It was now ten years after the special meeting that Mrs Yeo had arranged for Toby and Mrs Long.

A few things had changed. Mrs Brooke Middlehyde had retired from teaching, to spend more time with her daughters.

Having gotten Mrs Long partly out of his system, at least temporarily, Toby had been unwilling to take further risks of being eaten by her. He remained on his own earth over the next ten years, and grew to early adulthood. He studied a hobby, which had caught his attention from an early age: hypnotism. When he felt that he had mastered the years of practice, and could now hypnotize anyone, he decided it was time to see Mrs Long again. He was now 25 years old.

Sonny had spent the intervening ten years trying every avenue of meeting people on earth. When he was 24 ½ , he feared reaching 30 and missing out altogether. The only place left to look seemed to be the giant school. He decided to go there on a weekend day, when only the boarders would be there, and the live-in teachers. Mrs Long lived away from the school at her giant house.

He went through the tube and enjoyed the freedom of walking across the large school lawns. He went through a large flowerbed, and stepped on some dead leaves, which rustled a lot, and emerged on the far side, at the start of another large lawn.

Then he saw a woman in a black dress and red cardigan with medium length dark brown hair step out of a building on the far side of the lawn. He stared across at her, and noticed that she was looking at him too. She was far away, and he didn’t have the advantage of her giant eyes, but after 30 seconds, he realised it was Mrs Long!

She must have come into the school to do some reading on a Saturday afternoon!

“Don’t leave on my account, Sonny!” she called.

She began walking briskly towards him.

Meanwhile at home, Casey heard the sound of a window smashing. He instinctively knew that Mrs Long’s house was being burgled. He hid himself inside her pillowslip, and heard two girls talking in another part of the house. Thankfully they didn’t come into the bedroom. He waited until they left. He would have to tell Mrs Long about it when she got home.

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Keeping his eye on Mrs Long, Sonny backed into the garden, and hid behind a plant, as he watched her walk over and stand towering in front of the garden.

“I thought you loved me, Sonny!” she mocked, “Yet you stood me up on our date ten years ago. To think I was jilted. You must have had pre-gobbling jitters. You won’t be running out on me again though.”

She searched until she caught him, and took him to her classroom. They talked for a while. She rolled out a small folding mattress and lay on it and let him lie on her neck and against her cheeks.

“How do you feel, knowing that you can’t escape me this time?” she asked.

“I’ve known you for 15 years now. You’re 45. You’ve had a long life of happiness. I’ve missed out on years of dating and years of marriage.”

“You’re still younger than I was when we first met,” said Mrs Long.

“And you’re going to enjoy a long awaited pleasant dining experience of me, which will take away what little hope of meeting someone that I have left.”

“Oh Sonny, use all your strength to push against my stomach, when you say these things. I’m enjoying this conversation a lot.”

“I still think you’re more beautiful than anyone else. I’d gladly marry you in a heartbeat. I didn’t love you any less, when I changed my mind and ran away 10 years ago. I just had to try again to meet girls,” he said.

“Did you have any luck?”

“None, for the whole time I’ve known you. I thought I’d try here on a Saturday.”

“It’s time to cook you for lunch,” she said, and took him to the staff kitchen, warmed him in the oven, and then took him back to her classroom, sat at her desk and ate him.

For the rest of the day, she enjoyed herself in the school grounds, and then went home late in the afternoon. She noticed the broken window, which had been opened to enable the two burglars to come and go. Then she ran to the bedroom and found Casey alright.

“Thank goodness you’re safe,” she said, and took him down to the kitchen, “I’m glad Kirsty was away with friends today and tonight. I wouldn’t have liked her being found by the burglars or coming home to this. I’d better fetch some boards and hammer them over that broken window for now.”

By the time Mrs Long had finished, she felt exhausted, and hungry. She took Casey around the house, and they were unable to notice anything missing.

“Maybe they didn’t find any valuables and gave up,” said Casey, “They never came into the bedroom.”

“Well I’m glad they didn’t find you,” said Mrs Long, “Let’s get some dinner.”

She opened the refridgerator.

“So that’s what they took! They’ve cleaned out the fridge!” said Mrs Long.

She checked the pantry and found that there was no food there either.

“They took all of my food, and it’s too late in the day to go to the shops. They’ll all be closed.”

Casey looked up at her from the kitchen bench.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to prevent them,” he said, “I’m just too small to be any use in a fight at this size.”

“I wouldn’t have expected you to prevail against two giant girls,” said Mrs Long, “But you will be a big help to me now. I’ve had a lovely time with you, ever since you moved in here more than fifteen years ago. Your friendship, your love and admiration, your willingness to take on everything I could teach you about music, and your sweet nature have made you a lovely companion. I didn’t know if I’d ever fall in love again after my husband died, but with you I couldn’t help it.”

“I felt the same way about you, Mrs Long,” said Casey, “And tonight we can see each other through this problem. We can cope with one night’s hunger, as long as we have each other.”

“We won’t need to cope with hunger,” said Mrs Long, “I’ve never been so glad to have you here, Casey. I can cook you and have you for dinner.”

“Me! But Mrs Long, only a short while ago, you said how relieved you were that I was safe.”

“You’ll still be safe inside my stomach. I’ll never lose you.”

“You surely couldn’t go through with it after all we’ve meant to each other. I know you’ve eaten other boys, but you and I have something special.”

“That’s why I thought you might be willing to help me with dinner tonight,” said Mrs Long.

“I want to stay here as your boyfriend,” said Casey, “I don’t want to be eaten.”

