All in Told by Grampa Walt

02E221 Girls’ Night Out, Part 2, As Strong as a Girl

Guy Hasson
Age: 8.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Amahle feels around with her hand once Joy comes back from her cabin, having put her toothbrush and toothpaste in place. “Joy,” Amahle touches her cheek, then her shoulder. “I want to do something nice. I want us to have fun! Can you get excited for that?”

“I want to go,” Joy says. “It sounds like a thing you do in the waking world.”

“It is,” Madelyn says.

“On special occasions,” Amahle adds. “This is a special occasion.”

“But why only girls? What kind of adventure is it? Why can’t Charlie come? I mean, he’s a dreamer. So it doesn’t matter that he’s not as strong as a girl.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

02E220 Girls’ Night Out, Part 1, Blech

Guy Hasson
Age: 8.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Madelyn and Amahle appear on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge within minutes of each other. Amahle is in Johannesburg, as usual. Madelyn is back home in France. She keeps telling me which city she’s in, but I can’t remember. I used to remember everything, but now…There are facts that escape me.

In any case, their time zones are one hour apart, and apparently they’ve fallen asleep around the same time.

I look through the window in our living room and see Madelyn and Amahle talking to each other. Madelyn is with her regular wheelchair, not her flying one.

Joy comes out of the cabin and they talk to her.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E219 The Missing Captain Badass, Part 4, Joy Was Here

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

“Dad, give me a spray can,” Joy says, opening her palm.

Justin thinks for a second, then says, “What color do you want?”

“Red,” Joy answers immediately and with certainty. “For the Red Dragon.”

A spray can appears in Joy’s hand. It glows a soft-blue light for a brief moment and the light disappears. Joy has made the can permanent.

She walks over to the wall. “I have a message for Captain Badass,” she says. “And Grandma taught me to write.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E218 The Missing Captain Badass, Part 3, The Missing Ship

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

“He watched us leave the dream!” Charlie exclaims. “He left your dream! That’s why he’s not here!”

Justin is beginning to pace back and forth in what now seems to be Captain Badass’ abandoned base.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he says.

“Why not, Dad?”

Justin exhales slowly. “I don’t know. How would he get from here to the suns? One ship was a dream ship, so it disappeared when I woke up and it hasn’t returned. His permanent ship is on its side in the ocean on Earth. How would he get from here to the sun?”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E217 The Missing Captain Badass, Part 2, Inside His Base

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

Justin walks through the door.

Joy puts her hand on Charlie’s shoulder, stopping him from walking forward. As soon as he stops, she motions with that hand that they should wait. Her other hand is on her sword, ready to pull it out.

“Come in!” Justin says. “All clear!”

We all walk into the dome.

The look of the room is surprising. It is just an empty dome. There isn’t a table, a carpet, a chair, a piece of paper, a picture on the wall. There is the inside of the smooth dome. And then there are the telescopes - the three giant telescopes that I’ve seen outside begin inside, converging in the middle of the room.

“This is creepy,” Charlie says. “Where is everything?”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E216 The Missing Captain Badass, Part 1, The Moon Base

Guy Hasson
Age: 7, Told by Grampa Walt

Justin is armed to the teeth with two laser pistols, one on each side of his belt, and General Hawk’s Falcon on his back. Master Mind prepares by having two cannons come out of his exoskeleton, a different one out of each hand. Joy arms herself with a sword and a laser pistol.

Charlie and I remain unarmed.

Justin takes us to the moon.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E215 The Zulu Heritage, Part 16, Shaken and Stirred

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

We are back on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge.

Joy and Justin are both clearly shaken by their conversation with the First Prisoner or The Guardian Spirit, or whoever he really is.

Justin stares at the horizon from behind the wheel, as he takes the ship out. Joy stands by his side, staring forward as well.

After a couple of minutes, as we fly past the clouds and into outer space, Joy hugs Justin. Justin stops the ship in mid-space and hugs her back.

“Red is not dead,” Joy says.

“No, she’s not.” He hugs her and doesn’t let go.

