Chapter 5

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of packing, moving, unpacking, getting Freya registered and ready for school and Roger adapting to a big change in his life.

While the museum dealt with bringing Freya up to speed, Roger dealt with his moving into a bigger place.

Even though she was not related to him, Roger hovered nervously nearby as museum staffers combined their knowledge and tried to cram as much of it as they could into Freya's head before she went to school for the first time.

Freya, while she could read and write surprisingly well, had very little exposure to the outside world and knew little about math beyond simple arithmetic and even less about science.

The museum staff undertook to correct that, so her days were spent poring over books and practicing her writing and her speaking, the object of that being to tone down her thick accent a bit.

The warm summer days were ending soon and she would be entering Chapman Elementary School in the fall of her tenth year.

She also grew and now stood inches over six feet tall, a normal growth rate for a frost giant.

Roger waited nervously out in the hallway while Freya entered her fourth grade classroom for the first time.

The teacher, Mrs. Lee, a diminutive Asian woman broke out into a big smile and the other children fell silent at the sight of Freya looming in the doorway.

"Everybody, this is Freya Sigurdsdottir, she's new to our country and to this school, please make her feel welcome!"

Freya smiled warmly at her classmates and said cheerfully, "Guid morrow everyone!"

Mrs. Lee guided her to the desk that had been borrowed from the high school to fit her and handed her her school books.

One of the boys raised his hand and waved it around until Mrs. Lee said, "Yes Tommy, what is it?" The boy looked at Freya and blurted out, "How come she's so big?"

Mrs. Lee frowned slightly and replied, "Remember your manners Tommy, is that a polite question?"

A tiny black girl said assertively, "She's not so big, my uncle Len is taller than her!"

Another child blurted out "She's our age silly, she'll get bigger!"

Freya laughed gaily and replied to everyone there, "Ah'm th' same age as all ay yer, ten summers. Me kin folk ur up in Canada an' if ye think Ah'm big, wait'll ye see me dad!"

That broke the ice and Roger slipped away content that Freya would make new friends at her new school.

As he headed towards the exit, a woman's voice called out to him, "Mr. Tate?, Mr. Tate?"

He stopped and turned to see Mrs. Simonds with some sort of paperwork in her hand scurrying towards him, she stopped and paused a moment as if to catch her breath.

"Yes, Mrs Simonds, what is it?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and said, "I need you to sign these documents and get Freya's shot records for our files."

Roger took the proffered papers and asked, "I can fill these out tonight, can't I? I thought you had her shot records already?"

Mrs. Simonds looked a bit confused and asked, "Did you give us a copy already?"

Roger nodded and she said, "Never mind the shot records then, could you fill out her ethnicity survey then?"

Roger looked at her for a moment and asked, "Is that important? She is a Canadian native, does it matter?"

"I'm afraid it does, the school district needs a survey of all the ethnic groups our students belong to." Roger laughed and replied, "She doesn't belong to any of the recognised ethnic groups, her people are pretty unique!"

Mrs. Simonds looked at him and said in a serious tone, "How unique could she be? Aside from her size, she looks like any other white girl to me."

Roger just grinned crookedly and said, "Trust me, the school district has never had one of the Jotnar attending classes."

"Jotnar?"

"Frost giants, google it, Mrs. Simonds." replied Roger.

Mrs. Simonds eyes widened a bit and she blurted out, "Frost giants? As in Norse mythology frost giants? They don't exist, they're a myth!"

"Correction: Were a myth. I met her people last summer, her parents asked me to take her with me, to let her see the outside world. Do you remember that big guy in those boy wizard at school books and movies, the one that looked like a mountain of hair and beard?"

Mrs. Simonds nodded, "Well, her father Sigurd and her mother Gudrun, they each make him look like a mere boy by comparison." said Roger with a grin.

Roger returned home to continue unpacking his books, the new house with its spacious book cases begged to have them filled with his books and he was going to make a good effort at filling them while Freya was at her new school.

At noon, his labors were interrupted by a phone call.

Glancing at the phone, he saw it was from Mrs. Simonds at the school.

"Hello?" he answered, "Mr. Tate?" asked Mrs. Simonds, "Yes, speaking."

"Freya got into a fight..."

"Whaaat?! She got into a fight? I'm on my way!"

Before Mrs. Simonds could reply, Roger had grabbed his keys and was out the door and starting his car.

A few minutes later, Roger entered the school's administrative offices.

He saw Freya calmly sitting in a chair and sitting across the room from her were three boys and they each looked a bit the worse for wear, the largest one was sporting the beginnings of a real shiner of a black eye and another was holding a sore jaw while the last one was holding back his tears.

Freya, on the other hand looked remarkably fresh.

Roger grinned and winked at her and he entered Mrs. Simonds' office.

Mrs. Simonds looked up at him and she said, "What I was trying to tell you on the phone is that she is alright and you didn't have to come in to see me."

Roger shrugged and replied, "I've never been a foster parent before, this is all new to me."

He jerked a thumb towards the outside room and asked, "So, what happened?"

Mrs. Simonds smiled at him and said quietly, "Those three are the worst bullies we have and this time, they picked on the wrong girl."

Roger frowned and remarked, "Is this going to become an ongoing thing with those clowns? Why haven't they been disciplined?"

Mrs. Simonds sighed and replied, "It's complicated. First off, most of their victims wouldn't come forward for fear of retaliation and letters to their parents have had little effect. The leader, the one with the shiner, his 'daddy' is a local character who throws his weight and money around."

Roger chuckled slightly and remarked, "I've run into his kind before. He won't scare me."

Mrs. Simonds grinned back and remarked, "Between you and me, what happened to those idiots was long overdue and coming from a 'mere girl', has to be especially painful!"

