Looking at Jamila walking in front of me right on the side of her former employer I pondered about the fact that there was just enough chance of being corrupted in power as there was in servitude. Despite that looking a bit paradoxical. It was neither a surprise nor a novelty to consider Jamila’s peculiar conditions of service. She could make the use she best liked of the enormous mansion Ginevra left her most of the year, always under the unspoken rule of keeping it in perfect conditions for whenever the rightful owner wanted to come for a visit. The same applying to the vintage car that once belonged to the very old patriarch of the family.

Thus Jamila, despite her origins could make use of a mansion and a luxury vehicle exactly because she was and most importantly she felt at the complete service of Ginevra. In some way, the employer’s behavior authorized a sense of rightfulness in the employee. Since Ginevra always looked down on Jamila, Jamila could feel she was under her protection just as much as under her surveillance. And since Ginevra never did any gesture to loosen even slightly the form of that bond, Jamila never felt obliged to not take full advantage of every perk in her job.

These consideration had taken root in my mind for a while now, but they were suddenly reinforced and started coagulating into a sort of coherent whole only in that moment watching the two giantesses walking arm in arm like they were just taking a causal stroll in the narrow streets of one of the towns around the lake. This because they weren’t taking a casual stroll in the narrow streets of the lake towns. They were marching above an entire landscape like it was a red carpet unrolled in front of them. A carpet filled with all sorts of minuscule obstacles, anything but a minority of which were human constructions.

Both the older and the larger giantess in fact seemed to have perfectly incorporated the golden rule. They didn’t just proceed trampling this or that thing from time to time. They were actively exploring the expanse in front of them. They walked toward this or that landmark, pointed at it, crouched to give a better look and moved to the next. In the process, a lot of other stuff which was deemed unworthy of their frivolous and extremely fleeting interest, was completely flattened under their feet.

Not that instead, those unfortunate things which captured such attention had any better luck. Whenever they stopped to better observe any landmark they didn’t just limit to observe it. Most of the time they ripped it off the ground and manipulated it or toyed with it with their toes. In both cases, their contingent plaything ended up in shambles. If I couldn’t say I was surprised in observing this behavior in Ginevra, I surely was a bit more in observing it in Jamila. She wasn’t bulldozing roads, buildings and all kind of infrastructure only for distraction. She was intently dismissing whatever significance those things may claim.

I thought that was exactly because she felt her subordination to Ginevra had been secured despite there wasn’t any further contractual relation between them. Since she was still Ginevra’s maid, she could make the most of the perks provided by her condition. To be a titan was just a different kind of luxury belonging to Ginevra and her family, a luxury which she could vicariously benefit of. Once it was a large mansion a luxury car and a bottomless credit card, now it was the sheer power of her size. The fact that the whole world had to bow in front of her and she could dispose of it all as her personal possession to toy with. Until she could feel like she was under Ginevra’s patronage, she could keep the whole world under her feet. And so she did.

Both her and Ginevra were not just careless, they were actively making fun of the fragility of the landscape. They found a water tower, which in its full height resembled a shot glass attached to a concrete stick, and Jamila crouched to just pick it from the ground. She even put enough care to seal the tube from were tons of water started spilling with her little finger. Then she consigned it to Ginevra which turned it up and down with her fingers and then crunched it by closing her hand around it. The destruction was accompanied by a loud laugh of the two titanesses.

Soon after their attention was caught by a highway running along our path. The two approached the road and walked a bit on the sides of it looking at the traffic below. Then they started measuring how wide was the road compared to their feet. It didn’t take long to give a full measure. The three lanes per side divided by the small patch of grass were thinner than one single foot of the two. Of course, these experiments meant that the giantesses stepped again and again on the highway in several points, absolutely uncaring of the cars they trampled or for those that couldn’t brake in time and crushed ruinously against their thick skin.

