Senator George Beckard was sitting in his office when he heard about the giants walking around Tectelphia again. He wasn't pleased with the news of course. It wasn't the people or the buildings that held his concern, it was the mere fact that those giant behemoths were allowed to go near an American city at all.

There had been a time, a good few years ago, where a nice line existed between giant people and normal American citizens. If one of those towering goons came across your property, a simple phone call to the authorities was enough for the army to eventually show up and restore order. The giants would quickly be driven off, and everyone was happy again. America had her cities again, and those damn, clumsy giants would be safely on the other side of the “line”, where they belonged.

But then, one of them, Jennifer Stark, started communicating through E-mails to the congress and even the president himself. When the giant had first started sending messages, George had read them all, and ended each of them with a good, gut busting laugh. What was written was hilarious and absolutely nonsensical. They had all been emotional little “essays” from the voice of Ms. Stark, all voicing her opinion on the giants and her reflections on the separation between Americans and giant people. Beckard had honestly felt sorry for the giant. Did she really think that anything she said would have any ever lasting effect? Nobody was dumb enough to listen to a giant. They were towering wrecking balls and nothing good had ever come from them. One of them had demolished a playground in her youth, causing several innocent American children to become forever handicapped, their poor lives forever taken away from them. One of them, a sweet little girl, had wanted to be a ballerina, but her hopes and dreams were crushed under the foot of one of those colossal vermin. Beckard had interviewed this little when beginning his propaganda against the giants. He took an excellent photo of her tearful face and made a caption that read “They crushed my dreams. Keep the giants away from me!” Needless to say that this little number got him some good support. Several members of congress began speaking their concerns, and George knew that it was curtains for Jennifer Stark. Nice try, giant, better luck next time.

But, then...something had happened.

Stark didn't give up. She continued sending E-mails, she continued speaking, she continued being a pain in the ass. At first, Beckard hadn't been too concerned. He kept pointing towards his little girl victim and reminding everyone about the dangers of the giants. They caused damage and they were a threat the American Life, and, therefore, not to be trusted. There was no way that giants and normal sized people could live together, and there was no reason that they even should. A few members of congress dared to oppose him, speaking that, despite everything, the giants WERE human beings, and they questioned the ethics of whether it was right to subdue their freedoms.

“They are not human,” George had replied. “They are giants. The difference here is in height. It may be a silly example, but if fairies happened to exist, well, they look like humans. They have hands, limps, and can speak English, but would that make Tinkerbell human? No. Of course not. But, even if we do classify them as human, there is still one thing that cannot be disputed: we cannot afford them. These giants break things, hurt people, and disrupt our way of life. Not only that, but how would we keep them healthy? Keep them fed? How? We couldn't. Even if we wanted to do it, we couldn't.”

“So what do we do about them?” The congressman who had challenged him, asked. “Are you proposing that we get rid of them?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” George had replied. “It's either them or us. We either wait for them to drain our natural resources.”

The congress had gone quiet, but Beckard knew that they knew he was right. Of course he was right. And even if more of them had disagreed, they wouldn't have spoken out anyway. George Beckard was a leader of the Senate and none of them would dare oppose him. And none of them had.

The only person who had...was Jennifer Stark.

He had exchanged some heated E-mails with her. If she was going to swim in shark infested waters, he was going to make sure that she wasn't going to go without getting bit. As long as the giants had no way to solve the problems that they posed to the general population of Americans, then they would never go anywhere within the Senate or the House.

But then, she made an appearance amongst the House and the Senate. In his first public appearance since his apparent accident, the Metal Man, Garth Brokers, showed up on Capital Hill, with some kind of strange blue device that looked like some kind of glowing bowl. When it powered up, an image appeared. It was none other than Jennifer Stark, only that she wasn't gigantic. This...hologram, if that's what it was...allowed her to speak to everyone on Capital Hill. She addressed everything that George Beckard had said about her and the giants. It was horrible. She acted as if she was one of them. How was he supposed to remind everyone of what she was if she was able to undermine it with the aid of some newfangled device?

It was of no consequence, she could still be taken down, no matter how tall she was or wasn't. He went against her, debated with her. He knew what he needed to say, because he knew what she didn't have. She didn't have answers. She didn't have methods of how her people could not cause danger and fear. She had nothing.

Or so he had thought.

When he pressed her with it...a look came onto her face. She grinned, and her holographic eyes seemed to brighten. Suddenly, he knew what had happened. She had wanted him to ask, wanted him to press. It had been a trap. The moment he had asked, she began began proposing things. She had given thought to all the problems that the giants could potentially cause. The things that she suggested were insane, but the other members of Congress were listening, were sympathizing even. But the worst was that they were trusting her. She was organizing all of the giants behind her and they appeared to be following her. The giants had something they'd never had before, a leader. They'd never gotten organized before, and now that this Jennifer Stark was doing it, the members of Congress were excited as if they were establishing relations with an Alien race. Talks of diplomacy and unity amongst Americans and giants.