“She’s not a creature of the Dream.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E214 The Zulu Heritage, Part 15, Joy Shelley’s Guardian Spirit

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

“Stop, stop, stop!” Justin raises his hands. “We can’t believe this Guardian that he knows where Red is or that he’s a dream creature from outside my dream like the Fairy Flies. He’s a villain. He’s lying.”

Amahle clicks her tongue to indicate ‘No’. “Justin, you do not understand. Tell them what you told me,” she tells the Guardian.

The Guardian looks at Amahle in anger, then looks away. Amahe can’t see his expression, but she notes the silence. “All right,” she says. “Justin. He has told me he is of the Adroazni, a guardian spirit, and a child of the god Adroa.”

“So?” Justin says.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E213 The Zulu Heritage, Part 14, What Happened to The Red Dragon

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

Justin shakes his head immediately after the initial surprise. “He’s lying to us, Joy. He’s a villain and he knows we care about Red.”

Joy nods vigorously. “Lying. Red’s not dead and he wouldn’t know it!”

Justin takes her hand. “Shame on you,” he tells the Guardian. “It’s a good thing we never talked all these years. You are evil.”

“My friend is dead!” the Guardian yells at them as Justin and Joy turn their backs to him. “And it is your fault!”

“Shut up!” Joy whirls around. She takes off her necklace and throws it into the Guardian’s cell, where it lands on the floor. “I don’t want it! I don’t want anything from you!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E212 The Zulu Heritage, Part 13, The Angry Guardian

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

“You,” he says. “What did you say to my daughter!”

I stretch my neck and see a man approach the bars. I have seen him before, but I did not pay him much attention, since Joy and Justin both pointedly ignore him every time they walk into the Infinite Prison. Now that Amahle says he comes from legends in the Congo, that gives more context to his black skin and his black hair that’s cut very short. The right half of his face is almost entirely covered by a metal mask, with room for an eye to peek through. But there is no eye behind that hole, but a soft yellow glow. Anything that is not covered by the mask looks human, including the other eye. He is tall, thin, and wiry.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E211 The Zulu Heritage, Part 12, The Guardian

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

He crooks his head. “Amahle, which of the villains could possibly convince you that Joy is an honorary Zulu when you were very clear on the point that she wasn’t?”

“It was–” Amahle begins, when Joy cuts her off.

“No, Amahle!”

“He is your father, Joy. We do not keep secrets from him and there is no reason this should be a secret. It was the Guardian Spirit in your prison.”

“I have a Guardian Spirit in prison?”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E210 Interlude, Part 4, Legends Are Legends

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

“His name is Master Mind,” Charlie says. “He’s a big robot.”

“A big robot?” Amahle is thoughtful. That seems to remind her of something.

“A big killer robot. He protects Joy.”

“Why are you all here, Charlie? Why aren’t you all gone from my dream?”

She takes a step forward.

“Stop!” Charlie grabs her hand. She stops.

“One more step and you’ll fall off the ledge of your Shroom,” he says. “This isn’t your dream, Amahle. If you fall down here, you’ll fall until you hit something or until you wake up.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E209 Interlude, Part 3, Justin’s Shame

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

Joy lands on Justin’s Shroom a few meters above us and disappears from view. She’s probably going back to Bonny’s Revenge.

We are all awkwardly left on Amahle’s Shroom: Amahle who has just told Joy that she believes her to be her dream, Justin who just found out Amahle can always hear him breathe and recognized him as the man responsible for killing her in the dream and almost killing her in real life, Master Mind and Charlie.

Justin’s face is red. He is looking down. He doesn’t know what to do.

He opens his mouth to talk, then closes it.

Amahle stands and listens.

“Charlie, I can hear you standing near me. Why didn’t you disappear with Joy?”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E208 Interlude, Part 2, Dreaming Outside the Dream

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

Joy and Charlie lead the way out of the tunnel. Amahle holds Joy’s shoulders and moves forward. She doesn’t have her cane or Elvis, her seeing eye-dog. They disappeared when she left her dream.

I’m behind Amahle. And Master Mind walks silently behind me.

Justin is ahead of all of us. He waits outside, silent, afraid to make a noise.

