It has been a couple of weeks since our journey to the Night Planet. Joy hasn’t mentioned wanting to go to the dream with no exit since then, but Justin, Suzy, and I all know that it’s a matter of time.
For the last few days I’ve been keeping a closer watch on Joy, half expecting her to go off by herself when no one is looking.
But the trouble this time does not come from Joy.
Charlie arrives at the dream about an hour after Justin does. He has learned to fly a jetpack that he just lands on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge without trouble. We had left enough jetpacks, made permanent by Joy’s dream, that he can always get here even if he wakes up without returning his jetpack to his dream.
Justin is teaching Joy a little bit of world history, as part of her ‘school’. But Charlie interrupts them. Suzy and I are on the deck, sitting on our lawn chairs, while Master Mind stands near the wheel and looks at the horizon.
“Uh, Joy, Joy’s Dad, I want to say something.”
They both look at him. “Is everything okay, Charlie?” Joy asks him, concerned.
“Joy’s Dad, are you listening?”
Justin stands up straighter, ready for bad news. “Yeah?”
“Before coming here I went to look at that dream.”
“Which dream?” Joy asks.
“The dark dream. The dream where your dad says you can’t see the suns.”
Justin is upset, but holding it in. “Why did you do that, Charlie?”
“Well, Joy can’t go there because she can’t get out. But I’m a dreamer. I didn’t want to go in, I just wanted to look. But if I fell in, I could always wake up at the end of the dream.”
“What did you see?”
“It was dark. It was really dark. I couldn’t see anything. Your dad is right, the suns shine inside the tunnel, but they don’t shine into the dream.”
Justin nods.
“How can that be?” Joy asks.
“It doesn’t matter why,” Justin starts aggressively, then thinks better of it. “It’s because the dreamer, Amahle, is blind. She’s been blind from birth. She can’t see. And she trained her dream somehow to not show any light ever. Even when she was awake, I couldn’t make the suns shine. The fire I made didn’t create light. The light I created didn’t shine. It’s a dream that doesn’t ever have any light in it. Ever. Only darkness. And you can’t find the suns.”
Charlie nods. “I agree. It’s very dangerous for Joy. If you go in, you’ll never find your way back. Do you understand, Joy?”
Joy looks down, dejected. “Yeah.”
“It’s too dangerous for you, right, Joy?” Charlie’s voice is empathetic. He understands her pain.
She nods.
Charlie nods as well, and looks at Justin. “See? That’s why I think she should go.”
Justin’s jaw drops and Joy looks at him in shock.
“I’m sorry?” Justin says.
“Look. She agreed without a problem. She knows it’s dangerous. She understands the danger. She wouldn’t do something dangerous to herself. She wouldn’t do anything crazy. Would you, Joy?” Joy shakes her head. “She’s super responsible, Joy’s Dad. She should go. Just to see it. We’ll tie a rope to her in case she falls, but she won’t fall and we’ll tie it to Master Mind. But she won’t fall.”
Joy’s eyes light up and she looks at Justin, afraid to talk.
Justin looks at Joy then at Charlie. I know his face. He thinks Charlie is right but he’s also worried he’s been tricked in some way. Justin looks from Charlie to Joy, back to Charlie, then back to Joy. “Joy, are you responsible enough?”
Joy opens her mouth very quickly, then seems to force herself to answer slowly. “Yuh huh.”
Justin thinks for a few more seconds. “I trust that you’re responsible, Joy. You wouldn’t do something crazy. I trust you!”
He puts it as a statement, but it’s clearly a question. Joy nods. “I’m responsible,” she says slowly.
Justin considers it again, then says, “All right. Let’s go.”
Joy’s mouth is open and wordless. She looks at Charlie and is afraid to show any more excitement than that. Charlie smiles, proud of himself.
Apparently, we’re going to the dream with no light, the dream with no exit.
—Told by Grampa Walt