Valerie, Raymond, and Trent came up to Tectelphia, Mrs. Bradson in the lead, with her husband on her shoulder, and Berlinger right behind her. They walked to one of the Giants Only Roads and headed towards the baseball center in the heart of Tectelphia.

“Do you think Ms. Pruess is going to watch the game too?” Trent asked as they made their way into the city.

“She never said anything about it to me,” Valerie replied, looking back to him. “Why?”

“I saw her walking into the city before you two showed up,” Trent answered.

“I don't think Lorraine even knows what baseball is,” Raymond laughed.

“No, she does,” Valerie corrected him. “She knows that there is a thing called baseball....but I think that's as far as it goes. She doesn't pay attention to sports.”

“Neither do I,” Trent shrugged.

“I thought supporting the Giants, just to be funny,” Valerie chuckled. “But they're a baseball team in New York, not in Tectelphia.”

“The Giants don't play baseball, Val,” Raymond said. “They're a football team.”

“.....football?” Valerie and Trent asked.

“Nevermind.” Raymond laughed.

The baseball stadium was filling up with loyal fans of the two less-than-mediocre teams playing there, the Terriers and the Orioles. Two teams that haven't had a good season in more than eight years. Nevertheless, the fans were excited and supportive for their respective teams. There was friendly trash talking amongst the players and it was all good fun. At least for this game. Had it been the New York Yankees, a fight or two might have broken out, and the trash talk may not have been so friendly. But, that was for another day. The people from Baltimore were a little on edge as they entered Tectelphia. They had learned why a number of the roads were closed. A good number of them hadn't met a giant person up close or in the flesh at all, so many of them kept checking their surroundings, not wanting to end up under a foot.

So, their surprise when a giant blonde woman came out from the buildings was understandable. A lot of them screamed and began to run just on instinct. Lorraine Pruess was just passing-by on her stroll, but she noticed the activity of the stadium and glanced at it in mild curiosity. Despite what they thought, Valerie and Raymond were both wrong, Lorraine knew more about baseball than they gave her credit. She knew enough about it to know that it held her attention for not very long. Sports weren't her thing, at all. But, the activity was enough for her to peek over the tops of the stadium, shrug and then continue on her way, her footfalls shaking the fans in their seats. The citizens of Tectelphia, a little more seasoned with such experiences, didn't panic, and merely held onto their seats. The folks from Baltimore did panic at first, but, when they discovered that they were the only ones frenzied they eventually calmed down. The intercoms blared with reassurances that everything was fine and the people could go back to their seats.

Just as the people sat back down, the ground began shaking again. They looked up to again, expecting to see the blonde woman again, passing through, but instead saw another woman wearing glasses, her sandy blonde hair done in a ponytail, followed by some young guy with short brown hair. Now there were two of them, and the Baltimore fans went ballistic again. Valerie knelt down before the the ticket booths and placed her husband down, who walked up to the teens, who were cowering behind the glass.

“These two giants are with me.” He said motioning to them. “I have a ticket for me and the wife there. I'd like one for the gentleman, please.”

One of the teens, a red head with pimples on his face, was able to move and go about his duties and took Raymond's money and then handed him the ticket. Ray thanked him, and then the teen watched as the giant with the ponytail picked up her husband and stood back up. Good God...she was REALLY tall. Valerie and Trent lightly stepped over the parking lots until they got to an empty one (left specifically that way for just such an occasion) and then sat and looked over the rim. There was a heavy sense of awkwardness for the fans in the stadium. They knew that the giants were there, their faces hung over like the sun, but there was nothing they could do. Even the players of the team were a little nervous, their managers urging them to ignore the giants and focus on the game. The Terrier's manager went as far as even saying...

“Those Orioles ain't ever seen those giants in person before! They're all psyched out right now. The perfect chance for us to pull out a win!”

Valerie and Trent didn't mind at all the situation. To them, it felt good just to be around the normal sized folks and watch their little games. It made them feel welcomed and normal. It made them feel good.

