All in Told by Grampa Walt

S02E200 The Zulu Heritage, Part 5, The Darkness Returns

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

Amahle is the first Dreamer to appear on Bonny’s Revenge’s deck. Since she is in South Africa, she always begins her dreams hours before Justin or Charlie. Madelyn, however, moves around in the world, and her dream time is often unpredictable.

Joy is still asleep in her cabin, and Master Mind, with his paper heart and his two halves sewn together, stands guard by her cabin door in case a dreamer appears on the deck and accidentally sends a danger Joy’s way.

Suzy and I are in our home, but we notice the sky darken and the clouds come. We look out the window.

I go out to the porch and see Amahle with her seeing eye dog, Elvis. But then the suns flicker off and on, off and on. Suzy grabs my hand in fear. They’ve never done that.

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S02E199 The Zulu Heritage, Part 4, Joy the Warrior

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

Amahle stands in the middle of our living room and manifests the assegai in her hands.

“Hold it very carefully, Joy. It can cause a lot of damage.”

Joy approaches the assegai very slowly. “Amahle, I’m about to touch it.”

Joy’s fingers touch it and the assegai doesn’t glow.

“Wow, Joy, that’s good control!” I say.

Amahle releases the assegai and Joy holds it.

“It’s taller than I am!” She looks at it in awe.

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S02E198 The Zulu Heritage, Part 3, The Weapons

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

“This is the assegai,” Amahle says. Standing in the middle of Suzy’s and mine living room, an assegai spear appears in her hands. It is tall. I have never seen one so close.

“Wowwwww!” Joy whispers in awe. “What a weapon!”

“Don’t touch, Joy!” Suzy says as Joy leans in.

“I’m just watching from close by! I’m not touching it!”

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S02E196 The Zulu Heritage, Part 1, Warrior Race

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

“Have you never heard of the Zulu, Joy?”

“Amahle, I don’t know almost anything,” Joy’s voice sounds like she’s so sad and helpless.

Amahle takes a big breath. “That is not all right. You should speak to your father.”

“I will. Definitely,” she raises her voice, knowing her father is right there.

“Charlie, have you heard of the Zulu?”

“Not much. They’re an African tribe, right? They’re Native Africans.”

Amahle laughs. “That’s an interesting name to call them. They’re Africans. The Zulu are the fiercest and mightiest warrior race that ever was.”

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S02E195: The Music of Amahle’s Dream

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

I hear Amahle ask, “You can hear the music?”

“It’s all around me, like it’s moving,” I hear Charlie say.

“I can hear it. What is it?” I hear Joy ask. “It makes my heart pound, but I don’t know why.”

“Walter,” Amahle calls out to me. As far as she’s concerned, it’s just me here with the kids. Master Mind and Justin are keeping silent and therefore invisible. “Do you hear the music?”

“I can hear it, Amahle. It’s very beautiful. Is that music from South Africa? Who wrote it?”

“Nobody wrote it, Walter. I hear music in my head. All the time. It’s how I feel… How can you hear my music?”

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S02E194: Music in the Park

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

“You know, my mother used to sit me with here right on this bench when I was a child,” Amahle says.

“Yeah?”

“We sat right here, and she would describe everything to me. See how everything is green, Joy and Charlie?”

“Very green.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Charlie mumbles.

“It’s beautiful,” Amahle says. “She’d describe everything to me. Right behind me is a tree that comes out of its roots in three trunks.”

“That’s right!”

“How the path continues to the right, over there, and to the left. She talked to me about how the leaves of the trees cover everything above us and how the sun’s light comes in just so beautifully between the leaves.”

“Yeah,” Joy says.

“And I would have that picture in my head. Of the entire park. And my head would translate it to music.”

Music begins to play all around us, soft and beautiful.

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S02E193 Joy’s Shadow, Age: 9, The Ice Mountains of Mars

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

Joy is tired, but she refuses to go to sleep. Suzy and I join her and Master Mind as she takes the ship to the ice mountains of Mars and climbs them, then skids down on the ice, then does it all again and again and again.

She does this for hours. Even when she clearly can’t really walk anymore, she climbs up very very slowly and does it again.

“What is she doing?” Suzy whispers to me as we watch her put one foot in front of the other.

I shake my head. I have no idea.

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S02E192 Joy’s Shadow, Age: 8, Exactly, Not Precisely

Guy Hasson
Age: 8.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Suzy shakes her head. “She’s so cute. She’s so beautiful. But look at her, she only grows wilder with every year.”

I nod. “She can’t be tamed.”

Suzy throws me a look. “I don’t like that word. That's not a word you use on people.” Then she nods, “You’re right, though. She can’t.”

“I don’t think she should, Suzy,” I tell her. “She would never survive the Dream outside if she was tame.”

Suzy sighs.

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S02E191 Joy’s Shadow, Age: 7

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

“I’ve calmed down a bit,” he tells her.

She sits there, arms crossed, not looking at him. “Great,” she says. “Me, too.”

“I hope you understand why you got the punishment you got.”

She shrugs. “I don’t care.”

“I understand that you’re angry with me.”

“I’m not angry.”

“Joy, your shadow is throwing things at me!”

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S02E190 Joy’s Shadow, Age: 6

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

Charlie is still sick and we decided it’s best not to go into his dream while he is. Justin woke up an hour ago or so. And Joy, still wide awake, is spending time in our home.

