Joy, Master Mind, Charlie, Justin and I step out of the tunnel and onto Justin’s Shroom on our way to Colin’s dream. Joy gasps and squeezes my hand with her left hand. With her other hand, she points forward. 

We all look. There, in the distance, amidst a sea of Shrooms, I see something yellow flying. It is as small as a faraway plane, but it is not the shape of a plane. 

“A dragon!” Joy whispers in awe. 

Justin moves with the speed of a pirate and covers Joy’s mouth with his hand. He grabs me with his other hand, and together, he walks us back to the shadow of the tunnel. 

Joy doesn’t struggle. When her father behaves like this, there’s danger, even if she doesn’t know where it comes from. 

Master Mind follows us automatically and Charlie does so slowly.  

Justin releases Joy’s mouth. She looks up at him questioningly. He puts his finger to his own mouth, signifying complete silence. 

We look at the dragon. It was flying further away, but now it changed direction. It’s flying closer. 

Joy looks at Justin, gesturing with her arms and head that she wants to go out to the Shroom now. Justin gestures a flat-out ‘No’, then points to his eyes and to the dragon. He is only allowing her - us - to watch. 

Joy, frustrated, does not argue or fight for her way. Her father is clearly frightened of something.

We watch silently as the dragon moves closer - but then veers away. 

As it veers away, its head turns and it looks directly at us.

The hair on my arms rises. Joy stomps her foot silently in frustration. Justin watches without apparent emotion. Charlie’s mouth is hanging open.

The dragon looks away as if it had seen nothing, and continues to fly.

Only when the dragon is a distant point in the distance, does Justin breathe an audible sigh of relief. This is a sign that we can speak again. Oh, and speak we did.

(To be continued…) 

—Told by Grampa Walt