“Careful, now, careful,” Joy says as Amahle takes the first step into her Shroom. “You are now on a Shroom. Stop here.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E207 Interlude: Amahle Leaves Her Dream

Guy Hasson
Age: 6, Told by Grampa Walt

It is our fifth time in Amahle’s dream.

Joy and Justin have had arguments that had gone back and forth many times in Justin’s dream about re-introducing Justin to Amahle. Back when Joy had run away from home on her sixth birthday, Justin, on my advice, tried to convince Amahle in her dream that he was killing her. He had hoped that when she woke up, the darkness of her dream would disappear and he would find the way out to save Joy.

But weeks later we had discovered, upon returning to Amahle’s dream, that she had died in real life and was brought back. What Justin had done had almost killed Amahle. Justin did not want to face Amahle. Joy wanted to become Amahle’s friend and wanted them to talk and meet again BS fUB.

Joy had won the argument partially - Justin agreed that they could show Amahle the way out of her dream and into The Dream with a capital ‘D’.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E206 The Zulu Heritage, Part 11, Amahle’s Ghost Dreams

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

The next day, Amahle appears on the deck and ghosts of her ancestors fill the air. Suzy and I lock the door to our home. But a few ghosts just pass through the walls.

Thankfully the ghosts are not aggressive and do nothing but moan and wail.

I look out the window. Master Mind is taking the ship up and to the tunnels.

Suzy looks at the ghosts fly past her. I wonder how afraid she is, but she says, “Amahle is in so much pain, Walt. I wish I could help her.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E204 The Zulu Heritage, Part 8, The Lion Claw Necklace

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

“Amahle, uh,” Joy finds it hard to speak. She holds the lion claw necklace in her hand. “When we were in your childhood home, uh…”

“She accidentally made a necklace real,” Justin says, clearly trying to help Joy find a way out.

“What?” Amahle is surprised.

“No, I didn’t!” Joy says aggressively. “It wasn’t an accident! I can control myself! I touched your grandfather’s necklace and made it real. I made it real and then I took it. I just wanted it so bad, and I thought, what’s the harm?”

Amahle’s face shows pain. “I thought you were my friend, Joy. I took you in. I showed you my past. I wake up in your world every day because we’re friends.”

“We are friends!” Joy looks down.

“Friends don’t steal!” Amahle explodes angrily.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E203 The Zulu Heritage, Part 8, The Necklace

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

Even though this is Justin’s dream, Amahle is the only dreamer here, and she controls the dream.

The dream changes an hour later. The Zulu village of Amahle’s mother in the middle of the desert changes to a bustling city street. I have never been, but I assume it is Johannesburg, the city Amahle grew up in.

From being inside a hut, surrounded by darkness, Amahle and Joy are in a small apartment building, surrounded by the same cloud of darkness. Bonny’s Revenge, with Suzy and me in it, hovers a few meters above the street, with buildings to every side.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E202 The Zulu Heritage, Part 7, The Music

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

It’s not a person’s wail, it’s music that imitates a wail. The wail turns into a scream of pain. And the air is then filled with almost unbearably sad music.

“Amahle?” Suzy asks me. She’s heard the music of Amahle’s dream before, but not like this.

I nod.

“It is a tragedy, Pirate Mother,” Master Mind answers softly, his voice only loud enough to get over the music and reach us, who are leaning on the railing a few meters above him, looking down at him. “The Sunless One’s mother had died.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

S02E201 The Zulu Heritage, Part 6, Into the Darkness

Guy Hasson
Age: 9, Told by Grampa Walt

Suzy and I look over the railing. I hear Amahle’s voice.

“Joy?” Amahle says from within the darkness. “Are you here? Come with me.”

Joy steps into the cloud of darkness that surrounds Amahle just as Master Mind lands next to her.

For the second time today, or ever, I hear Master Mind make a sound that I never expected to hear from a killer robot. He growls in frustration.

“Little Pirate,” he says in a low but forceful voice. “Come out!”

“Take my hand,” I hear Amahle say. “I want to show you something.”

If this darkness is the same as the one in Amahle’s dream, Master Mind cannot see inside the darkness, but Joy can.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Load More