Mimi and I were lagging behind because I wanted to talk to her and thought it would’ve been best to do it before we reached our parents. Thus I kept stopping and asking her to kiss me. Something to which she complied every time because it was evident she was too joyful to care about anything in her surroundings. When I considered the distance between us and the destructive duo ahead sufficient not to be interrupted, or even just heard by Ginevra, I finally addressed the titanic elephant in the room. “Hey!” Mimi welcomed my recall as if it had just awakened her. “Oh … hey there!” She came in for another kiss. I kissed her back but very briefly. She finally noticed something was off. “Hey there! What’s up with you now?” I didn’t answer immediately. She tiled her head to the side and made a smirk of confusion. “Did I … did I say, or do something that …” “It’s not you!” Another pause. “Then what is it, Zack? I’m here, talk to me!” She was starting to get nervous. She could deal with everything except me being silent a bit too much. Finally I sighed and answered. “Your grandma, and Jamila …” “Yeah, I know, I know! She was not part of the plan. To be fair, I completely forgot that by going to the lake house she would’ve been there. But now that she has grown as well, and everything went alright, it seems like even better than planned!” She tried to include me in her cheers. “No, it’s not … I mean, I’m fine with growing her. I mean, after all it makes sense. She was there, and she has been a part of the family for so long …” “Yeah. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems right to me. Not even right … inevitable.” I sighed again.
She kept asking “What, then? Why are you always so worried? Everything went fine!” “I don’t think everything went fine!” I blurted out without considering my tone. Luckily some instinctive reflex had kept my voice quiet enough for Ginevra and Jamila not hear anything and keep examining some small buildings they’d ripped off the ground. Mimi instead had heard and perceived those last words. “What … what do you mean?” She looked very concerned. “I don’t think everything went fine. I … your … Ginevra, she … uhhfff.” I couldn’t spell my distress in having to have that conversation. Yet I couldn’t just take forever to convey the message. “Listen! - I said taking Mimi’s hands into mine – I talked to your grandma before. When you were … playing in the lake with Jamila.” I could clearly see that the way I had pronounced the word ‘playing’ must’ve sounded like an accusation, and I couldn’t completely deny it was that. But I kept going. “She’s evil. I told you she was like that …” Mimi retracted her hands and looked away from me. “Oh come on. You’re exaggerating as always …” “No! No, I’m not. I talked to her. She said to me that people are nothing and that she would treat them as that.” “You probably misinterpreted her wit. She is just very … full of herself, and probably was still shocked by the change …” “Do you really think so?”
I looked intensely at her and then hinted with my head in Ginevra and her maid’s direction. They were now collecting cars from the ground, discarding those they didn’t like by simply pinching them to nothing between their fingers. Mimi remained silent for a moment. “Well … that’s …” She was clearly in distress, almost hyperventilating. I took her hand once again, this one time she didn’t retract. “They just don’t understand …” “I think they understand very well. Both your grandmother and Jamila. Just look. They’re doing whatever they want. They’re completely blind to the destruction they’re causing. At best, it seems to amuse them!” Mimi kept looking at the two behemoths playing with their set of toys, but probably just to avoid my eyes. “I don’t know Zack. It just seems so …” “What?” I didn’t want to really hear that, but I felt like it was necessary for those words to be said out loud. “It just seems so … vain!” She concluded and remained silent. “What do you mean?” “It looks like such a waste of time to worry for … the people. They’re too small. It’s impossible not to harm them.” “That doesn’t seem like something made out of distraction.” I objected. “No. I mean … - she sighed, she looked like she was finally removing a coat of armor from her body – who cares?!”
Those words resounded under my skin. “What?!” I almost screamed, distracting the two titanesses from their games for just a second.“I mean. Who cares!? Why bother so much? Since it’s impossible to avoid harming them, then … well …” “Then … what?” My eyes were wide open, and I could hardly contain myself anymore. “Then, nothing. Then … so be it. People are small. We crush them. So sorry! What else can we do? We’re gigantic now and they are … just there. What can we do? I can’t just command everyone. My nana is an adult, so is Jamila. So are my parents. They do what they want. They’re in charge of their own actions. I just … I just can’t stop them.” “So better join them.” I commented venomously. Mimi finally looked at me.
