Justin puts his hand on Joy’s shoulder. “I think Charlie is saying he doesn’t want us here. We should respect that.”
Charlie nods, while his eyes seem to be full of fear.
Charlie’s mother puts a hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “Charlie, I’ve never seen you this rude. What’s wrong?”
“Stay away from her, Mom!”
Joy explodes in anger, “I won’t stay away! Not from you and not from her!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Justin grabs hold of Joy as she tries to run towards Charlie. He holds her in his arms. “Whoa, Joy, hold on.”
A tank appears behind Charlie. Justin turns his attention, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You too! There’s no need for that! Make the tank go away!”
“What tank?” Charlie’s mother turns around, but by the time she does the tank is gone.
“I’m sorry about the tank,” Charlie looks down. “I didn’t mean to. But Joy, you can’t get close to my mother!”
“Why not?” Joy struggles in Justin’s arms. “I can talk to her! And she can hug me! And she can--”
“No!” Justin says. “Joy, I’m holding you tightly and I know I’m a dreamer. Struggling won’t help you. Calm down. Something’s bothering Charlie.” Joy keeps struggling, but with less force. She’s keeping up appearances, apparently. “Charlie, what’s happening?”
Charlie looks at his mother, and his mother goes back to the beach. “Come back when you’re finished playing with your friends!” she says.
Charlie calms down. Joy struggles half-heartedly.
“Joy can’t ever ever touch my mother!” he says.
“Why!” Joy screams.
“Why not, Charlie?” Justin says calmly.
“Because if she touches her, maybe she’ll make her stay. And if she stays and dies, I’ll never dream about my mother again. Just like my dad.”
Justin looks at Joy. Joy stops struggling. “That makes sense, Joy. Charlie can’t dream about his dad, anymore. He wants to be able to dream about his mother for the rest of his life.”
Joy frowns a deep frown, as if she’s fighting back tears.
“So why haven’t you come to the dream, Charlie?” Justin says.
“Sometimes I just want to play with Mom,” he says.
“That makes sense.”
Joy makes her body limp, and Justin releases her. She stands on the ground and looks at Charlie with anger. “Makes sense. Makes total sense. Bye bye!” she turns her back and walks off in a huff towards the park.
“Thank you for explaining, Charlie. We’ll let you play with your Mom,” Justin says. Charlie nods and runs back to his mother. Master Mind is already walking with Joy at her pace.
Justin runs after Joy to catch up with her. I run far more slowly but I can hear what they say when he catches up with her. “Wow, that was not easy to hear, was it, Joy? But I’m sure you understand…”
Joy whirls around suddenly, and violently shouts, “WHERE’S MY MOTHER, DAD?”
Justin stands in place, shocked. “WHERE’S MY MOTHER?! I WANT TO PLAY WITH MY MOTHER, TOO!”
Justin shakes his head. “I don’t know, Joy. I don’t know.”
—Told by Grampa Walt