When the daughter and her parents had fully reconciled they invited me to join their circle and Elsa came too. The absence of the children was taken as an opportunity to update us on their personal adventure. They recounted of how they’d grown in the middle of the city of corals and how it was now mostly in ruins. They confirmed the hunger attack was common to everyone grown to our heights and that it disappeared through time, and practice.

Another revealing moment was when Mimi tried to alert her mother “Mom, be careful, you are standing on the city.” The woman moved her feet back on the beach immediately, in their place she left visible two enormous footprints with debris of just destroyed condos in it.
“Ouch, sorry! - she exclaimed – They are most probably empty by now. Last night we saw people fleeing the city … comprehensibly. Anyway, that’s why we introduced the golden rule.”
“Don’t talk to strangers?” I tried to suggest kind of joking. Nobody paid any attention to me.
“What happens under our feet stays under our feet!” Both Micheal’s and Elsa said in unison. It was a very disconcerting motto, both to me and to Mimi.
“What? But you may crush things o … o … or People!” Hannah closed her eyes like she had to fully absorb the objection before answering. But then she opened them and smiled.
“Yeah, it’s possible. But not intentionally. Since we grew, we have caused a bit of damage. And so did you – I looked back at the imprint of our bodies cutting the city almost in half. - And we can’t help it. The world is too fragile for us now. And still we need to live, as serenely as possible. So we decided that if we have to live this big, a certain degree of damages must be accepted. As long as we do our best to not procure it intentionally.”

Mimi swallowed hard. Her parents had clarified to her that they were knowingly accepting to destroy anything so unfortunate to end under their feet and to give as much care as to an anthill. Elsa broke the silence giving another motivation which seemed to resonate with her.
“Think of your little sister … and Arthur. They are children, they never asked to be put in this situation. Neither did any of us. But now here we are. It would be difficult to make them accept every single small accident they cause it’s terrible, they would live in constant fear. And I don’t think it’s what you want. Nobody here is harming people intentionally. It just happens that our … difference in size determines unwanted consequences.” She smiled reassuringly.
Mimi was looking at her own feet now. “I guess you’re all right. Maybe it’s too difficult to avoid any accident.” She raised her head. “But still, we should be careful. Humans are fragile and they deserve our best care.”
Hannah and Micheal nodded happy that their daughter had joined their small crowd trampling club. It still felt a bit strange to refer to other people like “humans”. But standing close to the coastline. With the puny buildings reaching barely my shins I really felt like “they” were humans while we … not so much anymore.

After having decided that people’s death by accidental crushing was in nothing more serious than that of any other insect, Mimi told our story. I appreciated pretty much that she omitted all the sections where things get too intimate, like immediately before encountering Arthur and his mother. Finally Elsa told hers.

It was far more adventurous than all of ours. We recognized our role and had a good perspective of what does it mean to be a little person in the presence of giants. It confirmed the role of the honey but also contained the terrible news that the honey was over. I was pretty disheartened by this information. Now that I knew people where even more at risk of being easily disposed by us, I felt my mother was in an even greater danger. And, on the other hand, the possibility of her not being here, big like us, influencing Hannah and Micheal for the better was equally as troubling. Then the awkward part followed.

Apparently there was a method, apart from the mysterious honey, to grow people. Elsa told the story of at least another substance that tasted like honey and could help people grow. And that substance originally belonged to me. I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. I wanted to disappear right there right away. I kept looking at my feet for the whole continuation of the story. And more or less so did Mimi. I felt the inquisitive gaze of her parents judging me. The monster, the reckless deflowerer of their little angel. I just wanted to find a hole big enough to contain me and dig my way down there, but I felt like the thing was far more difficult given my current size.

When I gained courage enough to peep at Hannah’s face, she was not looking at me but just listening attentive to Elsa’s story. After another couple minutes the story was over. It involved also another woman, named Carol, which had grown. She was not present also because even though she had … consumed the honeysh solution it wasn’t enough to grant her a full growth. On the contrary, Elsa’s experience showed that no matter how much honey one consumed, it made you grow to this specific height with all the side perks: enhanced bodily functions and the capacity to eat and digest everything. And also, so it seemed, healing from possible diseases or wounds, like Micheal’s back pains or Hannah’s sinusitis. This one thing really hit me in the depth.

My mom came from the same place as my father, and even though it had been ten years since his death, I always feared she may develop the same disease sooner or later. At this point growing her was not only urgent for all the aforementioned motives but is was my first directive. I could prevent any possible future trouble to her. I felt like we should not waste anymore time and just go home to do as planned. Still I remained silent and listening.

