“Let’s go,” Suzy tells me as soon as Justin takes our little granddaughter to her cabin to tell her a good night story.
For a change, Joy’s been up for quite a few hours before Justin arrived, which means she’s just tired enough for her father to put her to bed.
“Where are we going?”
“To talk to Justin,” she says.
We walk slowly up the ramp to the deck of Bonny’s Revenge. Master Mind is standing guard silently near the wheel. Justin is still in Joy’s cabin.
We wait. It’s been a long day for Joy, getting Justin to go to Amahle’s dark dream, seeing the rainbows, having Master Mind break down emotionally due to the music inspired by the colors Amahle is experiencing, and then insisting almost violently that Amahle should never have music played again.
She had been in a strange mood all day, and Justin wouldn’t let her be by herself. They tried a few adventures, but none of them interested Joy. Until finally she had been too tired and had agreed to go to bed.
“You two are making so much noise,” Justin says as he comes out of the cabin. “It’s a wonder she fell asleep.”
“We were completely silent,” I say resentfully.
“You two make the noise of one point five mad scientists,” Master Mind suddenly says. I look at him, not comprehending what he’s talking about. “I have a new system to measure noise,” he explains. “From zero mad scientists to thirteen point thirteen mad scientists.”
“Ahhh,” I say, and really hope to leave it at that.
“Justin,” Suzy takes his hand. “Joy doesn’t want Amahle to sing because it makes her feel too much.”
“What do you mean, Mom?”
“Amahle’s song about blue is sad, right? That’s what Walt said.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s a very sensitive kid. The song makes her feel sad and she doesn’t know what to do with all that sadness.”
“What do you mean?”
“She can’t take it. She can’t face the sadness. So she doesn’t want the song.”
“Are you sure?”
She nods. “I’ve seen it before. Even with you when you were a kid. You couldn’t hear sad songs on the radio until you were a teenager.”
“Really?” He tries to remember, but doesn’t seem to. “So…What do I do?”
“You let her know that feeling sad is okay. That feeling big emotions is natural. And you have to help her process emotions that feel too big.”
He leans on the railing pensively. “I believe you, Mom. It’s a better explanation than the one I had. But…I don’t know how to do that. How do I make her accept her emotions?” Suzy is about to answer, when he adds, “I’m such a terrible father,” with a tone of deep despair.
“Justin–”
But then he disappears.
Suzy looks at me. “Seems we have two people who need our help.”
“Two people who need your help,” I say, raising my hands in defeat. “I don’t know how to do that, either.”
(To be continued…)
—Told by Grampa Walt