A Big Girl Graduates
June 4th dawned brightly, the rays of sunlight streaming into their room rousing Roger and Freya from their bed.
Her parents would be arriving later that afternoon and they still had a few things to do before they arrived.
Their flight would be arriving at Troutdale airport around 4 PM and they not only had to accommodate her parents, they had invited the flight crew to stay with them through that long weekend.
A spare disused bedroom had been cleaned up, furnished and clean linen placed on the beds, it would be fine for the flight crew.
Freya's parents were getting put up in the master bedroom, with it's twelve foot ceilings and ensuite bathroom, they would be quite comfortable in there.
Anticipating the onslaught of hearty appetites, Roger hopped into his small truck and with the ever silent Silky beside him, went to the local grocery warehouse.
He often took Silky with him when he went grocery shopping, as she knew what they would be needing and could spot a bargain from across the store.
She also excelled at steering him away from frivolous purchases with little more than a delicate nod, indicating a yes, or a slight shaking of her head, indicating a no.
Silky wore a simple long skirt and a long sleeved shirt with a broad brimmed hat to protect her delicate skin from any stray sunbeams.
As usual, Roger pushed the large shopping cart while Silky picked and chose what she needed.
This time she picked out more than was usual, 15 dozen extra large eggs, two gallons of orange juice, ten pounds of bacon, a ten pound box of grits and a three pound can of coffee grounds.
Next, they stopped at Oak View dairy to get milk, fresh heavy cream for Silky, ice cream and butter.
That afternoon, Roger and Freya were at Troutdale airport, sitting in their tall van waiting for her parents to arrive.
The tower had called them to advise them that the flight was due to arrive shortly and so they were watching the approaching aircraft intently.
The indistinct shape resolved itself into an ungainly looking Short Skyvan plus 90, the 'flying shed' as many people called it.
They could see why it had earned that somewhat unkind moniker, it really did resemble a shipping container with a rounded nose and a windshield at the front while a tail grafted onto the end sprouted twin ailerons and a flat board with flaps to steer the thing or elevate it.
Another flat board across the body held the odd looking assemblage up while it was flying.
In all, it was homely at best.
Nevertheless, it touched down gracefully and slowed rapidly until it was able to exit the single runway and taxi to where it would be parked throughout its stay.
After it had shut down, a cockpit door opened and a ladder swung out and locked into place.
The pilot and co-pilot climbed out and went to the back of the boxlike fuselage to let down the loading ramp at its rear.
Roger and Freya exited the van and began walking towards the ungainly looking aircraft as her gigantic father emerged first and stood up straight, towering just over ten feet tall.
Freya squealed "Daddy!" and rushed into his mighty arms to give him a big hug of her own.
His little girl once again.
Moments later they separated and helped her mother Gudrun step down from the boxy airplane.
There was a joyous mother and child reunion before they separated and Gudrun greeted Roger quite affectionately, nearly overwhelming him in the process to Sigurd's amusement.
Recovering his breath after Gudrun's immense hug, Roger turned to the two flight crew members and said, "We have a room all set to go for you guys, that way you don't have to deal with finding a room for the weekend."
The pilot grinned and said, "Plus you get a break on the fees!"
Roger grinned and replied, "That too!"
Moments later, another form emerged from the boxy Skyvan.
It was Britt Ericsdottir, one of the tavern maids at Old Harald's.
She stood and grinned at them, then said a cheery, "Hi! Ah thooght Ah'd hitch a ride doon sooth tae see whit ets loch doon haur! Dinnae warry none, Auld Harald gae me th' weekend aff!"
Before he could say anything, Britt reached back inside the Skyvan and rolled out a gleaming kilderkin.
Standing it on one end, she reached back inside, rolled out a second kilderkin and stood it atop the first one.
Considering that each kilderkin weighed well over 200 pounds, Roger was impressed at her strength as he knew she had lugged those heavy casks all the way down from their village to Bella Coola airport, a long two day's walk for a Jotun.
Lastly, she put on her stuffed back pack and took out a dolly which she used to trundle the gleaming kilderkins as she walked.
Roger could only laugh, things were going to get very interesting.
Opening up the tall van's doors front and back, Roger stood to one side as Britt easily hoisted the gleaming kilderkins into the back cargo area and secured them.
He smiled to himself, there was now enough summer ale to keep Warren Johnson from ever getting thirsty this summer.
Sigurd, with no discernible effort, heaved their own luggage in with the kilderkins and Roger closed the doors.
Their guests, both invited and unanticipated, clambered inside and made themselves comfortable.
While Freya drove, Roger played the genial host.
"How was the flight?" he asked.
The pilot replied, "It was fairly routine, just longer than usual for us."
