Chapter 31

Shortly before eight o'clock, Roger parked their van outside the practice gym where he would find Freya and her friends on the volleyball team.

He entered the building and sat near where Coach Phillips was sitting and watching them practice.

Walter Phillips, the coach grinned at him and they shook hands.

The two of them sat and watched the girls working out.

Walter muttered, "I sure wish we could get Freya on our team for just one season, we would clean house!"

Freya was easy to spot amongst the towering young women, even without her red-gold braids flying as she leapt to block a shot.

She was nearly a foot taller than most of them and her physical development was that of a pubescent girl, even if she was over seven feet tall now.

Roger idly noted a fresh bruise on her right cheek, mute evidence of her encounter with a flying elbow during practice, a not unusual occurrence in a rough and tumble sport like volleyball.

He also noted the new bandage on her left knee.

Walter blew the whistle and the playing stopped at once.

He called out, "Great practice ladies, excellent work...Hit the showers and let's get out of here!"

The towering ladies all grinned and they all trooped into the locker room and the showers to follow.

Walter smiled at Roger and asked, "You guys have any plans for later?"

"I thought we'd go by Powell's and meet up with a couple of people we know there then go out for coffee and a nibblie or something."

"Ah, well have fun and we'll see you next week?"

"Of course, I gotta tire her out some way and you guys are heaven sent!"

Walter chuckled and commented, "That's what we're here for, tiring out young giants!"

Walter looked thoughtful and quietly asked, "Has she started yet?"

"Started?"

"You know what I mean, started. I've got teenage daughters and she's at about that age when she'll start having her cycles."

"No, thank goodness, though I am expecting it any day now. " replied Roger.

At Walter's raised eyebrow, he said hastily, "Yes, we have pads at the house."

Walter smiled and said quietly, "Have her start carrying them on a daily basis. I just have a feeling she's about to start, let's hope she doesn't have bad PMS!"

Freya reemerged from the locker room with the rest of the team and she gave Roger one of her memorable hugs.

She was grinning from ear to ear as she declared, "Ah lifted four hundred poonds at th' weight bench today!"

Roger grinned back and replied, "I'm not at all surprised, I saw you lift that rock out in the garden that I could barely move, so I know you're strong."

They clambered into the van and as he started it up he asked, "Feel like hitting Powell's tonight? I thought we'd hook up with Anna and Josephine and we could all go for a coffee or something."

Freya looked thoughtful then she smiled and said, "Sure, wa nae? Ah dornt hae skale oan th' morrow, Ah can sleep in!"

A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking structure for Powell's and made their way into the giant book store.

Finding Anna was fairly easy as there was directional signs marking the way to her book signing event.

The line was still fairly long and they briefly considered getting in line, but Anna had already given them each a signed copy of her newest book, so there was no need to get in line.

They were about to go browsing elsewhere in the store when Freya bumped into a class mate of hers.

The girl was all dressed up in Goth-loli clothing with black satin cat ears, a cat tail and wearing thick soled lace up boots.

On her pale face was dark red lipstick and kohl around her reddened eyes which Roger quickly realized were from the contacts she wore, not from smoke getting blown into her eyes.

She was suitably ghastly and cute for the event, of that there was not a doubt in his mind.

"Freya?! What're you doing here?" the girl asked incredulously.

Freya jerked a thumb towards where Anna Karlsen was holding court and replied, "We're haur tae pick up Miss Anna an' Miss Josephine when they're finished wi' th' book signin'."

The girl's eyes grew even bigger than ever before and she cried, "Whaaat?!" making several other patrons give her a disapproving look.

The girl grabbed Freya's arm and dragged her a little ways away which Roger found amusing, Freya was easily many times stronger than the tiny girl dragging her around.

"What d'you mean you're gonna pick them up? How do you know Anna Karlsen?" She hissed.

Freya merely shrugged and replied casually, "Roger knows 'er frae somewhaur, she's stayin' at uir hoose right noo."

The girl started hyperventilating then she exclaimed in a strangled voice, "I can't believe you! You know Anna Karlsen, you have her staying at your house, an' you didn't think to tell anyone? Least of all me?"

Freya stood looking down at her tiny assailant in puzzlement and replied gently, "Ah didna ken she was sae popular.

"Ah barely ken anythin' abit 'er. Ah jist ken she's a friend ay th' family.

Ah had nae idea ye woods e'en care 'at she's haur wi' us."

Freya smiled at the tiny goth girl and said amiably, "We dornt run in th' same circles ay friends. We may be classmates, but we dinnae ken each other. It's nae one's fault, it just is."

