All tagged remembering Joy
Charlie looks at us as he opens the door to Joy’s cabin.
“We’ll be with you,” Suzy says. “Come on.”
He goes in and Suzy and I follow. Master Mind remains on the deck.
Joy is asleep in her cot.
Charlie touches her shoulder, and she opens her eyes wide and the knife under her pillow is in her hands, aimed at Charlie.
Suzy gasps. “I forgot that was there,” she whispers.
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We wait for Charlie for a long time and he doesn’t come back.
Joy sulks more and more. Justin thinks there’s no more reason to stay on Toronto planet and flies us home. As we leave the planet, I notice that it stays behind. Joy can visit it anytime. Maybe we’ll take a trip with her.
Justin docks Bonny’s Revenge near our island, next to our home.
He suggests we go down, but Joy won’t move from the deck. Charlie could come at any time.
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“Where’s Charlie?” Suzy says.
“He’s not here!” Joy says, stomping her foot on the deck.
I look at Justin. Justin shakes his head. “He was here. We saw him when we came in, there was a storm, then, he vanished.”
“He woke up?” Suzy asks.
Justin nods. “Then we waited, and a few minutes later he appeared again.”
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Suzy and I head off the old-fashioned way through the streets of Toronto back to Justin’s apartment. It’s not far. We made it here on foot, we’ll make it back.
The sky hasn’t turned stormy in a few minutes, and I hope the issue with Charlie is resolved.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying a walk through the streets of my city with my wife.
“I’ve missed Toronto,” Suzy tells me as we walk.
“Yeah?”
“Just walking through the streets. I’ve been here and there, we’ve eaten here. So many memories. We’ve been in Justin’s dream for, what, a year and a half?”
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We look up. “Something’s happening,” Suzy says. “You should go. I’ll walk.”
“Nope. I’m with you. We’re together.”
Suddenly the sky is clear of clouds and the storm is gone. Something is definitely happening.
“Come on, Suzy, click it and try. This is an adventure!”
Her eyes don’t light up like mine or like Justin’s or like Joy’s at the sound of harmless ‘adventure’.
She touches the button reluctantly and jets into the sky at breakneck speed. “Aaaaaaah!”
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“What is this for?” she asks about the glass cleaner.
“What’s this?” she asks about the comb.
“What’s this?” she asks about the broken VCR he has in the corner which hasn’t worked in a decade.
“What’s this?” she asks about the sound system.
Suddenly the sky becomes grey and thunder booms.
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It’s a slow morning. Joy calms down. We all walk somberly to the deck.
Justin suggests that maybe instead of a healthy breakfast, she’ll eat pizza just this once.
Suzy makes a face. “He can’t teach her to eat her emotions,” she whispers to me, but keeps mum. She’s no doubt going to talk to him about it later.
Joy’s mood is dark and gloomy as she eats in silence.
“You know it means nothing’s changed, right?” Justin tells her as she eats her second slice.
Joy looks down. “You still can’t remember me.”
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Suzy and I stare at the ocean for a while. We hold hands. Apparently I’m nervous. Apparently she’s nervous.
“Have you considered,” Master Mind breaks the silence. “The possibilities of what may occur?”
I lean sideways, looking at him, glad for the distraction. “What do you mean, Master Mind?”
“You two and the Pirate seem to believe the Little Pirate comes from the waking world, from your ‘Earth’.”
Suzy nods. “Where else would she come from? She’s human.”
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Joy leads us from planet to planet, from a fairy world to the dragon world, from a robot world to abandoned mine worlds. And they are all empty of dragons and empty of the dust that would mean that the Red Dragon is dead.
Joy doesn’t stop.
“She’s not just obsessed with finding the Red Dragon,” Suzy whispers in my ear. “She has to keep herself busy from thinking about what happens when Justin and Charlie return.”
As soon as she says it, it becomes obvious to me. Joy’s entire future hangs in the balance as Charlie will try to call Justin in the waking world, the ‘real’ world, and get him to remember the daughter he has in the dream.
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Justin disappears first.
Joy looks at Suzy, then at Charlie.
“I guess it’s morning,” Charlie says calmly, sitting on the sofa. “I’ll wake up early, Joy. I’ll ask my Mom to use the phone when I come back from school. I’ll call him, I promise.”
Joy nods. I have never seen her as speechless as this. She is overwhelmed by whatever may happen once Charlie reaches her father in the waking world and reminds him that he is raising a girl in his dreams.
“See you tomorrow, Joy,” Charlie says.
He looks down, and suddenly he’s gone.
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“Dad, what time is it in the waking world?”
“I don’t know. It’s been a while since we came here, but… I don’t know.”
Joy collapses on the sofa, as if bereft of all strength.
“When is everybody going to wake up?!” she’s exasperated.
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“Wow,” Suzy says, hearing the news.
We are all back in Suzy’s and my apartment on the small island in Justin’s dream. Suzy is the only one of us who does not regularly go on adventures and Justin wanted to do this with her, and rightly so.
We sit in the living room, Suzy, Joy, Justin, and Charlie on the sofas or the chairs. I sit on my Archie Bunker chair. Master Mind stands to the side and does not sit.
“Yeah,” agrees Justin.
“It’s so strange!” Joy says excitedly. “That someone remembers me! It’s soooo strange!”
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Joy separates from Charlie and turns to me. “We have to tell Dad!” she says.
I run scenarios in my head. She’s right. We should tell Justin that Charlie can remember her outside the dream. But he’s on his private and secret romantic time with some dreamer. Do we wait? Do we tell him now? What should we do? No. She’s right. We shouldn’t wait with this news. “Let’s go now. Kids, get into your regular clothes.”
Charlie looks down at himself and he’s back to wearing jeans and his favorite T-shirt with the condor on it.
“No fair!” Joy says.
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Joy and Charlie keep playing in the beach sand with their toys for another minute, when Charlie says, “You know, it’s hard to convince people with words, Joy.”
He had just been talking about how, when he grows up, he wants to use words to explain to people how bad the Hopi have been treated.
“Yeah?” She’s immersed in the game, holding a rake in her right hand, and paving a way towards their sand castle.
“Yeah. I keep telling people you’re real and no one believes me.”
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“General Hawk,” Justin turns to the grave. “You protected my daughter when she was all alone.” Joy clings to his pants as he speaks. “You saved her life at the cost of yours. You became a dear friend to her.”
Joy buries her head in Justin’s pants. He puts his hand on her head and continues. “You were a hero and a great man and a great friend. I will always thank you for everything you did.”
Everyone nods. The dozens of bird people filling the backyard of our apartment on this tiny island is nodding as well.
Justin takes Joy in his hands. “You want to say a few words to General Hawk?”
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