"We had our altitude pretty much to ourselves most of the way here, so it was an easy flight." remarked the co-pilot.
Roger smiled and remarked, "It usually is a pleasant flight, at least for us as we can land on the lake and tie off at the dock there."
The pilot grinned and asked, "Do both of you have pilot's licenses?"
"Sure do, Freya's had one since she was twelve, been multiple engine and instrument rated since she was thirteen."
The co-pilot remarked, "What kind of a plane do you guys have that's big enough to fit her and can land on water? Don't tell me it's a sea plane!"
Roger laughed, "Then I won't tell you its a Martin Mariner PBM 5A, an amphibious plane as big as a B-24 Liberator bomber."
"Woah, that's quite the bird. Where is it?"
"It's down in Texas getting a thorough going over before we go on a trip this summer. We'll be island hopping across the Pacific in a big loop that'll cover some 17,000 miles at least, and we want the plane to be ready for it."
The pilot who was a bit older chuckled and said, "I don't think a sea plane has plied the airways in the South Pacific in decades. Good luck to you!"
Freya's parents and Britt mostly sat wide eyed and looked out the windows at all the buildings and the traffic as she drove.
Sigurd muttered, "An tae hink we sent ye tae bide in thes wi' aw these fowk, an' aw th' buildings. Hoo did ye dae it? Hoo did ye...Cope?"
Freya looked up at her mountainous father in the rear view mirror, smiled and replied,"Ah was too busy learnin' new things tae be o'erwhelmed by whit Ah saw. Ah was nae taller than most fowk when Ah first got haur an' fowk jist thooght Ah was very tall fur me age."
She laughed and said, "They didne believe me when Ah said Ah was a Jotun, they kept thinkin' Ah was a Scandi, nae a Jotun."
She grinned, "They believe me noo!"
Once they got into the Wolf Hills neighborhood, they saw the nicer houses and all the greenery in the well kept yards.
Britt murmured, "It's sae nice up haur, nae at aw loch Ah saw doon in th' city."
They rounded the last corner before they saw the house and Roger chuckled for there beside the road was Sasha keeping watch over several small children as they played in a neighbor's front yard without a care, for a gigantic wolf was guarding them and only a fool would bother them.
The co-pilot muttered, "Holeee shit! Was that a wolf?"
Roger smiled and said, "Not just any wolf, but a Jotun great guardian wolf. They're bred to protect and protect they do. Sasha there has raised several small children over the years and she's saved my life at least once that I remember."
"So she's okay just being there like that, won't animal control pick her up or something?"asked the pilot.
Roger laughed and replied, "She's perfectly fine right where she is, the neighbors all know her, her mate and her two oldest pups and animal control doesn't bother with her as they know she's not a stray or a nuisance animal. If anything, her presence keeps the local coyotes under control as she'll go after them to protect 'her kids'."
Freya slowed the van as they drove past Sasha and Roger chuckled when he saw the little ball of golden fluff male Pomeranian snuggled up against her possessively.
He laughed and said, "That little guy has been wooing her for years, he really thinks he has a chance with her."
The pilot shrugged, "The word you're thinking of is Chutzpah, Chutzpah is that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan."
Roger grinned, "You sound like quite the philosopher!"
"Nah, I was raised by a very Jewish mother and some of it rubbed off!"
Freya said, "Haur we ur!" and she steered the tall van into the driveway of the big house looming over the neighborhood.
A colorful banner hanging across the front of the big house cheerfully proclaimed. "Congratulations Grads, class of 20XX!"
Exiting the van, Sigurd and Gudrun looked the house over with a discerning eye while Britt unloaded the gleaming kilderkins.
He smiled at his daughter and said, "Thes is quite th' hoose ye bide in. Th' picters yoo've showed me didne really convey its size."
Britt exclaimed ,"'Tis a palace ye bide in! Ah've ne'er seen sich a gran' hoose afore!"
The front door opened and the slight form of Anita came out, her face beaming a welcoming smile as she descended the stairs to greet Freya's enormous parents.
"Welcome to Portland!" she cried as she nearly disappeared in one of Sigurd's enormous hugs, then was engulfed in Gudrun's generous bosom in her own version of a Jotun style hug.
Turning to Britt she said a cheery, "Hello! I'm Anita and you are?"
Britt grinned at the slightly built teenager and said, "Ah'm Britt, Ah'm pleased tae meit yer!"
Still playing the charming hostess, Anita smiled at the pilot and co-pilot, "Welcome to our house, we have a spare room all set up for you guys."
Smiling at everyone she said brightly, "Dinner is about to be served, Silky really put her foot in the cooking tonight and I can't wait to try it!"
