Having just asked his pertinent question, Toughy knew what the giantess Carla’s answer would be. He was more excited about how she would word it.

“Yes, Little Dumplin’. I’d love to keep you in the cage as a pet!” she said, “It’s so sweet and considerate of you to offer. You’ll have the furniture I was going to give to the other Dumplin’.”

She shared her meal with him and then took him into the other room and put him into the cage. Then she walked away. He looked at the delight of her upper back, largely exposed by the design of the dress, and waited for her to return with a nice small bed and a shelf to make use of if he needed it. She spent the next few days keeping him company during her every waking hour, taking him from the cage when she needed to be in another room.

“Carla, would you like to go out for a picnic on a date?” he asked her, after taking some time to work up the courage.

“Why yes, Little Dumplin’. I think I would! Let’s go now” she said, and took him out of the cage to join her in the preparation of the picnic basket. He then rode astride her shoulder into the grassy area of the peaks outside the giant city, and was pleased that this time they had arrived at a warmer time of the year than the snow season that the Atom had told them about while they were time traveling.

They reached a nice spot and sat down to eat their food together. Carla washed hers down with a jug of water that he could have drowned in, and served his in a bottle top.

“I must say I was a little worried having you on my shoulder,” she said, “I wasn’t sure which way the wind was blowing. If you’d been blown forward off me, I’d have been able to catch you, but if you’d been blown over the back of my shoulder, you’d have taken an awful fall and been lost to me.”

“There’s an old trick in my time for finding out which way the wind is blowing,” he said, “If you stand up again and put me on your shoulder, just keep your hand close by, so that there’s no risk.”

Carla did so.

He walked along her shoulder towards her beautiful face.

“Now, just put out your tongue,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to tell from that, which way the wind is blowing,” she said.

“No, but I will,” said Toughy.

Carla’s tongue came out of her mouth and rested against the top of her chin. Toughy ran his arm and hand over her tongue, and then held it out to the wind, and taught her how to use the moisture to determine the direction the wind is blowing.

“I think you’d better ride back in the basket,” she said.

Toughy snuggled up on the folded picnic rug and actually fell asleep at some point. Carla took him back into her house and awoke him and sat on the couch.