Charlie and Joy are still riding the flying elephants. Following from behind on Bonny’s Revenge, Justin is lost in thought, and Suzy’s and my attention turn to him completely. Master Mind, next to us, watches over the kids.
“Um…How do I do that exactly?” Justin says.
“Do what?”
“Get her girls to play with? Girls her age. I mean, I can’t create them, right? I can create someone who looks like a 9-year-old girl, but how do I know how they behave? I created you two because I know you two,” he gestures at us. “I create villains because they’re just imaginary. How do I create real girls?”
“Uh…” I begin, but no idea comes to me.
“I could create a real girl, I suppose,” Suzy says. “But I can’t create them. I’m just a dream here.”
“You’re not just a dream,” Justin says. “But, yeah, you’re not a Dreamer.”
“What about Madelyn or Amahle or Yumio, even?”
“I guess. Maybe they can create girls to play with?”
“Aren’t they from different cultures, though?” I say. “Will she connect with them?” I mean that Madelyn’s French, Amahle’s South African, and Yumio is Japanese.
Justin shakes his head. “Dad, I raise my daughter to fight villains and now to protect herself from people’s dreams. She doesn’t fit any culture. And she fits just fine with all three of them. Let’s not talk about culture, okay?”
I nod.
“What about just finding dreamers Charlie’s age?” Suzy suggests.
“Tried that. Everywhere we go, everyone is my age. Except for Charlie. I don’t know how that could be. But…Jeez…I don’t know.”
“Humans, your blindness astounds my good nature,” Master Mind says without looking at us. “And it infuriates my dark side. The answer is in front of you.” We all look at him. He points at the kids. “The Young Dreamer plays with females in his school. He can create them in his Dream. They will act as children do.”
Justin looks at Charlie. “Hmmm…”
“You would need to be a blind human,” Master Mind says. “To not see that you would be asking the Young Dreamer to create competition for himself. A rational person would not do that.”
“Hmmmm…” Justin says and continues to stare at Charlie.
(To be continued…)
—Told by Grampa Walt