I say with a slightly louder voice. “Send the flare when you can’t hear me anymore.”
The ship is nearing the clouds. Suzy shakes her head at me. Clearly, this feels like too much trouble and too big an inconvenience.
“I’m talking, talking, talking, talking,” I say. “Suzy, you can join in, since I’m running out of things to say say say say.”
“I just don’t see what the point is anymore.”
I shake my head at how fast her mood changed. Mine hasn’t. “Regardless, we’re talking, talking, talking. Testing testing testing, one, two, three, four…”
A flare is sent out from behind the clouds.
I stop talking and sigh. I look at Suzy.
“This is ridiculous,” she says.
“This is our life now,” I tell her and hold her hand.
She shakes her head. “This is ridiculous. I keep thinking about him out there listening to us. Or that we have to get him to fly away every time we want privacy.”
I shrug. “This is our life now.”
She sighs. I lean in and kiss her. At the very least, I got to kiss her in private.
She sighs again. “This is our life now, huh?”
I look up at the clouds. Can he see us through the window? I close the curtains and look at her. “This is ridiculous.”
—Told by Grampa Walt