All in Age: 6
On the small island that now holds Suzy’s and mine’s suburban apartment, there isn’t a lot of room. Bonny’s Revenge, my son’s flying warship, is docked in the front. There’s a heap of dust which apparently has now remained behind and forever, right next to Bonny’s Revenge. Its purpose, apparently, is to get dirty post showers. And now, in the back, is a grave.
Joy, Justin, and Charlie dug a small hole, enough to put in a tombstone.
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Suzy puts her arm around Joy. “Dearie, I just realized you woke up only a couple of hours ago. You must be famished.”
Joy looks at Justin. “Famished?” she says.
“It means hungry,” Charlie says.
Justin’s eyes light up. “Oooh, Joy! You have grandparents now! You haven’t had a breakfast until you’ve had your grandmother’s cooking!”
“She has special pizza and carrot juice?”
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Justin uses the time that Suzy is washing Joy in our apartment to catch up with Charlie on everything that happened the previous day when Joy had run away from home.
“Then my dad killed me again,” Charlie says. “And when I fell asleep again I knew I couldn’t kill him. Joy and Master Mind and General Hawk, they all said that her bad dad could kill my bad dad, so I--”
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Suzy turns to Joy and says, “When was the last time you took a shower, dearie?”
“A few days ago,” Joy says.
Suzy sends Justin a stare that could kill. She shakes her head.
“It’s a dream, Mom!” Justin explodes in a complaint. “I didn’t know any of this was real!”
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“First thing,” Suzy says sternly to Justin, who is leaning back on the railing, ready to be read the riot act.
“Yes, Mom.”
“We’re going to need toilet paper. We should never run out of toilet paper.”
“Good point,” he nods. He closes his eyes. “There’s a lot of toilet paper in their bathroom. Joy, when you get there, touch it.”
“Good!” Suzy says. “Now, does the girl ever wash her hands?”
“Of course!” Justin says.
“Where?” Suzy looks around the deck.
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“So you’re Joy’s grandpa?” Charlie asks me while Suzy and Joy are in the bathroom in my apartment.
“Uh-huh,” I tell him.
“And are you, like, a dream, or are you a dreamer like me?”
“He’s a dream,” Justin says immediately.
“I’m a dream,” I say almost simultaneously.
Justin looks at me strangely. “Are you okay knowing that?”
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Joy brings Bonny’s Revenge back to the ocean and docks right in front of our apartment. Charlie’s eyes can’t stop dancing around. He’s seen so many new worlds, been flown to space, and all with his new friend piloting a flying warship.
“Hold on, Charlie,” Joy says and walks away.
I look at her, and so do Suzy, Justin, Charlie, and Master Mind.
She jumps up on the plank and walks right to the edge.
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“That’s the asteroid belt!” Joy points out to Charlie. “There’s a super cool weapons shop that has all the weapons you’d ever want.”
“Ah,” Charlie nods, but with hesitation. It doesn’t look to me like he wanted weapons in the first place.
“He’s a cool kid,” I lean against the railing next to Justin. Suzy’s on his right, I’m on his left. I think it’s time to make Justin think about something else.
Justin straightens and looks at him. “He does look nice. They’re great friends.”
“I saved that world,” Joy points out to Charlie, oblivious to the grownups. “And that world. And that world. And that world.”
“Whoooah!” Charlie says wide-eyed.
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Joy takes the helm. Again.
“Come on, Charlie, come on!” she urges him to stand next to her.
The grownups are hanging back, letting the kids have their fun. Suzy, Justin, and me. Oh, the grownups and the ex-villain. Master Mind is leaning on the railing. His top half and bottom half are only half sewn together.
For some reason, a robot being sewn back to health should not make sense to me, but it does. I look at the kids enjoying themselves.
“What, you drive the ship?” Charlie walks up to her, amazed.
“Just like Dad!”
Suzy looks at Justin. Justin raises an eyebrow in comment but doesn’t say anything. I think he’s saying, Let her have this.
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Justin looks down from the railing. “You got Master Mind fixed so fast?”
Suzy comes out the door helping Master Mind walk. He has his top half on top of his bottom half, and it seems that his right side had been sewn together with string while the left side is still separate.
“We’re only halfway through,” Suzy shouts up. “But the kids got so excited. Charlie’s never seen all the things in your dream and Joy can’t help showing him!”
Joy stops and looks at Suzy, the child’s eyes wide.
Suzy opens her eyes back, surprised, feeling hostility.