Mimi was the first to speak. “Did you … - she looked at her mother to find the courage to pronounce the next words – did you try it on … anyone?”
Hannah looked a little startled by the question but she was fast to answer “Well, sweetie, no! We didn’t, but it should work no?”
“Yeah, that and maybe the milk too.” Elsa added.
“The milk?” I blurted in surprise. Elsa got a little reddish in the face. Hannah intervened.
“Yes, sweetie, it seems like Elsa and I … well, we produce a bit of milk. And it tast… ehrm … it smells like honey.”
“Eeeeew!” Mimi commented.
“Mimi, it’s perfectly natural!” Her mother protested.
“What? It’s absolutely not natural! … But, okay then. There’s stuff that tastes and smells like honey.”
“Yeah, I have a theory.” Elsa tried to say. Everyone looked at her.
“Well … it could be completely up in the air but maybe our … secretions have the power to grant a partial growth. And if we mix two of them it may grow someone to our height.” Nobody talked. I was completely sure I didn’t want that conversation about everyone’s “secretion” to keep going. I didn’t want to imply anything about sperm or boob milk in front of Mimi’s parents. I hoped for everyone to just go in separate direction and never meet again.

“We could try on that woman!” Mimi exclaimed destroying my hopes for the end of the conversation.
“She had one substance, we can try giving her another and see if she grows as big as us!” She transmitted a sinister enthusiasm for feeding a stranger her mother’s milk or that of this other woman. I didn’t want to think about it. Hannah coughed in embarrassment.
“What?” Mimi asked worried.
“Well – Elsa talked – we, your parents and I, don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“What? Why? You grew together but only to a fraction of this size. Then the honey ... and your son with the bread … it’s … it’s the proof we need. If it works, it’s done.”
Mimi’s parents and Elsa looked a little bit puzzled by Mimi’s words. I interpreted it as a sign of the fact they weren’t planning of enlarging anyone. I wondered if they had any objection to enlarging my mom. I really hoped not.
Elsa continued “Carol is … well, she is not a good person. Here, I said it.” Elsa looked like that kind of woman that has many trouble at talking shit about others. She was a colossal being able to erase entire cities from the face of the earth just for the sake of it and still she had the attitude of a polite and pleasant woman. I felt a certain sympathy for her. It must’ve been terrible to experience all she experienced since the day before.

Hannah continued Elsa’s discourse. “She blackmailed Elsa, threatened to kill her son. And she ate mrs. Kimky apparently.”
“What?!” Mimi exclaimed “Mrs. Kimky is dead?”
“I guess anyone still staying in that building last night is dead by now, unfortunately.” Micheal answered.
“Yep … I mean, part of the older city is destroyed by now.” Hannah completed trying to look as casual as possible. Mimi absorbed that information without too much surprise. After all, Elsa had told more or less everything in her story before.
“Well, but the golden rule …” Mimi tried to object.
“The golden rule stands if you don’t want to do any harm to people and it just happens. - Elsa said – Carol was pretty clear to me and also in front of your parents about her bad intentions. - Mimi was completely discouraged at that point. Elsa took her hand between hers.
"Look, Mimi, I understand your grit and curiosity. But Carol is a troubled person. She had … well, bad experiences, very bad ones. And they left signs on her that growth didn’t cancel. That is why I can forgive her for what she did, mostly because everything went fine. But I can’t allow for such an … unpredictable person to have this power. She may dangerous to all of us. To my Artie, again.”

Mimi was fairly convinced by Elsa’s words. They resonated with her own conviction that to be this big was really too much if granted to people that would exploit it. She nodded in agreement. Elsa smiled to her and caressed her hand one last time before letting it go.
“We could try it on someone we trust!” I could not hold it anymore. Everyone looked at me. I was pretty embarrassed for all the attention but still I continued.
“We could … go to someone we know is a good person, someone we trust, and try to grow … that person.” Of all people, I thought Hannah had already understood who I was talking about and smiled. And still she let me talk even though I wished for anyone to interrupt me.
“We could go home. And try the theory on … my mom?”
Mimi run in my aid “Or Nana!”
“What?” Micheal exclaimed laughing.
I thought he was going to object growing other people. He was going to thwart Mimi’s plane before it even began.
“That old windbag!” Hannah slapped him right on the nape.
“Ouch … I mean. Mimi! Nana is old … and unlikable – he added in a lower volume and was slapped again – do you really think it’s a good idea to enlarge her?” Mimi’s eyes were bright again in hope for her great plans.
“Of course dad. We should act immediately!”
“Woah woah. You just arrived and are already giving orders. Don’t you want to enjoy this beautiful morning a little bit. To spend some time with your family?” Micheal taunted her.
“Come on, dad. I am serious. We need to know if it works. And, besides, Zack deserves to spend some time with his family too – she made it sound like a punishment which we should share rather than an opportunity I was being deprived of – And then, Cynthia doesn’t have news of her son or any of us since yesterday morning. I don’t want to worry her.”
“You are so into Cynthia. You always think of her first. Sometimes I wonder if you love her more than me.” Hannah lamented joking.
“Don’t try me!” Also joked Mimi with a threatening look.
“Then it’s decided, said Elsa. I’ll gather the children!” I looked at the horizon. I could distinguish the children’s figure. The boy was crouched and touching something while Jo was leaning on his side looking at it. They must have found their prey.