The girl looked up at Freya towering well over two feet taller than her and replied, "It's okay, I was just surprised to see you here.

"I wouldn't expect you to be reading goth romance novels like I do and I sure wouldn't ever expect to see you wearing an outfit like mine.

Where would you get one to fit you?"

Freya grinned at her tiny classmate and replied, "Believe me when Ah say Ah coods get an ootfit loch yoors made fur me. Ah get me clothes made for me by Miss Emma Granger ur The Questing Beast doon in Phoenix, Arizona. They'd love tae make somethin' like thes fur me."

The girl grinned at her and remarked gaily, "That would be something to see, you, all Gothed out!"

She looked over at the line and said glumly, "Crap! I lost my place in line."

Freya laughed and said amiably, "Nae ye dinnae lose yoor place, Roger held it fur ye, see?"

She looked in surprise at Roger standing there in the line, holding her place.

She happily trotted up to him as best she could with her thick soled boots on, did a little curtsy and resumed her place in line.

Roger and Freya spent the next hour browsing the shelves at Powell's books while waiting for Anna and Josephine to finish the signing event.

He mostly idled about while Freya looked at the manga and graphic novels section, in one hand, she held several volumes that she wanted to get.

He mostly wondered at some of titles he saw and simply shook his head after reading the synopsis on the back of the book or rather the front, as most manga titles were printed in the Japanese right to left fashion.

Roger had found a chair to sit in and was engrossed in a magazine article when he heard his name being called.

Looking up he saw Anna flowing towards him in all her Goth-loli elegance.

Following in her wake were Josephine, Veronica, Freya and the goth girl they'd met earlier, she was chattering happily at Freya and her face was flushed with excitement.

Lastly, the goth girl's mother was trailing in her daughter's much smaller wake.

Rising to meet them, he said cheerfully, "Had all the fun you could stand?"

Anna's grin was the reply he expected so he asked, "Care to go get some coffee and a nibblie? There's a great independent coffee house and bakery nearby, I hear it's pretty good!"

Veronica grinned and said, "You must mean B-Street Coffee house, yes, they're very good."

Roger smiled at her and said cheerfully, "You're welcome to join us."

Her face frowned slightly and she said ruefully, "I wish! I have to close up the store tonight, that means I won't be leaving 'til about midnight."

Anna's pretty face frowned a bit and she said, "I am sorry to hear that, I enjoyed tonight's event immensely. Your staffers were very professional and everything went very smoothly and I thank you for their help!"

Veronica smiled and replied, "I should be thanking you, Anna, we had a good turnout, much better than some other signing events have brought in."

After Veronica and Anna thanked each other and exchanged hugs, Veronica scurried off to run the store.

Roger smiled at everyone and said cheerfully, "Well ladies? Shall we be off?"

Anna smiled at him and extended her opera gloved hand to take his arm while saying, "Lead on, kind sir!"

He grinned at her and bowed slightly with his free arm extended.

He glanced back at the Goth girl who was standing there with shimmering eyes and said pleasantly, "You and your mom are welcome to join us!"

The girl looked like she was about to faint she was so thrilled, she turned to her mother and with her black lace opera gloved hands clasped together in front of her budding decolletage, she turned her shimmering eyed gaze on full force.

Her mother rolled her eyes and nodded her assent.

The girl looked fit to burst in her excitement when Roger extended his other arm and said, "A young lady should always be escorted properly, come along, young miss!"

The girl squealed and quickly took his proffered arm.

Behind him, he heard Freya muttering to the girl's highly amused mother, "Always wi' th' gift ay gab, 'at one!".

The patrons and staff of B-Street Bakery and Cafe were mildly surprised to see the front door opened by Roger who stood aside in a slight bow as Anna Karlsen and the Goth-loli girl with black satin cat ears, cat tail and thick soled laced up high boots, wafted in to settle into an empty booth.

Following them were Josephine and the girl's quite patient mother also coming in.

Lastly came Roger, a sandy haired man with a lean, rangy build and sunburnt skin accompanying Freya, a towering girl with red-gold hair and Norse goddess looks.

When the entire party had settled into place, they were approached by the servers with menus in hand and order pads at the ready.

The next few minutes were spent placing orders and the servers confirming the orders.

Afterwards, the girl's mother leaned towards Roger and extended her hand with a smile, "I'm Helen Larsen, Anita's my daughter," as they shook hands, she glanced over at Freya, "and she is your...?"

"Companion, Freya is my companion and I am her guardian while she is here in Portland."

