“Welcome back, Pirate Extraordinaire!” Justin calls to Joy as she emerges from her cabin, looking groggy, having just woken up.
She looks around, seeing Justin, Charlie, Master Mind, Suzy, and me.
“What’s going on?” she says.
“Well, my little pirate,” Justin puts his arm on her shoulders and smiles. “I’ve got a special dream for you today.”
Charlie giggles.
Joy is immediately alert, the sleep gone. “What’s happening?”
“Joy, you went to sleep just before I came. You stayed up all night, which is all of my day. I knew you’d be asleep, so I did a bit of exploring on my own of some dreams further down below.”
“Yeah?”
“And I found a really cool one. The dreamer there can teach you a lot of stuff that I can’t.”
“Like what?” Joy asks, suspicious.
Charlie giggles again.
I say, “I’m not crazy about this, Justin.”
Suzy says, “Let the girl learn something about the real world. It’s healthy.”
“We call it ‘the waking world’,” Justin corrects her. “And that’s right. Charlie, are you sure you want to come? I can’t tell you not to come, but I’m not sure how happy your mother will be with me, if--”
“I’m coming,” Charlie crosses his arms.
“All right.”
“Where! Are we going!” Joy raises her voice.
“I’m going to take you to a man,” Justin puts his arm around her again, all smiles. “Who will teach you a few words. And then you’re going to forget eeeeeeeverything he ever said. Right, Charlie?”
“Right!”
“Dad!” She is exasperated. “Where! Are we! Going!”
“I’m going to teach you to curse, Joy. To really curse. Some waking world grownup curses.”
She looks at him, astonished. “Now Eat, brush your teeth, and let’s go!!” He motions to Suzy. “If you’re not coming, get off the ship!”
He laughs. Suzy shakes her head. Charlie laughs.
—Told by Grampa Walt