There was a round of applause when Charles Anders, Valerie Bradson, and Trent Berlinger finished the final line of the song that they had been singing. It was small, and slightly nervous, but it was there, and that made the giants feel better.

“Thank you!” The blind violinist cried happily, not even noticing when Raymond turned him around to actually face the crowd. “Does anybody else have a suggestion?”

Some people cried out song titles, while others just watched as the scenario unfolded. A cursory glance around the park would reveal many people holding up cellphones, recording the occasion. Many of these doing this had merely heard of the giants, but hadn't actually had the experience of being near any of them. To these folks, it was quite surreal and awe inspiring to see such immense human beings, sitting casually in the Tectelphia Park as if they were any other citizen.

Trent was having a particularly good time, as well. It wasn't too surprising. He always had a good time with the Bradsons. What had been a small shock was how good Valerie was at singing. Trent had never been a singer, had probably only sang out loud twice, but Mrs. Bradson had the voice of an angel, making himself and Raymond seem like mutes when compared to her. The sight of all of the normal sized people made him feel great, too. He felt normal and accepted amongst them and that was something that the giants always strove for. His eyes took in the groups with great pleasure, scanning them all to fit the event into his memory.

That's when he saw her.

She had apparently just entered through the gates of the opposite side of the park, standing right before it, her head tilted curiously, wondering what was going on. Trent went stiff, a cold sweat going over him, his face flushing red. The love of his life had now decided to grace the park with her presence, and in front of all of these people, and, not only that, the Bradsons! He quickly turned his head towards Valerie. She was smiling down at the crowd as they suggested songs to Ray and Charles, the blind man. She had not yet seen his face, and he knew he better try to hide it. It was pretty easy for people to see the look on his face, when it was the size of a billboard to them! He tried to collect his cool. As long as things stayed the way they...

“Valerie! Trent!” A voice called, pleasantly.

Trent Berlinger actually groaned a little to himself as he turned towards the voice. Lorraine Pruess was approaching them, waving at them. Trent felt his face go even more red and to sweat. Why did she have to show up now? Couldn't Ms. Stark chew her out for just a little longer, until he could think of an excuse to bail for his house and hide under his cover!?

“Hi Lorraine,” Valerie greeted. “How was your...meeting?”

“Don't get me started on that,” Lorraine sighed. “She threatened me with house arrest! Just because of a few accidents she thinks that I need to be locked away for long weeks of dreadful boredom! I mean, honestly, I...”

She glanced around the park at the crowd and noticed the crowd that had gathered. A lot of them had backed away when the towering blonde came along. Fortunately, they didn't completely evacuate the park, but kept a distance. Valerie was privately relieved. Lorraine wasn't always the most observant, often frightening the normal sized people. It was probably a good thing that she had just come from Jennifer's office, otherwise she may not have been so careful.

“Oh!” She said, sounding hopeful. “Is there something going on?”

“Sort of...” Valerie replied. “We were just singing songs with a new friend.”

She gestured towards the blind violinist, who was standing near Raymond. Intrigued, Lorraine knelt down and picked up the musician in her fingers. Immediately, Valerie tensed. It was against Jennifer's rules to pick people up without prior consent. The Giant Relations Person was very stern about this rule and violating it was enough to get you placed under house arrest alone. If Garth happened to fly by, Lorraine would be in a world of trouble. There was also the major problem of the man not being able to see. The violinist was also blind...something Lorraine most definitely didn't know.

“Charmed to make your acquaintance, sir,” Lorraine greeted, bringing the man up to her eyes. “I'm Lorraine Pruess.”

“Uh...I'm...Charles.” Anders replied. “Charles Anders.”

The musician was a little more than worried. He had no idea what was happening. Judging by the fleshy surface, he could only assume that he had been picked up by the new giant and was now sitting in the palm of her hand. He voice was coming from behind him and he turned to face it. While he couldn't see it, he sensed the presence of a looming, massive face in front of him, something that would be humungous to behold. He didn't dare to move, not knowing how high up he was and where her hand ended.

“Uh...Lorraine...” Valerie said timidly.

