All in Told by Grampa Walt
Today Joy decides to play in Charlie’s dream. Justin is off to his secret dream that we’re not supposed to visit but that everyone has figured out he has his dream girlfriend in.
So he left Joy in Master Mind’s care. Master Mind is always ready to leap into action and save Joy from the unexpected dangers of a dream. I join because I want to see as much as possible of my granddaughter for the two of me.
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Today is quite a busy dream.
Colin flies into the dream early, since he’s in the earliest time zone. Suzy and I keep him busy in the living room while he waits for Justin. Master Mind follows him in, watching the Dreamer carefully in case he becomes obsessed.
Charlie appears first on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, next to Joys cabin. He wakes Joy up, and joins her as she has her morning routine of breakfast, washing up, and all that down in our apartment.
Justin appears soon afterwards on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, near the mast. Once he sees Joy isn’t there, he joins us.
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We are off again!
Over the last two weeks, we’ve had adventure after adventure with Madelyn. Madelyn has been in South America, getting ready for one of her races, so her dream time is the same as Justin’s and Charlie’s.
So day after day (I mean our days, not their days), when Justin appears, we get ready and head off to meet Madelyn on top of her Shroom. Then we decide where we should have our adventure: in Justin’s dream or in Madelyn’s.
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Justin stands up and bends his head, since he is taller than the tunnel. “Joy, let’s just get out of here.”
“We have to save the baby. Right, Charlie?” she looks for help from her friend.
Charlie hesitates, though.
Justin reaches out with his hand. “Joy, it’s just a dream. The baby will disappear in a few minutes. I don’t want to let you touch it or suddenly we’ll have a real baby that we can’t get rid of.”
Joy looks like she’s going to cry again. “And what’s the matter with that?”
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“She left the baby!” Joy is jumping in place hysterically. “She left the baby!”
Justin puts his hands on her shoulder. “It’s just a dream, Joy, it’s not real.”
Madelyn turns her super wheelchair to face Joy. “There is a lot of sadness in the world. There are mothers that can’t take care of their babies--“
“No, there aren’t!”
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The six of us crowd together at the edge of the tunnel as we look in on this new dream. Madelyn sits in her super wheelchair in the middle, and we all try to squeeze in around her. All except Master Mind, who takes one peek then moves back.
“Our first rule, Madelyn, is safety.” Justin tells her. “We’re Dreamers. We can wake up if something happens to us. Joy can really get hurt. We have to protect her at any cost. Do you understand?
She nods, her face serious. “Protect Joy. Of course.”
“My dad, Grampa Walt, can also get hurt. But protect him second. First Joy.”
I notice he didn’t explain I was a dream made permanent. That’s wise for now.
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As we walk through the tunnel back towards Justin and Master Mind who are waiting on the surface of Madelyn’s Shroom, Charlie can’t stop looking at Madelyn’s super-wheelchair and laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Joy asks.
Charlie shakes his head and laughs.
Madelyn looks at him, and continues.
“Charlie, what’s so funny?” Joy insists.
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“I can lift you and walk you back through the tunnel, invalid,” Master Mind volunteers.
“Master Mind!” Justin and I both shout at him.
Madelyn raises her hand at Master Mind. “I can walk by myself, robot. Zhoy, you are coming with me?”
“Me, too!” Charlie says.
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“What is this, uh, this, uh, place?” Madelyn looks around in shock. She clearly finds it harder to speak English under the circumstances.
“Hold on to your butt,” Joy tells her. “You’re going to love this!”
“My butt?”
Justin waves at Madelyn dismissively. “It’s an expression. Ignore it. This,” he motions with his hand at the Shrooms, “is the place where everybody goes when they dream.”
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I follow his gaze and realize I’m looking down two meters at Madelyn’s Shroom. We’ve been to her dream four times now. But now… Madelyn sits on the shroom, right at the tunnel entrance, her hands holding the ground underneath her tightly.
I have never seen another Dreamer outside their dream!
“Whoa,” Joy says.
“Oh, my god!” Justin says.
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At Charley’s question, Joy’s expression becomes serious.
“Where is Red, Dad?”
I’ve been here long enough to hear about Joy’s legendary friend, the Red Dragon. She hadn’t been heard of or seen since Suzy and I were summoned, since Joy first left Justin’s dream.