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“Dad, how can I raise Joy in my dream? That’s crazy!”
“You’ve done it so far. Why is it crazy?”
“I didn’t know she was real! I didn’t know this was a dream! She could have died five thousand times in our adventures! She could have died five different times in whatever happened yesterday. Am I supposed to have adventures with her again? It’s dangerous! Am I supposed to make the dream boring? It would bore her to death! Am I supposed to let her out of the dream? Not that I can stop her! Just jumping from dream to dream is dangerous! She can be lost! She can go into another dangerous dream! She can go into the dark dream! And there could be people looking for her!”
“People looking for her?” Where did that come from?
“What?” he looks at me like I was the one who said it first. “Who would be looking for her? Don’t talk crazy. Dad, how can we live like this?”
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“Yeeeeee haw!” A call from above gets me to look up. Justin, standing next to me on the deck, also looks up. Joy, who had almost entered our apartment back on the island, also looks up.
It’s a kid, Joy’s age, with a jetpack on his back. He is wearing a blue t-shirt with a picture of a condor on it, pants, and sneakers.
“Charlie!” Joy yells from below and runs up to the deck.
“Joy’s dad! I don’t know how to land this! Help!”
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“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to bring back General Hawk.”
“Hmmm…”
I step back and give him space. He has his eyes closed and he looks like he’s trying to summon up a mystical force.
He opens his eyes and looks around.
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“Son, what’s the matter?”
His face is worried and his voice is full of concern, when he says, “I want to do something for Joy. But I’m afraid of something Red said.”
“Who’s Red?”
“Red - I mean, the Red Dragon. She warned us about this a few years ago and we didn’t understand. I’m afraid that… Yeah. She warned us back when I couldn’t bring Mary back. That’s why she warned us.”
“Son, what are you talking about?”
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Justin stands in front of me. One second he wasn’t there, and now he is.
I should be shocked or surprised, but I’ve learned that I’m not. It’s just part of the dream, and I’m just part of the dream.
After all, I helped him defeat a monster. I also strangled Justin to death, just to help him get Joy back when she ran away from his dream. This is my new life.
However, I don’t think Justin gets that this is a new life yet.
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“Ha ha!” Joy yells out. “Adventure with my grandparents! Let’s go!”
My granddaughter, the one I just found out about yesterday, is taking us out in Bonny’s Revenge, hers and Justin’s flying pirate warship. She is showing us Justin’s world, Justin’s dream, the world she lives in, the dangerous, crazy, adventure-filled place she lives in. But a few seconds ago she pointed to Mars and spotted the Martian Space Pirates (I guess that’s what they’re called) heading towards us.
Oh, boy. I’ve been with Justin in other people’s dreams. I was with him fighting the most frightening dark monster in the streets of London. I was with him stuck in a dream where he couldn’t find the way out. I knew by this time their life was not easy.
“Let’s get them!” Joy runs to the wheel. “You’ll watch me in action!”
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Joy pulls on the wheel and the ship begins to move.
I look around. We’re picking up speed. She pulls back more and the ship begins to rise into the air.
Suzy grabs my hand. “Should she be driving?” she whispers to me.
Good point. “Uh… Do you want to drive?”
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“I’m sooooo glad you stayed!” Joy is at full energy having just woken up. She raises her hands and looks at them. “This is awesome! Ooh, did you see my toys?!” Joy points excitedly at her...um… fighter spaceship toys, legos that build a cloud, then more war toys. “I got them as a gift from a lava monster after I defeated ninja pirates!”
I nod, not knowing what to say. Next to me, I see Suzy is doing the same. Although she no doubt does know what to say and is trying very hard not to say it.
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We both peek in.
Suzy gasps. I want to, too, but I hold it in.
Joy is lying in her small cot in her room.
“She’s soooo beautiful!” Suzy says, keeping her voice low.
“Look at her, even when she sleeps, she looks like a fighter.” I keep my voice own low. ”See that chin. That’s a kid that’s seen hardship.”
Suzy nudges me. “She’s beautiful. Can’t you say she’s beautiful?” she whispers at me.
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“My name is Master Mind,” the strange half-robot tells me and Suzy in his weird metallic voice. “And I have heard what the two of you have just said about the little pirate.”
“What little pirate?” I say.
Suzy whispers to me, “He means Joy.”
“Ahhh… Go on.”
“You think this place is dangerous for a little girl. Let me tell you how I met your granddaughter.”
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