“Oh! Is that a violin in your hands,” Lorraine exclaimed, her eyes lighting up like a pinball machine. “Can you play?”


“O...of course, I guess.” Charles answered.

“...Lorraine.” Valerie again.

“Marvelous!” Ms. Pruess was overjoyed, bouncing up and down. Her hand bobbled, causing the musician to roll. “Do you think you can play something from Ba...”

“Lorraine!” Valerie snapped, causing some of the crowd to run.

“What?” The blonde asked, surprised.

“Put. Him. Down.” Mrs. Bradson said, speaking through gritted teeth, her eyes timid and wide.

Lorraine quickly obeyed, placing Charles down by her feet, where Raymond quickly collected him and brought him back over to his wife. Ms. Pruess looked at Valerie.

“What was all that?” Lorraine asked, her hands going to her hips.

“You know you can't pick people up without asking them first.” Valerie scolded. “What if Garth had seen?”

Lorraine went pale at the thought.

“Oh...right, right, of course,” She said quickly. “How foolish of me. I...I'm sorry, Mr. Anders.”

“No, it...it's okay,” Charles replied, a little disoriented. He couldn't see her, but her voice sounded sincere. “We're just singing some songs. Would you care to join us?”

“Absolutely!” Lorraine replied, brightening all over again. She took a seat next to Valerie. “I haven't sang in a long time, so my cords might be a bit rusty but....Trent? Are you okay?”

Trent Berlinger hadn't been paying attention to anything that had happened in the last five minutes. He was staring at the girl of his dreams, who was standing across the pond. She was distracted by Lorraine and Valerie's antics, giving him some time to admire her from a far. She was wearing a beautiful coat and some simple jeans. Her hair had grown out a little, now reaching her shoulders. He turned red as he imagined himself walking up to her and introducing himself.

Valerie nudged him. “Trent.” She addressed him.

“Huh? What? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!” He said quickly.

Valerie and Lorraine stared at him, the blonde looking bewildered. Trent glanced around. All eyes, giant and normal sized, were on him. Even HERS. He met her eyes as looked across the pond. Suddenly, there was a big silence in Tectelphia Park. Trent slowly looked back towards Valerie, and was horrified to see the grin on her face. Lorraine continued to look completely confused.

“What's on your mind, Trent?” Valerie asked, teasing.

“Nothing! My mind is completely blank!” Trent went on the defensive.

“Blank? What...?” Lorraine asked, puzzled.

“That's right, Lorraine!” Trent said quickly. “Blank as a sheet. Hey! Let's talk about something else. The weather! Where's that two inches of snow that we were promised?”

“It's summer...” Lorraine said, now completely baffled.

“Well, no one told me!” Trent said loudly. “I was promised snow! Can you believe the weather people in this town. How can they make such a mistake? It's CLEARLY summer!”

“Trent...” Valerie said, still grinning. “You're blushing...”

“No, I'm not!” Trent protested. “It's hot outside! I'm am dressed for cold weather! After all, it was supposed to snow in my mind!”

“You're wearing a t-shirt, Trent,” Valerie replied. “And shorts.”

“I am?” Trent said. “You're right! I am! Isn't that funny? You know what else is funny? Knock knock jokes. Hey, Lorraine. Knock knock!”

“Uh...what?” Lorraine replied, now looking worried.

“Orange you glad I didn't say 'banana'?” Trent said, then guffawing loudly.

“....huh?” Ms. Pruess was holding her head as if it would explode.

“Hey, Mr. Bradson!” Trent went on. “How many giants does it take to screw in a light bulb?”

“Two,” Raymond asked. “One was supposed to do it. But he was too busy falling in love with a cute girl, so another had to do it.”

“HAHAHAHA!” Trent bellowed, causing some of the crowd to run. “That's a good one, Mr. Bradson. But the answer was zero. Because giants can't change lightbulbs!”

“....that's not funny,” Lorraine said quietly, despite Trent laughing.

“Hey, I've got a joke,” Valerie said. “How many girls does it take to make Trent Berlinger blush?”

“Koookakooooo!” Trent said, trying to override Valerie.

“One,” Valerie went on. “That girl over...”

