The Giant, Nina Holtz

The Giant

Nina Holtz

“Do you think that if you take the shells off snails they become slugs?” Zoe asked as she balanced on the slick stones at the edge of the creek. It was a hot day in mid-July and crickets whirred in the trees like a pulsing heartbeat.

“Snails and slugs are totally different things,” Benji said. He had picked up a twisted branch from the ground and was using it as a walking stick, poking at leaves and moving rocks out of the way. “Besides, snails are attached to their shells, like turtles.”

“I thought they were like hermit crabs. Hermit crabs have to move into bigger shells when they get older.” She hopped from one stone to the next as they moved down the creek, arms outstretched to balance. She’d gone through a growth spurt over the summer, and now stood half a head taller than Benji. Sometimes, the pain in her legs was so bad at night that she could only hug her knees to herself and cry until she fell asleep. The result was all elbows and angles, with clothes that were somehow both too small and too big at the same time.

“How long do you think until we get there?” she asked Benji. That afternoon, they had embarked on a mission to find what was at the end of the creek, but after 45 minutes of walking they were beginning to lose hope.

“Almost there,” Benji said, although he didn’t know the answer. In contrast to Zoe he was short and stocky, with dark eyes and messy black hair. He’d spent the past few weeks trying not to think about how Zoe was now taller than him.

They fell into silence, enjoying the sound of birds overhead. After another ten minutes, the trees fell away, revealing a large clearing in the woods.

“A lake!” Zoe exclaimed, running forward. The thin stream of the creek widened into a pool of water covered in a layer of green algae. It stretched across the clearing, the few parts free of algae sparkling in the sunlight.

Stretched out on the opposite side of the water was a sleeping giant. His face was lined and angular, as though carved out of stone, his mouth a jagged slash. His eyes were closed, and his hair fell down in ragged clumps around his ears. He seemed to be wearing simple clothing, but it was hard to tell because of the leaves and dirt that covered his form. As he lay on his side on the ground, they could see the faint rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Most impressive was his size. Zoe was as tall as his big toe.

“Is that—” Zoe began, but Benji quickly covered her mouth with his hand, pressing a finger to his lips. “We don’t want to wake him up,” Benji whispered. Zoe nodded her understanding and he dropped his hand.

“—a giant?” she whispered, finishing her sentence. “Looks like it,” Benji whispered back.

“A giant,” Zoe repeated, her eyes wide with wonder. She rocked back and forth on her feet, filling with energy. “We found a giant!” “We can’t tell anyone,” Benji said, still keeping his voice low.

Zoe frowned. “Why not?”

“It’s in all the books. When you find something magical, you’re not supposed to tell anyone. It’s like government experiments, or they think you’re crazy,” Benji said.

“Alright.” Zoe nodded. “Should we make a blood pact or something then?”

Benji paled. “Can we do a blood pact with no blood?” he asked weakly.

Zoe paused, thinking for a moment. Then she walked up to the lake and scooped a handful of algae out of the water. It coated her fingers in a green sludge. She held up her palm to Benji, and he clasped his hand to hers, the algae squishing between their fingers. “Repeat after me,” she said. “I swear…”

“I swear…” Benji repeated.

“To tell no one about the giant.”

“To show no one the lake.”

“To show no one the lake.”

“To protect the giant unless he’s bad.”

“To protect the giant unless he’s bad.”

“And to do whatever Zoe tells me to.”

“What! No!”

“Amen.”

“Amen.”

They pulled their hands apart, and turned to look at the giant. He hadn’t moved, though their voices had grown gradually louder. As they watched, he let out a deep exhale, and they breathed out in return.

When Zoe returned home, the lights were off. She let herself in with the key hidden in the ceramic frog by the doorway. The inside of the house was quiet, the only sound the distant echo of the TV coming from her mother’s bedroom. She peeked into the room. Her mother was lying in bed, her form outlined by the dying evening sunlight coming through cracks in the blinds. Her eyes were focused on the TV, face appearing like a skeleton’s as it flashed blue, red, blue, from the colors of the screen. Empty pill bottles and dirty plates piled on the dresser and bed.

“Mom?” Zoe asked.

Her mother turned to see her. “Oh, Zoe,” she said. “I’m sorry, I’m feeling very tired today. Could you make yourself dinner?”

“Okay,” Zoe said. She closed the door the room.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink. She opened the freezer door and sifted through its contents before pulling out a bag of frozen chicken nuggets, which she stuck in the microwave. The machine whirred and spun the bag in a slow circle. When the chicken was done, she sat down on the couch and flipped through the channels, passing

Disney, Nickelodeon, PBSkids, before settling on Shark Week. On screen, a Great White Shark closed its jaws around a seal, leaking blood into the water like ink. Zoe bit into a half-frozen nugget, chewed. The british narrator explained that sharks shake their heads to rip of chunks off flesh, killing their prey by shredding it to pieces. The seal’s tail flailed once, before its body fell limp. Zoe looked down at the chicken nugget in her hand and put it back in the bag.

