Joy hugs the stem of the Shroom for an hour before something happens. The stem leads to the Shroom, which holds the tunnels, which lead somehow, impossibly, into Justin’s dream which seems to be infinite in size and in which anything can happen. And yet the stem has only enough room for ten people at most, and that is if they stand uncomfortably close.
After about an hour, Charlie’s Shroom falls.
Charlie had been sitting on his own Shroom for the entire day and he had just disappeared an hour ago.
“Whaaaa--?!” Joy shouts as she sees the stem extend and Charlie’s Shroom fall about four meters. “Not fair!”
“Oh,” I say. “I believe I understand why the Shrooms fall now.”
I am glad to find my scientists’ mind is sharp even though I am just a dream created by Justin.
Master Mind looks at me. “What have you deduced, Grampa?”
I must admit it is creepy that he calls me ‘Grampa’ with his robotic voice and villain intonations. But he has names for everyone. Justin is ‘The Pirate’, Joy is ‘The Little Pirate’, and Suzy is ‘Grandma’.
“I do believe,” I say proudly, “that the stems only fall when the dreamer isn’t there.”
The antennas on top of Master Mind’s head create small bolts of static electricity. “My memories enforce that theorem. The first time we left the dream, the Pirate’s dream fell. He had not been in his dream for a similar period of time.”
Joy jumps to her feet. “So we don’t need to wait all this time for the Shroom to fall! I just have to wait for Dad to disappear. Did anyone see which Shroom he went into?” she reaches for her jetpack.
And then Justin’s Shroom falls. Joy doesn’t lose her balance. Master Mind doesn’t lose his. And I tighten my grip on Master Mind’s hand. That is like being in a falling elevator.
The Shroom stops suddenly. The glowing Fairy Flies that have taken part of the stem as their home, seem unfazed by the fall.
“Shooting fairies!” Joy kicks the stem. “Shooting fairies! Shooting fairies!”
—Told by Grampa Walt