“Hey! Let's stop talking!” Trent interrupted. “Isn't it your birthday, Mr. Anders?”

“No...” Charles replied.

“Happy birthday to you!” Trent went on, sweating. “Happy birthday to you! You live in a zoo. Something something something! Happy birthday! Whoo!”

Valerie was whispering something to Lorraine. A smile came onto the blonde's face.

“Hey! It's impolite to whisper!” Trent cried. “Don't make me call Jennifer! You'll be under house arrest!”

“Oh, Trent, I didn't know you were in love...” Lorraine began. “That's so charming...”

“Hey! Whoa!” Trent said, laughing way too loudly. “I am a single man, ladies. I am a bachelor to the end! I have things I want to do before...”

“Getting married?” Raymond offered.

“No! I'm not thinking about that!” Trent cried. “You have no proof! None! I call upon the mercy of the co...”

“A-HEEM!” A voice sharply reported.

All three giant heads turned. Jennifer Stark was standing behind them, Garth Brokers floating above next to her head. Lorraine turned her nose up the other way, Valerie slumped, and Trent went purple. Berlinger shivered as her eyes fell on him.

“Trent, when I can hear you from my office, you're far too loud.” Jennifer said sternly.

“I'm...I'm sorry, Jennifer.” Trent sniffed.

“Do you know how damaging loud noises can be to the normal population?”

“...no.” Trent replied.

“Very.” Stark told him. “I hope for your sake that no eardrums were burst.”

“Oh, you know that didn't happen,” Lorraine said.

“I don't want to hear it from you,” Jennifer snapped. “You're on thin ice as it is.” She looked at the three of them. “I think you all have had enough fun for one day. No more city for you three today. Please get out of Tectelphia's borders. Garth, if you would please escort them.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Garth nodded. “Alright! You heard her! Get moving.”

“Oh, now how is this fair?” Lorraine pouted. “We didn't do any...”

“Get moving, Ms. Pruess,” Garth said again.

Lorraine went silent and quickly obeyed, as did Trent and Valerie, who picked up her husband.

“Raymond, you can stay, if you'd like,” Jennifer said to him. “I didn't mean to force you to go anywhere.”

“Yeah, well, I go where my wife goes,” Raymond replied, tying himself with Valerie's hair, while on her shoulder.

“I assumed you would,” Jennifer nodded.

“What about you?” Lorraine challenged. “Are you leaving the city or are you just ruining our day?”

“I have to met with the mayor, thank you very much!” Jennifer snapped. “On account of your 'accidents' today. Thanks to you, I have even more work to do than I did earlier. So, thank you, Lorraine Pruess, for ruining MY day.”

“Okaaay,” Valerie grabbed Lorraine's arm. “We're leaving, we're leaving.”

“Thank you,” Jennifer said, her hands going behind her back. “Good night.”

Garth and three giants went down the road and soon were out of the boundaries of the city. Jennifer stood where she was for a moment, breathing deeply to get her emotions under control. Lorraine was working her last nerve and she had had to actually restrain her arm from reaching out and slapping her for her little comment. Jennifer had actually had other things she had wanted to do this evening, but thanks to Ms. Pruess, she now had to go around and examine the damages of Tectelphia that she had caused. Lorraine caused Jennifer so much irritation, was it any wonder why she was so grouchy all the time.

When she felt more calm, Jennifer continued down the street. Charles Anders, realizing that his giant friends were now gone, sadly felt his way out of the park. Behind him, a young woman followed. One with short brunette hair and wearing a cute jacket. She came up to the musician and tapped his shoulder.

“Excuse me, sir,” She asked. “May I talk to you?”

“Huh? Oh, sure,” Charles said, turning to face the voice. “What can I do for you, ma'am?”

“I was...just wondering if you knew the names of those giants?” The woman asked.

“Oh...you don't know?” Charles asked.

“I know who they are...” The girl said. “I don't know their actual names.”

“Well...I know one was named Valerie Bradson,” Charles said. “The other woman was Lorraine Prowss or something, then was a Trent Ber...Berlinger, I think it was.”

“Okay, thank you...” The girl said.

She quickly walked off, leaving the musician alone on the curb. He merely shrugged and continued on his way.