The first Dreamer to appear is Madelyn. She appears on the deck. She runs down the ramp and onto the porch.
It is impossible to not notice that this woman who had no legs for all the time I knew her is now running with shorts on two completely new legs. It is very strange. And when she passes me I notice how tall she is now.
“How is Zhoy?”
“She is sleeping, she is fine,” Suzy says softly. “I think she’ll be all right.”
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Suzy and I - and even Master Mind - we can’t stop Joy from sitting on the magic carpet. The wound in her leg could open with any movement, she could still die if she bleeds like she did before, but she doesn’t listen to us and she can order Master Mind around.
Without Justin we’re helpless against her.
For a split second I consider using force on her. I’m not that kind of father or grandfather, but to save her life?
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“Joy, please sit back down!” I get to her but keep my distance.
Master Mind reaches down to her to lift her up.
“Do not touch me!” she orders him.
He freezes and moves back, forced to obey.
“I can do it,” she rests her wounded leg softly on the ground. “I’m fine.” Where the hell is Justin when you need him?
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Joy falls asleep in the hammock on our porch soon after Justin disappears. She’s lost so much blood, she’s no doubt exhausted.
Suzy and I sit next to her. We don’t need to sleep, after all, and we’re worried about her.
Master Mind stands guard, but of course there are no dangers in the dream anymore as far as we know when the Dreamers are awake.
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“Little Pirate,” he says. “I apologize from the depths of my paper heart.”
“Master Mind,” Joy reaches out to touch his hand. “What happened? I was so worried!”
Justin comes out of the house to stand near Joy. He wants to know what happened, too. It’s Joys safety, after all.
“Logic dictates that you should not be concerned for me, rather that you should be furious. I am furious and I do not know what to do.”
“Master Mind, what happened to you?” Joy squeezes his metal hand. “You’ve seen blood before. You killed many people without a problem.”
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“Three weeks with no adventures! Just kill me now!” she exclaims. Madelyn and Charlie are shocked and they both gasp.
Justin is the only one who isn’t fazed by the things she says. “Two weeks,” he says.
“Two days,” she says. “I’ll be walking and jumping in two days!”
“Don’t you dare try to do that! The wound will open up and it’s not even closed yet!”
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“And she almost died!”
“Yuppers,” I say.
He finally looks at me. “Yuppers?”
“Yuppers.”
“That’s not a word.”
“It’s a word if I say it’s a word. Now it’s a word.”
He looks forward, now slightly calmer. “I’m going to start thinking you have a sense of humor, Dad.”
“Perish the thought!”
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Charlie lands on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, dropping Master Mind behind him, and runs to Joy. The rope that ties him to the big robot stops him in the middle. Without thinking, he whirls around, cuts it with a knife that just appears in his hand, and keeps running. The knife disappears.
“Joy! Joy! Are you alive?”
“Charlie, I’m okay. I’m okay.” But her face is paler than usual and sweaty.
“When I saw you get shot…” he looks her over and starts to cry.
She grabs his hand. “Charlie. Charlie. I’m okay.” Her voice is weak and she’s in pain, yet she’s trying to make him feel better. What is this girl made of?
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I am here with my granddaughter. I’ve stopped the bleeding. Artemis’ arrow is in her leg.
I’ve created a tourniquet but she’s lost so much blood! She needs help and I’m the only one here!
I hear a familiar sound above me.
Madelyn’s super wheelchair comes flying from the tunnel, and she heads right towards us.
“Mon dieu, Zhoy!” she leaps off the wheelchair and lands next to her. And suddenly she has legs! “Mon dieu, mon dieu, mon dieu,” she can’t stop saying it. “This is all my fault! How are you feeling, Zhoy?”
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“Hold on, Joy!” I run to the wheel. “I’m coming for you!”
She’d taught me to drive the damn thing, but I never had a lot of practice. My hands are shaking. My granddaughter can lose her life!
In spite of the trembling and the fear I feel inside, I am able to bring the warship right under Joy.
I go to her and reach out with my hands. “Here you go, here you go,” I grab her and lower her to the deck. “Oh my god!”
Her leg is full of blood. My hands are full of blood. How much has she lost?
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I am watching the adventure from afar. Artemis, the Greek goddess and huntress, has rebelled against Olympus and taken Zeus’ lightning bolt. This takes place in what Justin calls a “neutral arena”, which means that he created a Planet Olympus, which is far in outer space and not anywhere near our home. Joy, however, halfway through the adventure, had made the place glow, and so the planet will remain forever in Justin’s dream.
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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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Getting closer to the land mass in this ‘Toronto Planet’, we see that the mass only includes one city: Toronto. It looks now just as it looks in the waking world from the air.
“Wow, is that where you live?” Joy leans over the railing. “It’s like a city we have adventures in!”
“Is it?” Justin looks at it sideways.
“What’s that?” she points to the highest tower.
“That’s that CN Tower,” Justin answers. “It’s been there since forever.”
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“Toronto ahoy!” Joy yells from the crow’s nest.
“Toronto ahoy!” Justin echoes from the wheel.
“Grandma, Grampa,” Joy yells at Suzy and me from above. “You say it, too!”
I look at Suzy, and she seems to be feeling awkward like me.
“Toronto ahoy,” Suzy says weakly.
“Toronto ahoy,” I say under my breath.
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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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