“Well I’m tired and hungry, and I’ve made up my mind to eat you,” said Mrs Long, “Just make the best of it. In an hour or two, it will all be over.”

She took out a baking dish and placed him into it and opened the oven door. He looked out at her as she slid the dish into the oven. Her beautiful face was set in its purpose, her eyes unmistakably communicating her resolve.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” he said.

“I don’t really have any other options,” said Mrs Long, “And you don’t have any choice at all.”

“If only those burglars hadn’t come today,” said Casey.

“There’s no point in thinking like that. I’ll see you soon,” said Mrs Long and closed the oven door.

She walked away, looking magnificent even from behind though the glass door, as her large dress swayed behind her.

In a short while, she took him from the oven to the table, and sat down and lifted him to her mouth.

“Goodbye little darling,” she said, and gave him a huge kiss.

It took his mind back to the first day she’d seen him in the giant world and called him darling. Then she slid him onto her tongue and savoured the taste of him for as long as possible, before she gulped him into her throat and swallowed him whole.

Mrs Yeo and Roy had continued dating all those years, and reached a point where they had a special conversation in Mrs Yeo’s lounge room.

“Roy I don’t want you to underestimate the measure of my love for you, when you hear me make this request,” said Mrs Yeo, “But we have talked about it before. I’ve done a lot of thinking lately, and I would like to ask for your permission to eat you at last.”

“Oh…. “ said Roy, “I had always hoped that I would stay with you in this romance forever.”

“I can assure you I would be most romantic in the way I went about eating you,” said Mrs Yeo.

“Do you really want it that badly?” he asked.

“Every time I have a meal, I can’t help comparing its shortcomings with the hopes I have of dining on your lovely young meat instead.”

“Well I’ve had years to wonder if this might come up, and to think about it, Mrs Yeo. You have made me very happy. So I won’t deprive you of this pleasure. You can do it on any day which is convenient for you in the near future.”

“Thank you, darling,” she said, and took him up to her bed and slept with her full lower lip resting against his face the whole time. They would often do this in the next few days or weeks, but not all the time…

Willoughby had continued his visits to Mrs Yeo’s home away from home throughout the ten years. She had provided him with so much giant food, that he had not needed to work long hours back on his own earth. So he had taken a part time job two days a week, and devoted the rest of his time to writing. Mrs Yeo was now 55 and her brown hair had gone grey. She had taken to dyeing it blonde.

One day Willoughby and Mrs Yeo were writing, and he was often looking up from his own work at her mouth, having enjoyed the licking experience and fondly remembered it from that day at lunch.

"Willoughby, do you mind if we take a break for a while? There's something I'd like to ask you about."

"Sure," he said, and put down his book.

She looked down at him, and seemed to be thinking how to express herself about something.

"I've been thinking a lot about the day I cleaned the pavlova from your face."

"I have too," he said, “It was ten years ago, but I’ve never forgotten it.”

"Really? What made it remain in your mind?"

"Well I've never been licked by a giant lady's tongue before," he said, "I guess it was very unusual."

"Did you find it at all unpleasant?"

"No, not at all. A giant sized tongue is just as soft as any other."

"I enjoyed it a lot," she said, "and I enjoyed the third lick most of all, because all of the pavlova had been removed, and it was just your little face I was licking. What I'm really saying is that I think you're the most delicious thing I've ever tasted."

This was wonderful, he thought. She was probably going to ask him if she could lick him every time he visited her.

"Thank you. I think it's a nice compliment," he said.

"Well Willoughby, I liked the taste of you so much, that I'd like to ask for your permission to eat you."

He looked at her in surprise for several seconds.

Her face showed no embarrassment at having made such a monumental request of him, with such lasting consequences, if he agreed to it.

"Do you mean … completely?" he asked, although he knew her answer before she said it.

"Yes. I obviously don't need to bite you, and I'd never do that to you anyway. You're small enough to go down as one mouthful. I'd like to lick you several times, with no pavlova to detract from the taste, then place you into my mouth and let you slide around on my tongue for a few minutes, and then gulp you down my throat. I was happy when you said you didn't find the licking process unpleasant."

"I'm honoured that you think so highly of how I taste, Mrs Yeo. It's just that I enjoy our writing sessions together. I look forward to them more than anything I ever do on my own world. If you eat me, I'll never have any more of them."

"I've enjoyed them too, and I know I'd miss them. I’ve never told you this, but I’ve met other little boys like you, apart from Roy whom I’m dating. I’ve asked each of them for permission to eat them, and enjoyed it when the answer has been yes. With you I didn’t ask, because our common interest in writing was worth sharing for the last ten years. However, I have weighed it up in my mind, and the experience of eating you is one I'd remember fondly for the rest of my life."

"If I said no, would you eat me anyway, without my permission?"

"No, I promise you I'd never do that. In fact, if you said no, you'd still be welcome to come and continue our writing sessions as often as you like. I won't hold it against you in any way, if I can't have what I'm asking you for."

Now he loved her more than ever, but it was such a difficult decision.

"You've been my very dearest friend, for many years, and I'd love to do anything for you. The actual process of being eaten (the way you've described it) doesn't sound frightening at all. It's just the fact that once you'd gulped me down, I'd be eaten forever."

"I know. If you do give me permission to do it, I'd be grateful beyond words."

"Could I think about it, and give you an answer the next time I come to visit?"

"That'll be fine. Well, thank you for not saying an immediate no. Shall we get back to writing?"

"Alright," he said, and lay down in front of his notepad.

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