“I had that phone in my hands, had you in my hands inside the phone, after turning that house upside down to find you, and I didn’t even know it! You ARE very clever,” said Trudi.

“Thank you,” said Murray, “The owner came home and found your donation and the damage to the window. She was going to call the police, when she found me while checking the battery compartment of the phone, since it wouldn’t work. I told her who you were, and why you were in her house, and promised her that you hadn’t come to steal anything from her ... except me.”

“Well that’s an academic opinion,” said Trudi, “You said that she had a boyfriend. I take it that she never told him about you.”

“He’s the one who introduced me to the leprechauns,” said Murray, “Her boyfriend was one of them.”

“That’s one thing that didn’t quite come through in Rinkella’s account of your arrival in their town,” said Trudi.

“She and the leprechaun would often be necking upstairs while I’d be watching the early evening syndicated reruns of ‘Mountains Family’. Do you realise what it was like, staring intently at the television screen during every dinner table scene, or any storyline that called for your character to stick her tongue out at someone. It was highly enervating, given the memories I had of riding your tongue to your throat in the previous timeline,” said Murray.

“Some rides are worth going on twice,” said Trudi.

“Says the roller coaster to the frightened passenger,” quipped Murray.

Trudi laughed and kissed him.

He made the most of a lovely night beside her face on the hotel bedroom pillow.

“Maybe I’m having my own episode of ‘Romance Hotel’ with you,” he said.

“What a lovely thing to say to a lady only a few minutes before sleep time and only two weeks before a significant dinner time,” said Trudi.

“What shall we do today?” she asked the next morning.

“I wouldn’t mind going on that walk where I first met you on the original timeline, in the forest, I mean,” said Murray.

“Sounds good. I’ll take you there after breakfast,” she said.

He led her all the way along the forest walking track, until they came to the very portal that had begun the entire series of adventures that had unfolded between them.

“The other side of the portal is not in a place where the giants can see it,” said Murray, “We can step through and take a look at the scenery if you like.”

“I suppose if we stand just in front of the portal on the other side, we can’t possibly be caught before slipping back through it to safety,” said Trudi.

She carried him through and was surrounded by enormous plant life on the other side.

“So this is where it all began,” she said.

“We walked through these flowers and bushes for a while, and didn’t know that we’d come to a giant land, at least not for certain, until we saw the giant widow,” said Murray.