“Zoe?” Zoe looked up. Her mother was standing in the hallway, hugging a blue bathrobe around herself. Her hair hung in thin strands to her shoulders. “What are you watching?”

“Shark Week.”

“Oh.” Her mother frowned. “Alright.” She turned and walked into the bathroom.

Bits of seal flesh floated in the water. Zoe changed the channel. Benji walked home in the fading summer sunlight. Rows of houses lined the sidewalk, and he missed the fresh smell of the woods. His house was at the edge of a cul-de-sac, a cramped three-bedroom home with a rusted tricycle sitting out on the lawn. The door was unlocked.

The moment Benji stepped inside he heard the signature sound of Kate screaming. She screamed when Benji’s mother opened the bag of frozen peas, she screamed as the peas were boiled, she screamed as the peas were put on the table, she screamed as she was stuffed in the high chair, she screamed as the peas were put in front of her, she screamed as Benji’s dad pretended to be an airplane, she screamed when the peas were removed and replaced with carrots, and she continued to scream as the rest of the family gave up and ignored her. Benji’s younger brother, Liam, meanwhile, was busy individually crushing each pea with his fork, which he then pushed together on his plate to create an enormous pile of pea sludge. He then ate the sludge with his mouth open while making gurgling noises and pretending to be an alien.

Benji finished his dinner in silence, then asked his mother if he could be excused. She responded with a wave of her hand, once again absorbed in trying to get Kate to eat her vegetables.

Benji went up to his room, where he spent a satisfying hour organizing his Pokemon cards first alphabetically, then by type, then by the relative shininess of the cards. He then moved on to his bookshelf, which he re-organized by color. He knew tomorrow he would put it back in alphabetical order by author (the most practical system), but for now he sat back and enjoyed the rainbow array on his shelf. That night he dreamed a giant picked him up and put him on its shoulder, and together they wandered the Earth.

“We should name him,” Zoe said, as they sat on top of the giant and looked out over the forest. It had taken them a week to build up the courage to climb onto the giant, beginning with Zoe hurling a rock at the his head to see if he would wake up (while Benji ran in the opposite direction). Now, they were confident that nothing would cause him to stir, and felt content as they relaxed and enjoyed the gentle rocking of his breathing.

Benji paused, thinking. He was lying on his back and using his bag as a pillow. “What about Jack?”

“Jack? You can’t name a giant after a giant killer!” Zoe exclaimed.

“Well it should be something giant-related. What about Andre the Giant, like that guy from the Princess Bride?”

Zoe jumped up, brandishing a stick she had found earlier as a sword. “My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father, prepare to die!” She started hitting his legs and arms with the stick until he stood up as well.

“No fair! I’m unarmed,” Benji complained.

“Use your backpack as a shield,” she said, dancing back and forth while hitting him with the stick.

Taking her advice, he grabbed his bag to defend himself. “The backpack is only defense. I need a weapon!” He ducked as the stick went over his head, swiping at his hair.

“Prepare to die!” she yelled again, hitting him harder with the stick. He howled and dropped the backpack, trying to grab the stick out of hands. The wrestled together for it, scratching and kicking. Benji pulled the stick toward him, but his feet slipped, and suddenly they

were both tumbling down the side of the giant and falling into the lake below.

Benji hit the water first, soaking his clothes and catching wet leaves in his hair. Zoe followed after with a splash. There was a panicked moment where she couldn’t find the surface, until her feet hit the ground, and she stood up. From where they were standing in the lake, the water went up to their chests.

Zoe started laughing first. A giggle that turned into laughing so hard that she couldn’t breath, only letting out small gasps as she flailed in the water.

Benji started laughing too, helpless at the state of his hair and clothes. “My mom’s going to be so mad,” Benji said, shaking his head and smiling.

Zoe’s laughter died. “Yeah. Mine too.”

“Your dad and I have an announcement,” Benji’s mother said at dinner, as Kate continued to scream in the background. Liam paused pouring orange juice over his rice to look up, and Benji stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth.

Benji’s parents glanced at each other. His father gestured at his mother to continue speaking. His mother put on a smile and looked around the table. “You’re all going to have a new baby brother or sister!”

There was silence around the table, except for Kate who was still screaming.

“Oh,” Benji said, putting his fork back down on his plate. “May I please be excused?”

It was beautiful on the giant’s back. He was as big as the tallest trees, and they could look out and see the rows of houses that bordered the forest. In the other direction, the woods stretched out for miles, ending in a haze of blue mountains. It was also cooler high up, and the breeze relieved the heat of the summer sun. They made the walk to the giant almost every day, and had begun to hide snacks and interesting rocks in his beard, which hung down in a thick curtain

More often, they would enjoy the view in silence, only speaking to pass the water bottle back and forth. Both of them had grown tan and athletic from exploring the forest and from so many hours and climbing up and down the giant.