Helen smiled and replied cheerfully, "I kinda wondered 'cause you two don't resemble each other at all. "

Roger said quietly, "I was married twice, no kids though."

"Oh"

Helen looked over at her daughter and Freya talking together and remarked, "Anita's mentioned a really tall girl in a couple of her classes, I didn't realize she was this tall. Nor did I know they were friends."

He chuckled and commented drily, "Yeah, we were surprised too, to tell you the truth."

Helen grinned and remarked, "Anita can be quite the handful at times. She's so creative, she made her outfit and she loves to write all kinds of stories. When she found out Anna Karlsen was coming here, she really busted a hump to get here to meet her favorite author.

"I was finally able to get her to do all of her chores without any arguments!"

Helen smiled at him and said warmly, "Thank you for holding her place in line for her and inviting her along with you. I can't tell you how happy she is right now, she won't settle down for at least a week!"

Roger just smiled and said, "I didn't mind holding her place, I was kind of amused watching her dragging Freya around like she did when Freya could easily carry your girl around like she was a doll."

She smiled and remarked, "Freya's so calm about being around Anna Karlsen, doesn't she read her books?"

"Freya doesn't really go in for that sort of thing, she does read for pleasure, but she's studying her native language a lot these days. She wants to be able to read the books she inherited from her grandmother."

"How many did she inherit?"

Roger shrugged and replied, "We have no idea, half of her cottage was filled with books. Probably several thousand volumes."

Helen's carefully trimmed eyebrows went up and she exclaimed, "Thousands? Where're you going to keep them all?"

He grinned and replied, "We're working on it."

"I'll bet!" She commented.

The food and beverages arrived and everybody set to making both disappear.

But not too quickly.

Roger smiled at seeing Anita shyly sharing her writing with Anna Karlsen and Anna looking it over and asking the girl a few pertinent questions, her bright shining eyes showing her happiness at the exchange.

Helen smiled and said quietly, "I have never seen her so happy before, to be talking to her favorite author on such a personal level. She never once imagined this would happen in her wildest dreams."

Roger just smiled and replied, "She'll certainly have a story to tell her friends at school on Monday."

Helen frowned slightly and remarked acidly, "She has very few friends, mostly bullies. She's small for her age and she likes 'weird things' as they say.

She writes to escape 'grim reality world' as she puts it and I can only do so much to protect her.

I had her take martial arts classes so she could defend herself from a physical attack, but how can she deal with the psychological attacks?

Those do even more damage and the wounds can't be easily seen."

Roger remarked in reply, "Freya is not a real popular girl either, she has a few good friends at school and they hang out together regularly.

The bully types pretty much leave her alone because she's so much bigger than everyone else, but the 'Queen Bee' types still try to upset her with snotty comments about her size and the way she dresses.

She's actually pretty easy going and half the time, she just laughs at them which annoys them apparently.

Still, she does come home sometimes and is still fuming over some stupid remark she heard during recess."

Their conversation was interrupted by a squeal from Anita who was sitting rapturously while Anna was busily writing something in her note book.

She handed the pen and notebook back to Anita while clearly saying, "You have a lot of raw talent and some good ideas. With a good editor, you could make a decent career out of writing, and never you mind what the idiots say, they're just jealous of your talent."

The girl looked as if she was about to faint from sheer happiness when Anna said in conclusion, "I've given you my contact info and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of your work. I really do believe you have a gift and I want to stay in touch."

Anita started crying to Anna's surprise and she said through her sobs, "You have no idea how happy you've made me * sniff * I never even dared to think I would be getting praise from you * sob * "

The girl dabbed at her tears and runny nose, succeeding mostly in smearing her carefully applied make up instead.

Anna grinned at her and said cheerfully, "Young Ladies of Society Rule Number One: "When making a scene, be sure to wear waterproof make up; it saves a big cleaning bill afterwards!"

She gathered the astonished girl to her bosom and the two hugged briefly.

Having settled up with the bill, they all gathered together for a group photo taken by one of the servers who commented about having a hard time getting Freya's whole head in the photo because of her height.

Once back at the parking lot, Anita suddenly came up to Roger and hugged him, her cat eared head barely coming up to his collar bones as she squeezed him briefly before she stepped back and beamed happily, "Thank you for holding my place and inviting us to join you guys. I will always treasure this evening!"

"It was my pleasure, young miss." replied Roger with a slight bow and a smile.

Anita and her mother hopped into their car and drove off with her black lace opera gloved hand waving goodbye out the window.