Grant was amazed by Main Street USA, and could only walk down the middle of it with his jaw hanging open soaking in the ragtime playing in the background as he stared unblinking at Cinderella Castle at the end of it all.

'Cool, huh, G?' Joe asked.

'Cool.' Grant nodded.

'I said I'd take you on Space Mountain,' said Joe. 'Wanna go now?'

'Yes!' Grant shouted. His lisp seemed much more pronounced when his voice was louder, but he didn't care. He was at Disney, the Happiest Place on Earth. Nobody here would care about his lisp, his overbite, or his overcrowded mouth - they were too wrapped up in their own vacations, after all.

Joe chuckled at his younger brother's enthusiasm. 'Alright. Let's go.' He turned to their parents. 'Is it alright if I take Grant -'

'Joe, you're twenty-two years old. You're an adult now. Of course you can take your younger brother on some rides,' said Dawn. 'We'll meet you at the Mr Toad ride in Fantasyland two hours from now.'

Joe checked the time on his watch. 'Alright, that'll be half two.'

'Remember, don't allow Grant to eat anything crunchy. No churros, no chips, no candy apples or regular apples. It could interfere with his palatal expander and we don't want that,' said Gene. 'We're paying a fortune for his orthodontic treatment as it is without having to replace the devices.'

'Sure, Dad.'

'And no syrups either,' said Dawn. 'It's just too messy.'

Joe nodded. 'I'll keep it in mind,' he said. Then he turned to his younger brother. 'Come on. We're going to have such a good time.'

'I hope so,' said Grant. 'I have plans. I want to go on Space Mountain, and then I want an ice cream, and I want to go on the Skyway, I want to go on Mr Toad's Wild Ride and the teacups and Dumbo the Flying Elephant -'

'Whoa!' Joe smiled and shook his head. 'Where do you think we're going to get the time for all this?'

Grant shrugged. 'It's Disney World. It's magical.'

'There's no magical line skipping tool. You've just got to stand there like everyone else.'

'Tell them I'm dying of cancer and that's why my face looks all smushed and weird.'

'Grant, that's a horrible thing to say,' said Joe. 'I'm not lying and you're not dying, you've just got some issues with your jaw ever since your adult teeth came in. It's common.'

'Did you have these issues?' asked Grant.

'No, but when I was your age, my friend Mac wore braces,' said Joe. 'And he had to wear headgear too, like a nerd. He didn't have the same problems you did. He had an underbite.'

'What's that?'

'You know how you have an overbite? Well, it's the same, but with the lower jaw. So, he had this metal contraption on his…' Joe waved his hand in front of his face. 'All here. It was a horrible time for him, he got picked on relentlessly.'

'Why are you friends with him then?'

'Because I didn't pick on him.'

'If only it were that easy to make friends,' Grant lamented. 'I don't have friends.'

'You don't?' asked Joe as he consulted the park map for directions.

'Well, I have one friend,' said Grant. 'Stephen.'

'Okay.' Joe nodded. 'Tell me about Stephen.'

'He's an iguanodon -'

'Stephen's the iguanodon figure I bought you four Christmases ago, isn't he?'

Grant chuckled. 'No! He's invisible.'

It was that point, right in front of Mission to Mars, that Joe lowered the park map, turned around, and met his younger brother's blue eyes. 'Grant. You're twelve.'

Grant nodded. 'I know.'

'You're too old for imaginary friends,' said Joe.

'Tell that to Stephen.' Grant gestured to an empty space next to him.

'Okay. Drop the act, Grant,' said Joe. 'Just forget about having imaginary friends. Because you're way too old for them. You're going into middle school soon.'

'Stephen is my friend. He doesn't laugh at me or call me names or hit me like the other kids and my teachers do.'

'Because he's not real. You know that, right?'

'Yes.'

'Good.'

'But he's real to me.'

Joe sighed. 'When we get home, I'm taking you to the nut house.' He resumed the walk to Space Mountain.

Grant stood there in stunned silence for a few seconds before running after his brother. 'You can't do that,' he protested.

'Oh yeah?' Joe asked. 'And why not?'

'Because I'm not crazy,' said Grant. 'Having imaginary friends doesn't make you crazy no more than having real friends.'

'You'd have real friends if you didn't have "Stephen",' Joe said, using air quotes.

Grant huffed and looked up at the Wedway PeopleMover encircling Tomorrowland above them. 'Well, nobody likes me.'

Joe stopped again, this time in front of the Carousel of Progress. He turned to his little brother. 'I like you.'

Grant looked at his older brother, but didn't say a word.

'Grant, of course I like you,' Joe said as he walked over. 'You're smart and you're funny. You're passionate about dinosaurs. You might make mistakes, but you're always looking to learn - and science is all about making mistakes, after all.'

'It is?' asked Grant.

'Oh sure,' Joe nodded. 'The world's first vaccine was discovered by accident. Did you know that?'

Grant sniffled. 'No.'

'And just about the greatest invention of all - penicillin. Antibiotics. Discovered by accident. Also quinine, which prevents malaria. And radioactivity. And do you know what else was a scientific accident?' asked Joe.

'No, but you're going to tell me, aren't you?' asked Grant.

'The discovery of the iguanodon,' said Joe. He put his arm around his younger brother.

'Oh.'

'You'll find your place as a great scientist someday. But not today. Because this is Tomorrowland. A sci-fi themed section of an amusement park. Not actual science -'

'Can we go on Space Mountain now?' asked Grant.

'Yeah, screw it. Let's go,' Joe said.

Grant's eyes widened and his mouth opened, showing off all the metalwork in his mouth. 'You just swore!' he blurted out.

