It’s a busy morning on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge. We have all our dreamers here at once when Justin arrives: Amahle, Madelyn, Yumio, Charlie, Colin, and now Justin has joined. 

Joy, Charlie, Madelyn and Yumio have been playing Catch in the Clouds, all wearing Yumio’s mechas. Colin has been drinking tea with Suzy and me on the deck while waiting for Justin. 

When Justin appears, everyone gathers and tells him the plan. 

“Master Mind wants to explore the Shrooms really far!” Joy tells him. “We’ve explored all the dreams around us, about three hundred of them! We should go really far!” 

Justin’s face grows sour. “We’ve survived more than 300 dreamers,” he says. “Let’s not push our luck.”

“Dad! We can make it a three day trip! We can go straight for a whole day and then–” 

Justin shakes his head. “We’re all going to wake up by then.” 

“Colin has a plan!” Madelyn says. “And it is a good one.” 

Justin opens his eyes wide at Colin. It’s true that Colin has not shown interest in participating in adventures, only in pitting himself against his own nightmares and learning how to control them.

“You must admit,” Colin says. “It is curious how long this goes on for and what we’ll find. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore strange new worlds…” 

Justin raises his finger. “Don’t finish that sentence,” he says with a smile. Colin smiles back. “Have you all, like, decided already?”

“Yuh-huh,” says Charlie. 

“You’re all in cahoots?”

“Yup!” Yumio nods. 

Justin looks around from one to the other. “Well… I’m afraid to say No, because Joy will just do it without me.” 

“Yuh-huh!!” Joy agrees.

“So I want to hear more. But we can’t do anything before we move the mummy.” 

There’s suddenly silence all around. As for myself, I’m trying to figure out if I heard him correctly or if he meant Suzy. 

“What mummy?” Amahle asks first, and I can see her fist tightening around Elvis’ leash.

“The mummy,” Justin repeats. “In Dad’s and Mom’s–I mean, in grampa’s and grandma’s living room.” 

There is silence again. 

“Ah, son…” Suzy breaks the silence. “If I go down the ramp and go home, is there going to be a mummy in my living room?” 

“Well, sure, it’s been there for a week.”

I see Suzy swallow hard. “Is it… a dangerous mummy?” 

“No, it’s a dead mummy. We just have to move it to Colin’s dream, and then we can talk.” 

“Mmmm-hmmmmm,” Suzy says, clearly suspicious of what this new mummy entails.

“I’ve never seen a mummy,” Yumio says with enthusiasm. “Let’s go see the mummy!” 

(To be continued…) 

—Told by Grampa Walt