“I'm sorry, wha ...?” “I saw you at the lake!” “What do you mean?” “You and Jamila in the lake, playing with everything you could find. Boats included.” “I was …” “There were people on those boats! Who knows how many!” “Well excuse me if I was excited to share my happiness with someone that was so close to me since I was a child.” “It’s not to me that you owe any excuse!” “Of course, it’s not to you!” “What would that mean?” “What do you want me to say, Zack? What? That I killed those people? Well, of course I did. They were just there, like every other goddamn person. And I was just playing, and … everything is just so fragile. Everything crumbles!” “That’s why you don’t play with it. That’s why you stay away.” “Stay away? From what? Everything? Zack, everything is so fragile. Everything we touch gets destroyed very easily. What am I supposed to do? Stay still forever? I can’t and I won’t. I want to live my life, not flee from it. And if my life is this, I want to live this.” “So you want to destroy stuff?” “Ohff, you’re impossible! I want to just enjoy what has been given to me. What has been given to us. Just look. Everyone else is happy. My grandma and Jamila! My parents, and Elsa, and Jo and Arthur. They’re all just doing their best. They’re just enjoying it. And I’m sure by now your mom is on the same page. And I can’t wait to rejoin with them. We could be a part of this all. Why can’t we just enjoy it as well and stop worrying? Why can’t you?”
I listened to all that in silence. I tried my best to give all those arguments the benefit of doubt once again. But Ginevra had been clear, all I had seen from Hannah and Micheal had been a clear sign as well. Those people were all pretty satisfied with their immense power and showed not even the slightest sign of using it responsibly. They may not be bad intentioned but they were surely ready to exploit the size difference from normal people at full scale. And I didn’t want to be a part of all that. While some sort of resolution was forming within me, I could see was Jamila sitting on the ground next to Ginevra and putting some kind of vehicle between the toes of her feet. Her employer waited for the thing to be in place and then squeezed it until a small explosion erupted. The two giantesses welcomed the event with further laughter. Mimi could see the scene as well, she was clearly upset from it. But I knew it was only because it didn’t help her argument.
She blew some more air from her nostril and shrugged. “I will just talk to them. And tell them to just go easier on the little people. But if you want them to listen to me … if you want everyone to be on your … our same page, you’ll have to be on my side. If we fight between us, none is going to take us seriously.”
She begged. I thought about it a little bit more. I couldn’t just shrug my distress off once again, but I decided to hold it in at least a little more. That one last conversation between me and Mimi had brought no surprise. I knew it was going to come sooner or later. And I knew the moment it started where each of us stood. Even literally, I stood in the middle of a small wood while she was uncaringly scratching one foot with the other on top of some infrastructure like a small power plant. Power lines and other metal scraps could clearly be distinguished hanging between her toes. I felt even more lonely.
Maybe that’s why some reflex within me pushed me to hold every next decision a bit more. As lonely and distraught as I was, I couldn’t help but feel the urge to see my mom. If she had grown, which I didn’t doubt the least in that moment, at least I could share everything with her. Above all, something I never felt before. The sense that Mimi had disappointed me somehow. That I couldn’t put all of that trust in her. I even felt some tears forming due to my wounded pride. Big and strong, as I was supposed to be, and yet willing to flee into the arms of my mom.
I held those inside as well, gulped down imperceptibly and nodded to her. “Fine! We’ll do your way. You can talk with them and tell them I’m completely on your side if you wish.” Mimi smiled. In her eyes I could see the relief of another crisis averted. She didn’t even seem to notice that my body and posture contradicted my words so clearly. I used to be such an open book to her. And I had got no better at hiding my moods. It’s just that she was becoming less and less attentive to them. It was this, far more than whatever treatment the titans reserved to normal people that hurt me in that moment. She turned to the other two goddesses.
“Grandma, Jamm! We need to go! Mom, dad and Cynthia must be waiting for us now and we can’t keep being late!” Ginevra answered while scrubbing the late afternoon traffic from her left foot. “You’re right, sweetheart! We just got caught up in some silliness. You know, everything’s so unusual and curious. We were just … exploring!” She laughed, and so did Jamila which was already standing up helping herself by planting her hand on a gas station and making it explode. “Ooops, sorry! Wow, it really is difficult to move when you get this big, isn’t it?”
She cleaned her hand on her hip and scratched some dirt which used to be other signs of civilization from her butt cheeks, and rushed to help Ginevra stand as well. The older leviathan stood up and started marching in the direction we were following some minutes before. Mimi reached Jamila and I started walking some seconds later. I was quite distant, but at our height, there was very little noise to cover the conversation between the mastodontic maid and the titanic teen.