“Okay, Trent,” Raymond began. He pointed. “You see those white bases on the field?”

“Yeah!” Trent nodded.

“There are those three outer ones and then the one at the bottom.” Raymond explained. “Both teams go on the field. One stands out on the field, with one player on that mound as the pitcher. The pitcher's job is to throw the ball. The other team lines up and takes turns standing on home base to hit the ball. The point is to hit the ball as far as you can, preferably over the heads of the players and out of the boundaries of the game. You want to hit the ball and get to bases and work your way back to home, that base at the bottom there. If you hit the ball and the other team catches it, you're out and you have to go back and wait to hit again. Each base has a player on it, kind of like their guarding it. If the other players haven't caught the ball without it touching the ground, then you want to run as fast as you can to one of the bases without the other team touching you with the ball. If you don't get to first plate before the first baseman touches it with the ball, you're out. You still with me?”

“Uh.......I think,” Trent replied.

Valerie laughed. “Don't worry, you'll get it when it happens. It's kind of confusing to just hear about. When you see it going on, it'll make much more sense.”

“Okay, if you say so, Valerie,” Trent replied, smiling.

…

Lorraine Pruess had no idea that the Bradsons and Trent were in the city, otherwise she might have stayed at the stadium just to be with friends. But, they had eluded her, and she continued her walk through Tectelphia.

One of her favorite hobbies, though it was heavily scorned by Jennifer Stark, was to peek through the windows of the buildings in Tectelphia. Each new building that she looked through was like a book, each one telling a different story. It was best when they didn't notice her doing it, but, even still, it didn't matter much. It was perhaps a little impolite to do such a thing, but she was always so curious as to what went on in the buildings, what the normal sized population was up to in them. She'd been caught doing it a few times by Jennifer, but she didn't care what that grouch said about it. She wasn't hurting anybody, or even damaging anything. And it wasn't as if she was spying on people in the shower (now that would be rude) or something.

So, she stepped towards another skyscraper and peered through, cupping her eyes to cut off the sunlight. Inside the first building were a bunch of little offices. Raymond had once told her that these little offices were called 'cubes' or something that like. He also said that they were incredibly boring and the people who worked in them often lived dull lives. And Lorraine could see why. They were indeed boring and the colors were gray and flat and jut screamed uninteresting. She frowned to herself and thought the 'cubes' should be colorful and lively. At least then, things would be fun....or at least a little more than they were now.

When the people in there noticed her, she moved on to the next building. This one was an apartment building, and she had to kneel down to look through it, the hem of her dress getting caught on a chainlink fence. The first room she peered through was an empty living room. It was decorated in a southern style though, with cowhead skulls, cowhide on the walls, a tan couch, a table with hide on it. Lorraine frowned, not finding any of it particularly nice and stepped over and peered through the next window. This one had a modern decoration to it, all of the furniture was black and white and sleek. Lorraine though this one was much better, but though, at the same time, that it missed some classical things to give it an old world charm along with it as well. During her peeking, a man came out of another room, saw her, and fled back into the room.

Lorraine stood up, tugging her dress free from the fence and continued down the street. In the distance, she saw an innercity school. It was on a road that she couldn't step on, being used by the general population of normal sized people. Not only that, but, Jennifer expressively forbade Valerie, her, and Trent, from going near a school or any learning institution of the normal people. The Giant Relations Person was not about to even allow the possibility of giants causing damage to the schools. Any of them going near it would be in big trouble with Ms. Stark if they didn't follow that directive. Unfortunately, this made the schools that more interesting and Lorraine longed to peer into it. Raymond had offered to take pictures for her, but that wouldn't do. What were pictures when it was right there and you could go and see for yourself. Lorraine had begged Jennifer to make a special exception just once, but she wouldn't budge.