“I don’t know,” he shrugs. Then his expression turns more serious as well. “Why would you think I know?”
“I just realized,” Joy says. “That in all the adventures I had with her, in all the times I rode her, there is no way I wouldn’t have made her real. Red didn’t just disappear because you woke up, Dad. Red is permanent. No one killed her. So she’s still alive. Where did she go?”
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There, in the distance, amidst a sea of Shrooms, I see something yellow flying. It is as small as a faraway plane, but it is not the shape of a plane.
“A dragon!” Joy whispers in awe.
Justin moves with the speed of a pirate and covers Joy’s mouth with his hand. He grabs me with his other hand, and together, he walks us back to the shadow of the tunnel.
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I have seen Justin try to stay away from danger while at the same time teach Joy how to handle it, knowing it is unavoidable as she lives in other people’s dreams.
But this? Walking back to the dream of a man who kills people in his dream and strips them of their souls? A man who dreams he is an agent of God?
I trust Justin, but I’m also afraid. Joy knows to be afraid, but is excited by whatever it is he has planned. Master Mind follows us silently and has already proven he will sacrifice himself to protect Joy.
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This is, indeed, Hell. The ground is made of infinite fires, where in other dreams there would be ground or in Justin’s dream - an ocean. A pillar of fire stretches high and moves slowly. Hundreds of winged demons fly around.
Joy points quietly. There, right there, is Angel Chrysalis - an angel with wings of fire. We do not know what his name is in the real world. We only know what he called himself here.
Angel Chrysalis has a human woman stand in front of him on a floating rock.
He speaks to her and she screams.
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“Stay away from her, Mom!”
Joy explodes in anger, “I won’t stay away! Not from you and not from her!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Justin grabs hold of Joy as she tries to run towards Charlie. He holds her in his arms. “Whoa, Joy, hold on.”
A tank appears behind Charlie. Justin turns his attention, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You too! There’s no need for that! Make the tank go away!”
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One of Charlie’s glass elevators waits for us at the end of the tunnel into his dream. Joy has made this one permanent way back a couple of days after their big adventure.
As we descend down to the park that was always there, we see a new beach nearby.
“The Child is there,” Master MInd points at a small dot on the beach.
At the park we activate our jetpacks and fly towards the beach.
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Justin flies Bonnie’s Revenge to Australia, apparently. This is an Australia that’s in his dream. Although I feel it is exactly like Australia, a little bit of my scientist mind is certain that this is because I am a dream creature. I have never been to Australia and I would not know whether this beach is authentic or not. Nor do I remember at present if Australia has a big volcano, like the one that is next to us.
A part of me feels like this was always true. But it could be that I was created in a way that makes me easily believe the logic of dreams.
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When Justin arrives at the dream, he comes down to Suzy’s and mine apartment and ‘crashes’ Joy’s school
“Today there’s no school,” he says to Suzy, who was teaching her how to put letters into words. “Today we go on adventure!”
“Yai!” Joy raises her hands and dances a happy dance.
“And Mom,” Justin looks at her. “You’re joining us on this adventure.”
“Oh, no, no,” Suzy waves him off. “I’m a social worker. I don’t do adventures.”
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Master Mind is a killer. He’s far faster and far stronger than any human. He is able to reach any ball in time and to send balls faster than Madelyn could hope to answer.
He serves again. She misses again.
She looks at Justin. Then rolls to position. “Please wait a minute,” she calls to Master Mind.
“I can destroy you now or I can destroy you later,” he says. “It is the same to me.”
She sinks into deep thought. Then, suddenly, small jets appear on all sides of the wheelchair.
Justin laughs. Joy nods. I smile with expectation. There’s going to be a fair fight!
The wheelchair rises into the air.
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“Can’t beat Master Mind,” Justin agrees. “I wonder why he wanted to play.”
“Are you ready to play, Madelyn?” As I hear him say her name, I am sure I hear him separating the first syllable of her name. As if he called her Mad Delyn. Does he think her first name is ‘Mad’?
“I am ready, robot,” she answers with confidence in her French accent.
“I will annihilate you. I will destroy the ground you roll on. I will make you wish you were never born,” Master Mind says.
Justin buries his face in his palm. “Oh, no,” he whispers.
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