Giant Solidarity G/T

Chapter XXX. The Lilliputian

*Suggestive looking Roman numerals are pure coincidence, this is NOT a sexualized chapter. It mostly includes world-building and character development.*

Barely awake, ignoring my coffee cravings, I shook Harley awake. He slept in the driver's seat, Crystal curled up in his lap. After relaying the news to them, I stepped out of the car, careful to keep my palm steady to support Reagan, who was rubbing sleep from her eyes. With my free hand, I pounded on the backdoor of the van. Bleary-eyed Seth slid the door open. "Morning Seth," I greeted, feeling Rey stretch awake in my hand. "The ferryman is pulling up to the dock, but don't bring the rest of the humans out yet. Harley and I are gonna check it out first, make sure the coast is clear and everything."

"Alright, keep us posted," requested Seth, looking toward the dock. "And... you might want to put a shirt on Vic."

After compliantly pulling a shirt over my head, I took Rey and Alma in each palm and approached the dock, alongside Harley transporting Crystal. Wooden planks clanked under our shoes. All we saw were aquatic plants around us, beyond which was the expanse of freshwater reflecting the sunrise. When we reached the end of the dock, Alma shook my thumb and pointed down toward some tall cattails. "There he is," she announced, relieved.

Bobbing side to side in the shallow water was what looked to me like a very small raft initially. "Looks like something a Giant Scout would race with a remote at summer camp," I observed.

I don't know what I expected from this tiny human watercraft I'd waited a day to see. Perhaps a plastic windup toy with a propeller or a small wooden schooner with sails, like a ship in a bottle. Instead, I saw a wide wooden square with siding, looked to be made from a deep plywood sock drawer. The Lilliputian was indeed carved into the starboard. The small ferry floated closer to the dock with precision and at Alma's behest I set her down on the end plank so she could wave. As The Lilliputian grew larger in my view, I saw some eye-catching ingenuity. The wooden bottom adhering to the reflective water, seemed to be lined with Styrofoam, old wine corks and empty water bottles for floatation attachments, elevating the keel. Topsails made from either popped balloons, or some sort of thin vinyl were secured to two chopstick masts. I wondered how the ferry was moving so fast toward the dock, until I saw a tinplate at the stern with a tiny lit candle under it. Candlelight seemed to provide some sort of motor, genius.

An anchor made from a screwdriver head plunked into the water from the modified drawer, secured to the deck with fishing line. A little man extinguished the candle at the rear and stepped toward the bow, waving up at Alma on the dock. "Eli, so good to see you!" she squealed, excitedly.

When the ferry captain Eli stepped into the sunlight, I half-expected to see an eyepatch or a peg-leg. Other than the scraggily greying beard, leathery skin and the tattered raincoat, Eli seemed in good shape, however. Eli cupped little callused hands around his mouth so Alma could hear him from below. "Alma, is that you? Haven't seen you since you were preteen." It looked like the two tinies were communicating across a canyon, what was a mere arms' length to me. Wearily, the skipper looked beyond Alma at Harley and myself. I saw skepticism on his minute weather-beaten face. The untrusting glare from his eyes was enough to make me ashamed to be giant.

Quickly Alma introduced us. "Oh, Eli this is one of my foster giants, Vic and his best friend Harley. Don't worry, they're ally giants. Trust me, human lovers." She turned around and winked up at us. Fact is Harley and I were among the considerable giant minority that had been intimate with human beings.

Eli appeared to soften a bit with Alma's vouching. With my hand, I escorted Alma from the raised dock down onto the derby boat's plywood deck, mindful of the murky lake water. Reagan clung to my shirt sleeve, until I deposited her beside Alma on The Lilliputian. Harley did the same reluctantly with Crystal, as Alma introduced everyone. Making room on deck, Eli moved some plastic sporks, which might have been backup oars for the boat.