Suzy and I are sitting on the porch, while Joy is standing on the stairs, trying to talk to her shadow.

“Jump!” she tells her shadow.

The shadow does not jump.

It is a strange shadow. I’ve never seen anything like it in the waking world. It seems to have a life of its own, and yet we’re not sure if it is just a shadow or something with a mind of its own.

The shadow doesn’t move. It stands there, like Joy.

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S02E189 Curses Ahoy, Part 4, White Man’s Words

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

“Now, take in all that you’ve learned, and forget about it. This is a way that people behave. It’s a way to express yourself. It’s not for kids yet. But I think you needed to know about this, Joy. Okay?”

“Those were stupid curses anyway,” Joy says. “What’s the point?”

“I’m not going to do anything that man told me,” Charlie says as we leave the house and walk towards Charlie’s elevator.

“Why not?”

“He said he’s teaching us words because we must not listen to The Man. But my Kwa’a says the White Man always used nice words to tell us how he’s with us, and the White Man always backstabs.”

Justin looks at him. “That’s a good point. That’s very true.”

Charlie shrugs. “I’m not sure. My mom hates everything he says about the White man. But I don’t like Sam anyway. He’s a liar.”

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S02E188 Curses Ahoy, Part 3, Curses

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

“Say after me. Say it with anger,” Sam says. “Shit!”

Charlie giggles. Joy says, “Why would I say shit?”

“Because you feel a need to curse. When people don’t like something, they use words that The Man calls dirty and bad. But they’re not dirty, they’re just words.”

“But when I shit, it is dirty. I wouldn’t touch it.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Sam says. I don’t think he’s ever met a child this direct. “But we use it as a curse word. Just to show anger. Say it with me: Shit!”

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S02E187 Curses Ahoy, Part 2, The Man

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

We walk into a room where a young man sits cross-legged on the carpet in the living room. He is about Justin’s age. His skin is white, his hair is ginger, and for some reason it is in an afro. He is wearing a colorful green and blue shirt with images of flowers on it, the front unbuttoned down to his bellybutton, revealing that he is in quite good shape. He wears light blue jeans and sits down on the carpet in what is apparently his own home.

Some parents are in the other room with their children, which range about eight to fifteen, I believe. They’re eating right now.

“Where are we?” I whisper to Justin.

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S02E186 Curses Ahoy, Part 1, A New Dreamer

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

“Welcome back, Pirate Extraordinaire!” Justin calls to Joy as she emerges from her cabin, looking groggy, having just woken up.

She looks around, seeing Justin, Charlie, Master Mind, Suzy, and me.

“What’s going on?” she says.

“Well, my little pirate,” Justin puts his arm on her shoulders and smiles. “I’ve got a special dream for you today.”

Charlie giggles.

Joy is immediately alert, the sleep gone. “What’s happening?”

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S02E185.5 The Family Reunion, Part 5, The Talk

Guy Hasson
Age: 7.5, Told by Grampa Walt

We return to Justin’s dream before Sandra wakes up. Justin is embarrassed by everything we’ve seen over in Sandra’s dream, but Justin’s behavior changes as soon as we get back to the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, their flying pirate warship that’s waiting for us at the edge of the tunnel in and out of the dream.

He is now a father and a hero. He docks the ship near our island, makes sure that I’ve got a good place to rest and heal, and then returns to the ship, asking Master Mind to join us so Justin can have some alone time with Joy.

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S02E184 The Family Reunion, Part 3, Justin’s Return

Guy Hasson
Age: 7.5, Told by Grampa Walt

The Justin in front of my eyes disappears, and Sandra runs to Justin and hugs him.

“Hey, honey, welcome back!”

She stands on her tiptoes and kisses him on the lips and he kisses her back.

Oh, my! I see Suzy look at the kiss with eyes wide open.

“Yuck!” Luis and Joy say together.

Justin straightens and looks around. “Joy, come here!”

Joy runs to him and leaps on him. He lifts her up and hugs her. She hugs him like she hasn’t seen him in years.

“Oh, my god,” Justin says. “You survived! Thank god! It must have been so awful for you! All alone!”

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S02E183 The Family Reunion, Part 2: Strange Reunion

Guy Hasson
Age: 7.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“So what did the doctor do?” I ask. I know I’m in a dream, but being in a hospital, being treated by a doctor, makes me feel safer.

Suddenly, Justin just appears in front of my eyes. “Dad, Dad, are you okay?”

“Shooting fairies!” I hear Joy yell. And finally I see her. She’s sitting on one of the chairs, below my eyesight as I’m lying down, my face up. She is so worked up.

“Hey, buddy,” Justin takes Luis in his arms. “Sandra, who’s the girl?”

Joy jumps to her feet. “You! Say that to me again and I’ll make you permanent and then kill you!”

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S02E182 The Family Reunion, Part 1: The Fourth Grandchild

Guy Hasson
Age: 7.5, Told by Grampa Walt

I wake up on some kind… bed? I’m not sure. A young woman, around Justin’s age, is looking at me. Behind her, that ceiling! I’m in a hospital!

I try to get up quickly, “Where am I? Joy? Master Mind?”

I see Suzy’s face looking at me. “Shhh,” she says. “Lie down.”

“Oh, my, my,” the woman says. “You were very lucky, Walt. The bullet went right through and didn’t hit anything major.”

“What’s going on?”

“The doctor was just in,” Suzy says. “He took care of you. He dressed your wound. You should be fine.”

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