“But how will I go,” Madelyn says. She has just agreed to go on an adventure with us into an unknown dream. “My wheelchair has disappear!” 

“I can help you!” Joy seems to be high on adrenaline. She has not stopped being excited since she discovered Madelyn outside her dream. “We need to go back to the elevator in your dream. You imagine your wheelchair. Then I touch it and make it real. And you can bring it here.” 

“Yes?” Madelyn looks at her, still seeming to be trying to comprehend the big change of scenery and scale of her dreams. 

“Yes!” 

“Let’s go!” 

“I can lift you and walk you back through the tunnel, invalid,” Master Mind volunteers. 

“Master Mind!” Justin and I both shout at him. 

Madelyn raises her hand at Master Mind. “I can walk by myself, robot. Zhoy, you are coming with me?” 

“Me, too!” Charlie says. 

“Me three!” I say, getting carried away with the children’s enthusiasm. 

Madelyn walks into the tunnel by raising her body with her arms, pushing herself forward, then landing on her bottom. Her legs, both amputated right underneath her pelvis, are raised so that she doesn’t land on them. 

Justin looks at Joy. “Joy, just the elevator, right? Then you’re coming back.” 

Joy nods. I notice far too late what Justin was referring to: she is going in without the protection of Master Mind or Justin. He is giving her freedom where he can be certain she’ll be safe. 

As we go through the tunnel, I hear Justin tell Master Mind. “You will not use that word about Madelyn or anyone!” 

“Which of the thirteen words in that sentence are you referring to, Pirate? ‘Tunnel’?” 

Their voices trail off as we get further in. “This is a very strange dream,” Madelyn says. 

“It isn’t a dream,” Joy says. 

“Technically,” Charlie corrects her, “it is a dream.” 

“Yeah. I mean, we’re not part of your dream. The Shrooms outside are not part of your dreams.”

“We will see,” Madelyn says. 

We have almost reached the elevator. 

“Madelyn, do you remember your dreams?” Joy asks her. 

“Not when I am awake, Zhoy. Only when I dream again. We are here.” 

“I’m pressing the button!” Charlie leaps at the elevator button. 

We go in. 

“Okay, now imagine your wheelchair,” Joy says, “and it will appear.” 

Madelyn smiles. “I am thinking about my tennis match with the robot. And going on adventures. And being in the dream.” 

“Yes?” 

Madelyn closes her eyes and next to us appears a wheelchair. Except that it is not an ordinary wheelchair. It has small sci-fi jets on all sides. It has laser guns behind and under both arm rests, and a couple of rocket launchers at the bottom. This is very similar to the wheelchair she used to play tennis against Master Mind a few months ago. 

“Niiiiice!” Charlie is impressed. 

“Very cool,” Joy has a smile on her face and she seems to be basking in happiness. She touches it and it glows a soft light-blue for a split second. 

“That is how you make things stay?” Madelyn asks. 

“Yeah!” Joy says proudly. 

Madelyn brings herself to the foot of the wheelchair, then, with an effort and a couple of tries, gets herself up to the seat. 

She straps herself in - apparently there’s a seat belt in this futuristic wheelchair. Then she pushes a button, and the wheelchair begins to hover above the ground. 

“I feel ready for adventure,” Madelyn says. “Allons-y?”

Joy looks at me, not understanding. “She’s asking if we should go there,” I explain. 

“Let’s gooooooooo!” she yells. 

(To be continued…) 

—Told by Grampa Walt