“Hey,” Zoe said, catching Benji’s attention and breaking the silence. He turned to see she was holding a thin white cigarette in her hand, which glowed in the sunlight. “I found this in my mom’s things. Do you want to try smoking it?”

Benji plucked the cigarette out of her hands and threw it down into the lake below.

“Hey!” Zoe exclaimed, about to protest. She looked at the dark expression in Benji’s eyes and stopped her words. They lapsed back into silence.

One day, they both fell asleep in the sun and woke up to darkness. There were more stars than either of them had ever seen before. From their place so high up above the forest, it seemed like they could reach up and pluck a star down from the sky as easily as changing a lightbulb. The moon, too, seemed close, its wide face peering down as if curious to see the children and their giant.

Transfixed by the glow of the galaxy, they forgot all about worried parents. Their fingers inched closer together, and they held hands as they watched the stars. The moon guided them home through a forest filled with blue trees and dark wings. * * * *

Benji’s mother opened the door before he finished climbing the steps to the house.

“Where have you been?” she said, her face twisted in worry.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” he said, still dazed by the moon. “I was out with Zoe.”

She ushered him inside and sat him down at the table. There was a whirring sound as the microwave heated up his dinner. When she put the plate down in front of him, peas rolled out onto the table.

“Promise me you won’t ever do that again, okay? I’m serious. I was really really worried about you.”

“I promise. I’m sorry.” He moved the peas around on his plate with a fork.

“You know your dad and I love you, right, Benji? So much.”

Benji looked down at his plate, feeling embarrassed. “I know.”

The house was darker than usual when Zoe got home. The doorways looked hollow and empty, like open mouths. The only light spilled out from the bathroom, creating a yellow rectangle on the opposite wall.

“Mom?” Zoe said, walking toward the bathroom. There was no response, so she sped up, rushing to see inside the room.

Her mother was bent over the bathtub, her mouth crusted white and vomit filling the tub below. “Mom?” Zoe repeated. She shook her mother’s shoulder, but there was no response. Desperate, she shook her harder. Her mother’s body slid to the floor, her eyes half open and fluttering, gazing at the ceiling above. Zoe had a flash of an image of the seal, limp in the shark’s jaws. She ran to the phone.

Zoe didn’t meet Benji at the edge of the forest for two weeks. Finally, on the last day of summer, he knocked on her door. An unfamiliar woman opened it.

“Um…is Zoe home?” Benji asked.

“Just one second,” the woman said, disappearing inside.

After a moment, Zoe came to the door. She looked tired, her face pale and hair thin. “That’s my aunt,” she said. “My mom’s not feeling good, so she’s staying with us for a bit.”

Benji nodded, unsure of how to respond. “Do you want to go to the lake?” he asked.

She looked at him blankly, as though not processing the question.

They walked through the forest in silence, although this silence was somehow new and strange. It wasn’t the comfort of their old silence. Benji wanted to ask her what she thought about snails and slugs, but couldn’t get the words past his lips.

After an hour of walking, they finally reached the lake. Benji breathed out a sigh, relieved that the giant was still there after their absence. His craggy face was fast asleep, and a few birds were picking through the snacks they had left in his beard.

“Listen, I don’t really want to climb up some rocks right now, so could we actually just go back?” Zoe said.

Benji’s heart stopped. “Some rocks?”

“Yeah, we’ve been climbing up and down that dumb pile of rocks all summer, and I just don’t feel like it today. I’m tired.”

“What about the giant?”

“What?”

Unbidden, tears filled Benji’s eyes. He blinked them away quickly. “I—” he said, but couldn’t finish the sentence. There was a great rumbling that shook the ground and Benji stumbled, throwing out his arms for support.

Benji turned to look at the giant, who was moving. The giant’s frozen joints let out a loud creaking sound as they began to bend. Dirt, sticks, and leaves showered off his body as his form rose. He extended his arms over his head, and he let out a yawn that shook the trees. The rocky formations of his eyelids opened, revealing bright blue eyes that swept across the forest as he observed his surroundings. Apparently not seeing Zoe and Benji, he turned away, and now fully upright, walked in the direction that lead to the mountains. Each step caused an earthquake that shook Benji’s balance all over again. In just four enormous steps he was already far in the distance, shrieking birds circling his fading form.

Zoe and Benji stared at the space he had left.

“I need to get back to my mom,” Zoe finally said. “Yeah,” Benji said. “Okay.”

JUDGES’ NOTES

“The Giant”

This piece has solid writing and a keen eye for the important details that glue a story together. The writer carefully builds up the world and expectations, earning a wonderfully powerful ending. We all have different reasons we need to escape reality, and the speaker effectively builds the backgrounds of the main characters here so that we understand their individual and personal needs for escape. Even in the short space, I felt like I knew these characters well.