“Oh, blast!” Marigold said.
Zeck suddenly realized that the sound he was hearing seemed to come from Marigold herself. More than that, Marigold appeared to be getting even bigger. He realized he was having to adjust his body as her skin stretched, and that he was moving higher in the air as she grew even taller.
“Whoa!” he said. “What was that noise?”
“Oh, right, you heard that,” Marigold said. “I’m used to it happening only around other giants. They can’t hear it, except for the other sensitives like me. But, to standard ears, it’s quite a racket.”
“But what was it?” Zeck asked.
“That was me surging,” Marigold said.
“Surging,” Zeck said. “Your eight-parents mentioned that. Is that your … condition?”
Marigold nodded, and Zeck realized her head was farther above him. “I have the surging,” she said. “It’s a new phenomenon among our people, and one only affecting a few people of my generation. And I have the worst case of all.”
“How so?” Zeck asked.
“All the other surgers have already stopped,” Marigold said. “As you just experienced, I’m still growing. Right now, I’m somewhere around 700 feet tall. I was 681 feet this morning. Actually, that was quite a big surge.”
“But I thought your growth was slow and steady,” Zeck said.
“Except for the surgers, it is,” Marigold said. “I’m the tallest of our people, and I would be done growing if it weren’t for the surges. But they just keep coming.”
“Do they know what causes them?” Zeck asked.
“Causes them, no,” Marigold said. “Triggers them, yes. In my case, it’s any kind of stress, physical or emotional, positive or negative. That’s why I, the biggest, strongest of the giantesses, am not allowed to do physical work. It would surely trigger more surging, and I’m so tall now it’s hard for me to fit in even here.”
Zeck’s brow furrowed. “That’s got to be awful for you.”
Marigold looked down at him and smiled. Unconsciously, she flipped her hair off her left ear. “It’s not so bad,” she said. “I actually live in a community about 25 miles north of here, where most of the giants are 500 to 600 feet tall. I’m a more natural fit there, but I enjoy seeing family… and I really wanted to meet you, to give you the tour.”
“Well, you’re the most beautiful tour guide ever,” Zeck said. “Let’s tour, guide.”
Marigold smiled. “Let’s,” she said.
It was now that Zeck realized why Marigold’s outfit had so many snaps and buttons. Some had given out when she grew. Her clothes were designed to accommodate her growth surges.
Marigold took Zeck to a weaver shop, where a loom was being used to make fabric, and the adjoining seamsters shop, in which a group of giants -- mostly men -- were making clothing and blankets. Most of the equipment was hand-operated, made from wood where it would work and artificial materials when wood was inappropriate.
The next stop was a shop where the artificial stone used for houses was made, and the adjoing shop where it was shaped for houses, simple utensils and furniture. This was one of the few places using any sort of powered equipment.
“What do you use for an energy source?” Zeck asked.
“Everything for which we use energy is natural somehow,” Marigold said. “In most cases, it’s like this place, a combination of wind and solar power. Some things we hand crank; with our strength, we can generate a lot of current that way.”
“You’ve seen most of what we make,” Marigold said as they left. “We get electronics brought in, along with anything else we need. We recharge the electronics with hand cranks, in most cases.”
“So, you mentioned you use your waste as fertilizer,” Zeck said. “How do you collect it? And do you grow more than sunflowers?”
Marigold chuckled, and Zeck felt it through his entire body. “To the first point, we don’t use flush toilets like you do. That would waste both water and the resource our waste can be. We try to waste as little as possible. As Eight-Papa would say, we don’t even let our waste go to waste.”
“So, you use some sort of outhouse or chamber pot type set up?” Zeck asked.
“Some of each,” Marigold replied. “The main thing is that we can collect it and use it. Now, as to the second point, we grow a lot of different foods, and we can eat a lot of things you can’t. We can eat most kinds of trees, and our fertilizer lets replacements grow to full size in a matter of two or three years. We grow most kinds of crops, lots of fruits and vegetables, legumes, gourds and such.”
Zeck knew about the giants’ fertilizer. It had virtually ended world hunger as a toned-down version of ti provided vast volumes of food for people all over the world. Populations were becoming crowded, but many people around the world were limiting family sizes. Still, there were concerns about overcrowding.
“What do you do for meat?” Zeck asked.
“We don’t generally eat meat,” Marigold answered. “We can’t grow the livestock to giant size, so we get our protein from legumes and other plants. Plus, it seems our bodies are very good at generating proteins from other sources. It’s one of the things about our conditions we don’t really understand ourselves.”
“Well, I saw your eight-parents house,” Zeck said. “It seemed simple, but comfortable. But … well, forgive this question if it’s inappropriate, but I didn’t see the bedroom. Do you use beds like ours?”
“Not often,” Marigold answered. “Mostly we use a loosely stuffed mattress on the floor. That way we don’t use resources for legs to lift them up. We don’t really need a full-blown bed anyway. We can sleep almost anywhere.”
“Kind of like a baby,” Zeck said, smiling.
Marigold flipped her hair off her ear again. “Yes, kind of,” she said.
“Um, I know I need to ask about this, but it may be a delicate subject,” Zeck said.
Marigold smiled. “Sex?”
Zeck nodded. “People will want to know.”
“Yes, we have it,” Marigold said.
Zeck laughed. “Yes, obviously,” he said, “and, I would think that your men and women are close enough in scale for something resembling what standards would consider normal. But, what I think people will be most curious about is when a normal falls for a giant and vice versa. I’ve heard you have a unique way of addressing that.”
Marigold blushed slightly and flipped her hair off her ear yet again. “Well, yes,” she said. “Actually, there’s a center of the type you’re talking about in my home town, Myersville. It’s within walking distance of here -- well, for us anyway.”
“Would I be allowed to see it?” Zeck asked.
“If you don’t mind my company for a long walk,” Marigold said. “I could make it in a few minutes at a run, but it might trigger a surge, and the ride for you could be dangerously rough.”
“I think I can handle some extra time with you, my beautiful tour guide,” Zeck said.
Marigold blushed again. She bit her lip. “You need to stop talking like that,” she said.
“Sorry,” Zeck said. “I don’t to most women. Actually, you’re the first. Why should I stop?”
“Because I’m liking it too much,” Marigold said.
“Liking it too much?” Zeck asked. “How can you like it too much?”
“Uh-oh,” said Marigold. “Because it can cause this.”
Then Zeck heard it: the familiar rumbling sound that had accompanied Marigold’ previous surge. Only this time, it was even louder than before.
Giantess World
