“Madelyn, please get rid of the babies,” Justin implores her. I’ve counted fifteen babies on the limo seats and floor. Suzy is holding two of them, Madelyn another one, I took another one, but it’s not helping. And the babies are beginning to cry. 

“Get rid of the traffic jam, Justin,” she tells him. “We have to get to Bordeaux, not Paris!” 

“The babies, Madelyn!” 

“The traffic jam! I need to bring them back home!” 

“I need to get to Paris!” 

Oh, boy. I think we have two obsessed Dreamers. 

At least they’re not dreaming about zombies. I look up. Does Master Mind, flying above us in Bonny’s Revenge, realize that we have two obsessed Dreamers now? Is he planning to take Joy? 

Joy, meanwhile, is just looking at her father and Madelyn in silence, looking like she’s absorbing information she’s never heard before.

“Justin! You must get rid of the traffic jam!” 

“It’s my birthday, and I’m taking my parents and Joy to Paris!” 

“It’s my birthday, and I must take care of the babies!” 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Justin slows down, and when he speaks he sounds more like his regular self. “It’s your birthday?” 

“Today.” 

“It’s my birthday, too. Today.” 

“Strange,” Madelyn says. 

“What a coincidence,” Suzy says.

“My parents took me out to a restaurant in the waking world. Now I’m taking them here to a restaurant in Paris. But I can’t seem to get there.” 

“Madelyn,” Suzy leans closer. “What did you do today for your birthday?” 

“I don’t believe in celebrating birthdays,” Madelyn says. “I went to a doctor. To see if I could still have…” she looks at her surroundings. 

“Babies?” Suzy asks. 

Madelyn nods. “I don’t know that I want a bebe now. I don’t know that I don’t want. I’m just…” 

“Old?” Justin says.

Madelyn nods. 

“You’re not old. Look at what great shape you are in. I’m old.” 

“You’re not old. You are a man. You’re just getting started. I have a biological clock. I’m old.” 

“What,” Joy suddenly raises her voice. “Are you talking about?! You’re both old! Don’t you know that?!” 

(To be continued…)

—Told by Grampa Walt