Hannah was already thinking of going home. On the one hand the thought excited her a lot. She surely had some acquaintances in this city, but at home it was different. Everyone knew her and Micheal. They left like a family going on vacation and now they would be returning as gods. This jump on the social ladder was quite flattering to her. She really liked the idea to see her colleagues crawl as vermin to her toes. She didn’t mean no harm to them, she just wanted for them to recognize their immense difference.

On the other hand, she thought of the logistics. If they all went to their hometown it would be a mess. It would end like the city of corals or the older part of the city here. A wasteland in a matter of hours. She didn’t want that. And Jo was the most worrying one. She already showed no care for the smaller beings.
“No, Elsa! Don’t worry!” She stopped the other woman.
“I think, my family – Hannah looked at me and Mimi – bothered you enough and deprived you of your vacation time. I think you’ve all the right to enjoy it. And then Artie and Jo are so happy together. We shouldn’t spoil their fun.”
“Oh no! Don’t worry. I mean, my vacation has gone anyway now. I don’t think I will hit the office very soon.” she laughed.
“Well, but, you know. It’s going to be a family thing for us to reconcile with my mom and Zackie’s one. You know … also for the secretions.”
“Ow … oooh!” Elsa blushed and pondered it a littlme more before concluding “Okay then. I’ll wait for all of you here, and finally have my tan.”
I don’t know why, but while saying that last line Elsa grabbed her immense boobs, squeezed them and let them fall with all their magnificent heft on her belly. Hannah hugged her and she hugged Hannah in return. I also thought to see Hannah squeeze one of Elsa’s ass cheeks.
“Just make sure Jo doesn’t eat too much.”
“Don’t worry!” She then screamed in the distance.
“Jooo!” The enormous girl raised from the ocean and came reluctantly closer.
“Mom, what?”
“Jo, honey. Daddy and I will go with Mimi and Zack for a walk. We will be back later. You will stay with Elsa and Artie.” Jo looked in the sky and seemed to ponder an infinite series of motives either to allow or obstacle that decision.
“Oki!” She shrugged and run back to Arthur provoking tsunamis with every step.
“Behave and listen to Elsa!” Hannah recommended.
“Bye moooom!” was the only reply.

We then looked one last time to each other and started walking. The first to exit the sea were Micheal and Hannah which were leading our small group. Water flowed cascading on the homes and buildings. Then the foot sunk into the ground erasing city blocks like they were sandcastles. Mimi’s parents surely gave no fuck for the poor fellas below. Mimi hesitated a moment but then she also took her first step on land. She looked at her own feet, deeply planted between the buildings she had not crushed. She didn’t say nothing and took a second step demolishing another set of stores.

I was the last one to reach land. I was pretty reluctant at destroying human constructions but I didn’t want to lose pace with the Yates. So I puffed from the nose, rose my right foot and pushed it down. The buildings met it with all their consistence. They didn’t give in immediately. It was more like trampling cardboard. I looked a bit around. The street were empty and things mostly motionless. Probably Hannah was right and people had left. Still, it seemed a little be unfair to destroy all their possession like it was nothing. But to me, to Micheal, Hannah and Mimi, it really was barely more than nothing.

They were right after all. Jo was right. If we had to be titans, probably we had to embrace a new mindset. I still promised to myself I wouldn’t have ever destroyed anything which didn’t stand directly in my path. I felt empowered by this last consideration and decided to enjoy the rest of my short passage into the city by looking for the spots where nobody else had walked to destroy as much buildings myself as possible. In hindsight it was a bit childish, but it felt very good. Micheal, for its part, walked above anything without ever bothering to look down, like he had probably always done.