Roger smirked and commented, "Freya has four older brothers and her father is like a chieftain or headman of the village she grew up in. Those boys must've been nothing to her."

Roger smiled at Mrs. Simonds and asked, "So what do you want me to do? I could have a talk with her, but she does have the right to defend herself and I won't deny her that right."

She smiled back at him and replied, "You, don't have to do anything, Freya will not be disciplined as they started it. I will be sending them home with letters of suspension for their actions and the school district will look into transferring them to separate schools, to 'break up the gang' so to speak."

Roger grinned and commented, "Well then, shall I come back to get her after classes then?"

Mrs. Simonds shrugged and replied, "Since you're already here, you might as well take her home now and let things cool off here. She's not in trouble and there won't be any actions, I just want things to quiet down."

The two exited her office and Roger grinned at Freya, she smiled back at him and he said cheerfully, "C'mon kiddo, let's go home!"

She gathered her long legs to stand up when a large, florid faced man came barging in.

"What th' hell happened here?" he bellowed, then he glanced at the boy with the growing black eye, "Who did this?" he demanded, "Who hit my boy?"

He turned to Mrs. Simonds and loudly declared, "I'll have your job for this! Who hit my boy?"

Freya stood up and declared, "Ah hit 'im, an' Ah'll gladly dae it again!"

The man rounded on her and seemingly drew back his hand to strike her when Roger growled, "Try to touch her and I will drop you!"

He looked at Roger in surprise then demanded, "You her dad?"

Roger smiled tightly and replied, "Foster father, her real father could eat you alive!"

He glared and stuck his finger in Roger's face, "You'd better watch your ass fellah! And put a leash on that freak of yours!"

Roger grinned at him and retorted, "If anyone needs a leash, it's that boy of yours. Didn't you ever teach him it's not nice to hit girls? Some example you are!"

The man looked Roger up and down and saw his lean, sunburnt, rangy frame and relaxed, loose limbed posture, he would not be intimidated by his bluster.

He turned even redder than before then he grabbed his son by his arm and growled, "Let's get out of here!"

"Mr. Turner!" cried Mrs. Simonds, he paused a moment and she handed him a letter before declaring, "Your son is now suspended for bullying and I will be requesting he be transferred to a different school, as soon as possible!"

Turner's face turned black with rage and he tore the letter into pieces before hurling it to the floor.

He suddenly lunged towards Mrs. Simonds and Roger deftly pinned his arm behind his back and spun him to the floor where he landed on his stomach with Roger kneeling on his spine.

Roger said quietly, "Mister, you need to calm down before someone gets hurt!"

Turner lay there panting in his impotence, he was pinned and he knew it.

"Alright, alright...I give...Let me up...Please!" he gasped and Roger straightened up again.

Roger held out his hand to offer assistance to Turner but he shrugged it off and scrambled to his feet, his face still red with anger.

He glared at his son and the two left in a hurry, he could be heard muttering and cursing all the way out to the parking lot.

Roger glanced at the two remaining boys and asked Mrs. Simonds, "Would you like me to stick around until they've been picked up by their parents, just in case?"

Mrs. Simonds smiled at him and replied, "That won't be necessary Mr. Tate, the school police are on the way and should be here very shortly. I do appreciate the offer though and I thank you for your help. That man has been a problem for a while now and having you stand up to him like that must've been a real surprise for him."

Roger grinned at her and said, "I'm gonna take Freya home now and we'll have a little chat about what happened today."

He held out his hand and Freya smiled as she took it and they left the school.

Heading out to the parking lot, they saw the school police arriving as they were leaving.

Roger nodded at them and they acknowledged his nod with their own.

A few minutes later Roger steered his car into a parking lot and he stopped outside the local ice cream shop with its multitude of flavors.

Freya clapped her hands in delight, she loved ice cream and always liked to try a new flavor each time they stopped by.

The lady behind the counter grinned at her and said, "Hi Freya! I swear you're getting taller every time I see you, it's hard to believe you're only 10 years old."

Freya smiled at her and replied, "Hi Mrs. Lambert! Today Ah wanna try a bit ay p, pine apple sherbet?"

Mrs. Lambert laughed and said cheerfully, "You can call me Sophie you know and pineapple sherbet it is!" as she reached into the cold cabinet and deftly scooped up a ball of the frozen concoction.

"Och, Ah cannae be sae familiar, yer a grown up an' Ah am only a young'un!" replied Freya to Sophie's remarks.

Sophie handed her the paper cup with the sherbet in it and said cheerfully, "Suit yourself then, most of the kids around here just call me Sophie."

They enjoyed the frozen treat and thanked Sophie as they left her shop.

Driving back to the house, Roger asked quietly, "So, what happened?"

Freya sat quietly for a few moments, then she said, "We were at recess an' th' louts cam up tae us an' asked me who Ah be wi' me funny garb, an' way ay talkin', an' me size."

Roger nodded.

"Th' leader asked me if Ah was a boy'r a girl, then he tried tae put 'is hands oan me whilst 'is lackeys grabbed me arms."

She paused, "Ah defended meself."

Roger grinned and said reassuringly, "You had every right to, who knows how far those idiots would've gone if you hadn't fought back."

To Roger's surprise, Freya scoffed and remarked, "It warn't nae kinda fight, Ah oanly hit 'em th' one time each an' they all started in cryin' an' bawlin'! Loch bairns they was!"

Roger laughed and said cheerfully, "I'd hate to see what your idea of a real fight is Freya!"

Then he said more seriously, " The only thing I'm gonna say about it is this. Remember your strength, you are stronger than people realize and soon, you'll be stronger than me. I'd also like for you to write down just what happened today during recess. I've a feeling that Mr. Turner could be a problem down the road and you writing down what happened today could come in real handy."