There was no stopping all of them. Pretty soon even the president was interested in this new giant. He met with her in the same way that she met the Congress, with the aid of the Metal Man and his blue device. Not long after, Jennifer Stark was being dubbed the “Giant Relations Person”. When George Beckard had gotten the E-mail from higher ups about this, this new position that had been bestowed upon the giant, he realized his fears. They were taking her seriously. They had let a giant into the American government. They had given her power. She had managed to one up him, George Beckard. She had won.

It didn't stop him from speaking out against her, but it was not as before. The giant had played a neat trick on them. She had used a device to convince them that she was one of them. That she was just like any American. But, that wouldn't work against George Beckard, oh, no. No matter how many people she turned over, he would never forget what she was. She was a giant, and nothing would change that. If she thought she was going to meet with him, in the flesh instead of that goddamn holograph, and make him, George Beckard, a leading Senator of Congress, look up to her and have her manhandle him like a little doll for her to play with, then she was out of her mind. Nobody looked down on George Beckard. He was over six foot and he had served bravely in the military, something that had looked quite well on his campaign to get into the Senate. He was a man to be feared, one that even the giants would be afraid of. He hated them. Had experienced one not too long before joining the Senate. The one with ponytail and the glasses, the one who had caused the incident at the playground, the Bradson woman. The way she had stepped over him, without any recognition of who he was, the sheer size of her...he had felt diminished and and unimportant, lost in the giant's dust. It was a feeling that a man such as George Beckard did not, should not, ever need to feel.

But he'd get even with them. It wouldn't be hard. All he needed was one big goof from them. One slip on their feet, one collapsed building, or just a few deaths under their feet, and all the members of Congress would turn back to him, like the Messiah, to tell them what to do to fix the problem. Then, maybe, they'd listen to the truth of getting rid of them. Once and for all. Unfortunately, Stark ran a tight ship. Damages by the giants had gone down dramatically since she'd taken command. Deaths had always been minimal, hardly existent even, but now they seemed to be completely abolished, even with the behemoths walking in city streets. So far, Jennifer Starks propositions...had worked. But, Beckard knew that it was a ticking time bomb. The blonde woman, Lorraine something, would be the one who ruined the good “Giant Relations Person”. Of that, there could be no doubt.

So, George Beckard sat in his office, writing as the news played on a television across the room. He was making a log of what damages had been done by the blonde today. Never know when it could be used as ammunition.
…

Jennifer Stark, the Giant Relations Person, was taking a break from her work, glancing out the window towards Tectelphia. One of the plastic bottles was in her right hand, which was dressed in an elegant leather glove. The city seemed peaceful right now, and she was glad. Every moment that it stood after a day of Lorraine's “strolls” was another day of success.

Stark smiled to herself, until her eyes returned to the bottle in her hand. She sighed deeply, and then unscrewed the cap. She down the fluid into three swallows and grimaced as it slid thickly down her throat and into her gullet. As she disposed of the bottle, she remembered the one thing that her and Lorraine agreed on. The fluid in the bottles was, indeed, unpleasant. At least that was one thing the two of them saw eye to eye on.

Jennifer turned and was headed back to her desk when she heard Garth Broker flying in.

“Jennifer,” He greeted.

“Hello, Garth,” Ms. Stark said. “I take it that Lorraine is left peacefully.”

“Naturally,” The Metal Man nodded. “But I have something I want to show you.”

“Oh?” Jennifer asked, inquisitively, raising an eyebrow.

Garth turned to a large blank spot in the wall and lifted his arm. From it a beam shot out and it spread across the plaster. As Jennifer watched, something came across the projection. A vision of Valerie Bradson and Trent Berlinger at the Tectelphia Park, apparently singing some song. The video then zoomed in on what appeared to be a violinist, providing the melody to the tune that they were singing. But, most importantly, there were a few of the citizens of the city with them, singing along and even a number of them dancing. Jennifer Stark smiled at this scene. This little moment of peace between normal sized people and giants made everything that she did worth while. Garth, for the first time in awhile, grinned.

“I just thought that you might you want to see this,” He said.

Jennifer nodded gratefully, touched at the scene.

“Yes,” She said. “Thank you, Garth.”

“No problem,” Garth said. “I'm glad that those two are able to co-exist with the people of Tectelphia peacefully.”

“Yeah,” Jennifer said. “It's what I've always worked for. Maybe, soon, this will be a more common occurrence.”

“I'm sure it will,” Garth nodded.

He took off, leaving Jennifer Stark's office. The Giant Relations Person sighed contently and the sat back down at her desk, feeling a bit more motivated than she had before that little showing.