“Why are you still here, Charlie?” Amahle asks, as she did before. “Joy is gone. Justin is gone. But you and Walter and the other creaking creature is here, too.” 

“His name is Master Mind,” Charlie says. “He’s a big robot.” 

“A big robot?” Amahle is thoughtful. That seems to remind her of something.

“A big killer robot. He protects Joy.” 

“Why are you all here, Charlie? Why aren’t you all gone from my dream?” 

She takes a step forward. 

“Stop!” Charlie grabs her hand. She stops. 

“One more step and you’ll fall off the ledge of your Shroom,” he says. “This isn’t your dream, Amahle. If you fall down here, you’ll fall until you hit something or until you wake up.” 

“That isn’t true!” 

Charlie looks down, thinking. Then he looks up. “I am not your dream. My Shroom is over there,” he guides her hand to point towards his Shroom. “I live in Patterson, New Jersey, in the United States. Justin is from Canada. Joy is… from here.” 

“No one is from the Dream,” Amahle says. 

“Try to bring back Elvis,” Charlie says. “Bring back your cane. Bring back the park.” 

Amahle concentrates. 

“You can’t. Because you’re not in your dream anymore. You’re outside. I want to go and be with Joy. Let me lead you back to your dream.” 

Amahle nods. She lets Charlie guide her back into the tunnel. I’m right behind them, and Master Mind is behind me. 

“This is silly,” she says. 

“Did your ancestors talk about a dream world?” Charlie asks as we approach the elevator. 

Amahle stops in place. “Why do you ask?” 

“I’m Hopi. That’s Native American, if you don’t know.” 

“I haven’t heard of your people, sorry.” 

“I was taught that my ancestors believed the Dream was part of the world. Did your ancestors believe that?” 

Amahle shakes her head. “Legends are legends. They’re myths and fairy tales. My ancestors did not know more about the world than we do. Legends are legends.”

“This is your elevator,” Charlie leads her in. “I created it. Joy made it permanent. You never dreamed about this elevator even though it’s inside your dream. I pushed the button for you. When it reaches the bottom, just step out.” 

“Okay.” 

“Just so you know,” Charlie says standing on the edge of the tunnel, with Amahle inside the darkness of her dream. “Joy is real.” 

I hear the elevator door close. It goes down. 

Without words, we leave the tunnel and head back to Justin’s Shroom. 

I really like Charlie.

—Told by Grampa Walt