'Yes I did, and I'd thank you not to tell Mom,' said Joe. 'Come on. Space Mountain. It's past Carousel of Progress and the Skyway station. Let's go.' He grabbed Grant by the wrist and pulled him.

Grant was still shocked, having heard his first real swear word.

'Remind me not to listen to George Carlin around you.'

'Who's George Carlin?'

'A comedian.'

'I like comedy.'

'You wouldn't like him,' said Joe. 'Maybe you will when you're older.'

'Does he swear?' asked Grant.

'Does he ever,' said Joe.

Grant pulled himself free from Joe's grip and caught him up. 'How many swears are there, Joe?'

'Enough,' said Joe. 'Now, no more talk about swears. You don't want to be put in Disney Jail, do you?'

Grant frowned slightly. 'Disney has a Jail?'

'Oh sure,' said Joe. 'It's under Cinderella's Castle.' They passed by a Cast Member Only door and Joe pointed at it. 'When people go through those doors, they're going to Disney Jail.'

'What… what gets you sent there?' asked Grant.

'The usual lawbreaking like stealing and fighting, and murder. But also, kicking Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck or Goofy. Standing up on a ride. Being racist. And swearing,' Joe listed.

Grant shrunk down and nodded. 'I'll be good.'

'Good.' Joe nodded as they joined the line for Space Mountain. 'Good.'

It was over an hour later by the time they came off the ride.

'You okay, G?' Joe asked. 'You're looking a little green.'

'I don't like rollercoasters,' Grant mumbled. The experience had shaken him up somewhat and he was feeling a little queasy.

'It was a little rough,' Joe admitted. 'It's fine if you don't wanna do another E-Ticket ride. If You Had Wings is free -'

'Why?'

'It's an ad for Eastern Airlines.'

'I've never been on a plane,' said Grant.

'How did you get down here from Texas?' asked Joe.

'Dad drove us in his car,' said Grant.

Joe shrugged. 'Then do you want to see If You Had Wings? We can go and get an ice cream from Main Street USA afterwards -'

Grant held his hand up. 'No ice cream, Joe. Please.'

Joe chuckled. 'Sure. Not if you don't want, G,' he said. 'Let's go.'

'I wonder what Mom and Dad are doing,' said Grant as he and Joe started walking back across Tomorrowland.

'Probably watching Tropical Serenade,' Joe said. 'Mom always did love parrots.'

'She loves trilobites,' said Grant. 'She told me they were her favourite.'

'Ah. You've met Trevor,' said Joe. 'You know, Mom discovered three new species of trilobite before you were even born.'

'Really?' Grant asked incredulously.

'And one after,' Joe finished. 'Trevor was just the biggest one she unearthed. Well, technically, it had already been unearthed as he was in a rock she found on the beach.' He paused. 'Did Mom tell you how she got into fossil hunting?'

Grant thought about it and shook his head. 'No.'

'She found a trilobite on the beach,' said Joe.

'Was it Trevor?'

'No. She kept the trilobite she found.'

'Oh.'

'G, you know how there's not many women in the field of palaeontology?' asked Joe.

'Yeah. It's just Mom, Khaleila, and Helen.'

'That you know. There's also Diana and my girlfriend, Hope,' said Joe. 'There's a reason for that. Women are being kept out of the workplace because stuffy old men believe that a woman's place is cooking for them in the kitchen.'

Grant scoffed. 'That's stupid.'

'It is,' Joe agreed. 'Stuffy old men don't like it when women have jobs. Or when they have kids. Even when those kids grow up to be stuffy old men.'

'Sounds like they just don't like women,' said Grant.

'That's exactly right, G,' said Joe. 'They don't. And they didn't like Mom going to study science in college. She was the only woman in her college to earn a PhD, you know that? She discovered a new species of trilobite. Then she became a professor and had me. They didn't like she went back to work and discovered two more new species of trilobites. And she had you. And went back to work again. And discovered Trevor. They really hated that.'

'They did?'

'Dad's never discovered any new species,' said Joe. 'But he's treated with more respect.'

'What's the point of this, again?' asked Grant.

'The point is you need to respect Mom a little bit more,' said Joe. 'Also Helen. You don't know what she's had to put up with with segregation either.'

'What's segregation?' asked Grant.

'Too heavy a topic to explain in the Happiest Place on Earth,' said Joe. 'Ask your teacher when you start school.'

Grant nodded, but remained curious. Clearly it was A Bad Thing, but now, he didn't know why it was A Bad Thing. 'Okay,' he said with a fair amount of trepidation.

'Let's get on this ride,' said Joe. 'It's the only free thing in all Disney World.'

Grant nodded again. 'Okay,' he said, more confidently this time. He wanted on that ride. Especially if it wasn't a rough one like Space Mountain. Never again would he go on Space Mountain.

"No magical line skipping tool" this is 1977, twenty years before FastPass (now known as Lightning Lane) would be a thing.
Grant having an imaginary friend at age 12 is perfectly normal. Adolescents are known to have imaginary friends. The most usual times for a kid to develop an imaginary friend is between the ages of 3 and 13. And that's develop, not have. Most kids stop having them at age 9 or 10, though some persist. But this is 1977, so there's more stigma. Still, more of his peers might have imaginary friends than they'd like to admit…
I last remember having my imaginary friend when I was 10. I think it went away when I started secondary school and made actual friends. I was quite a lonely kid, so I went through a lot of imaginary friends.
As this is 1977, women's rights and first wave feminism were pretty much at the forefront of conversation, so Joe and Grant discuss it here. But Joe is probably correct in wanting to leave segregation out of his vacation. Interesting fact - in the UK, where I'm from, we never had segregation, so when we learned about it in our World History lessons, we were all super horrified.
Sorry to end the chapter on a downer.