She immediately turned away from the school, fighting the urge to ignore Jennifer's directive and take a quick peek. The school's administration wouldn't be quiet about it, no doubt, then Garth would come for her, and then back to Jennifer's office for another argument. The last time she had been there, Jennifer had alluded her to a pubescent teenager who refused to follow directions. That was completely unfair. Was it so bad that she wanted to know more about the smaller people? Was it so bad that she was curious? Wasn't it Jennifer's job to encourage such behavior? To encourage such good interest in the normal people? Right now, it looked like the only thing Jennifer seemed interested in doing was keeping the two separated. Don't go there, don't do this, don't do that, stay away from this and that, all of those were large components of Jennifer's rules. Lorraine had almost lost her patience and asked what on Earth they COULD do. But, Jennifer had Garth, who, while he was an alright guy (or so Valerie said), he was frightening and you didn't want to push him too far.

Valerie always said that Jennifer was just doing what she thought was best and just wanted to make sure everyone was safe. Lorraine got that, but safe and sound was only half the problem. There was still the connection that had to be made. People were still afraid. People still didn't like them. People still avoided them. Yeah, a giant person could enter a city without hurting people now, thanks to Jennifer Stark, but what about the rest of the problem? What was she actually doing about RELATIONS? Lorraine called Jennifer the “Safety Director” occasionally, stating that Jennifer wasn't doing a dang thing about Relations. Ms. Stark knew of this and often replied that people had to feel safe around the giant people before the connections could be made. Jennifer said that her going to meet people and everything else that she was doing was her way of working on the Relations problem. Every face to face meeting she had with a normal sized person was a little more progress. Not to mention that Valerie and Raymond's marriage also was a big help. Then, Jennifer would then say that if Lorraine was so eager to make such connections, nothing was stopping her as long as she followed the rules and didn't break Tectelphia in the process!

Another thing Lorraine didn't particularly like about Jennifer was that she was often cold in her ways of dealing with rule 'infractions'. She never lightened up, she was never any fun, she was too stuffy and all business and never showed a human side. Valerie tried to correct this view, having invited Jennifer to her home several times and had seen the Relations Person show a more unguarded side, but Lorraine didn't hear a word of it. Valerie would often sigh and think to herself how the Lorraine and Jennifer would bicker until the end of time. Trent just stayed away from the entire thing, not wanting to get stuck in the middle of it.

Lorraine Pruess continued down the street of Tectelphia, looking in a few more buildings. At one point, she found a car one of the Giant Only roads. Eager, she picked it up and looked into, turning it around in her fingers, examining it all over. Eventually, it slipped from her grasp and plummeted to the concrete, causing several to run away in fear. Lorraine quickly walked away, yet again whistling innocently. An hour later, the owner and his family, new to Tectelphia, returned to find their van utterly destroyed.

Not long after...Jennifer Stark would hear about it.

…

Trent was starting to get the baseball game a little more. Valerie was right. What Raymond had explained to him eventually started to come together as he watched it happen before him on the field. The Terriers actually managed to score a few points in the first few innings.

“Runs, Trent,” Raymond had corrected him. “They're called runs in Baseball.”

Whenever the Terriers scored, Ray let out a loud cheer. Valerie just smiled, and clapped quietly, not wanting to frighten the smaller people with loud noises. Trent followed Valerie's example and just clapped. At one point he made the mistake of clapping when the other team, the Orioles, scored. Raymond had gotten onto him, while Valerie held back giggles that were so strong that tears eventually flowed from her eyes.

“No clapping for the other team,” Raymond told him. “You 'boo' when the other team scores. Remember, you're rooting for the Terriers!”

“Raymond,” Valerie said. “Why don't you let him choose who he wants to support.”

“I am,” Raymond replied. “I'm just saying that it'd better be the Terriers.” He winked at Trent. Valerie rolled her eyes, smiling.

Trent was having a good time with the Bradsons and was glad that they had invited him. Valerie was glad just to be outside and amongst the normal people. Like Jennifer, a life long dream of hers was the unification of giant and normal folks, and both getting along with each other. Raymond was just glad to see the Terriers actually putting up a decent fight. To make this day better though, they'd better get a win. If they did that, he would be a happy man.

The three of them sat and watched the game, as the teams switched sides, entering the sixth inning.