Entering the house, Sigurd smiled appreciatively at not having to stoop to get through the eleven foot high door and Gudrun sighed and said softly, "'Tis a gran' hoose ye bide in, Ah dornt ken whit tae say!"
Britt merely smiled as she took in the cavernous front hallway with its twelve foot ceilings and staircase leading to the second floor.
At that moment, the huge grandfather clock began tolling the six o'clock hour and the Jotuns admired its intonations and smiled their approval.
Anita turned to the flight crew and said cheerfully, "Come with me and I'll show you to your room."
As they followed behind her one said, "This place is huge, the ceilings are so high!"
Roger heard her cheery reply, "The house was built for a retired circus giant couple..."
Moments later they had climbed the stairs out of earshot.
Freya smiled at her towering parents, "Come wi' me, Ah'll shaw ye tae yer room."
She glanced at Britt and said, "Ye too, Ah'll fin' a room fer ye. Ne'er let it be said Ah was nae a guid hostess!"
Britt hesitated and said, "Whit abit me kilderkins?"
Freya chuckled and replied, "Dinnae warry none, they'll fin' a guid haem!"
With that, she set off upstairs towards the master bedroom and one of the servant's rooms, for Britt.
Her parents and unforeseen guest, lumbered along behind her slender form as she led them to their lodgings.
A half hour later, everyone was sitting at the huge dining table admiring the food.
As Anita had put it, Silky had really laid in a delicious meal for her guests.
For the Jotuns, there were whole roasted and stuffed chickens and for the 'wee fowk' there were Rock Cornish game hens also stuffed and roasted to prefection.
Wild rice and freshly picked and sauteed home grown vegetables, completed the main course.
Warren being a vegetarian, had his own meal cooked just for him and he smiled as always.
While Warren's eyes kept straying to Britt in her steampunk meets Scottish highlander's garb, the flight crew's eyes kept straying to Flora as she chatted happily with Anita and Warren.
The arrival of Dena really gave them reason to pause in their eating and Roger said, "This house is like a nexus between the worlds, here you will see beings out of legend and humans interacting with each other in a safe environment."
He smiled at their looks of astonishment and said, "I should have said this before and for that, I apologize."
He gestured at Flora, "This is Flora Oakenwood, she is a northern wood nymph, not to be confused with the Mediterranean Fauns."
"And this little lady is Dena Greenwood, she is a wood wife and a dear friend. Our unseen housekeeper is a silky, a house spirit, she takes very good care of all of us."
He gestured at the flight crew and said, "These two gentlemen are Jacob Steiner, the pilot and Eric Jones, the co-pilot, they flew our guests down here from Canada."
At being properly introduced, Jacob and Eric raised their foaming jacks of ale and saluted everyone else.
Jacob grinned and said, "My Rabbi will never believe me if I try to tell him what I saw tonight!"
Roger just smiled and replied, "We occasionally get a holy roller hanging on our door bell trying to spread the good news, it doesn't usually end well for them."
"How so?" queried Eric.
"Part of that depends on who answers the door. I just say 'we're not interested' Anita recites bawdy poetry, Freya tells them to go away as their god was of no help to her people when they needed help crossing the north Atlantic. Most of the time the wolvies just lurk near the front door and they keep going after they've seen them."
He grinned, "We haven't let Flora answer the door as her appearance could be completely misconstrued. With her horns and her cloven hooves, they'd start railing about demons and hellfire and we just don't need the headaches."
Eric chuckled and said, "I can see why."
He glanced over at Flora and said, "When I first saw you, I thought you were in costume like I've seen at some of the fan conventions my younger sister likes to go to. Then I saw your feet and realized you were indeed, real and quite lovely at that!"
Flora acknowledged his compliment by blushing rather prettily and smiling at him.
The next day was mostly spent in rehearsals for the graduation ceremony being held at Providence park so Freya and Anita were gone for much of the day.
Freya's enormous parents spent much of the day strolling about the grounds and admiring all of Freya's fruit trees and flower beds, all abuzz with bees and tiny sprites as yet unseen by the human guests; who mostly relaxed and enjoyed their break from flying.
Britt spent much of the day at the library with Warren as she wanted to see the Jotun library Freya had inherited.
As many of the texts had been scanned, Warren was only too happy to print up softbound copies for her to take home with her.
Britt showed her gratitude by hugging him, an experience he was not destined to forget as Britt was much like her older sister, a heroic figure straight out of a fantasy video game with her powerful build and impressive bosom.
All she needed was fantasy armor, a horned helmet and a giant, double bitted axe.
That evening Roger and Anita drove to Portland International airport to pick up Anastasia who was coming up to see her and Freya graduate from high school.
The airport was the usual organized chaos and before long, Anastasia's flight from Los Angeles had arrived and now they were simply waiting for its passengers to disembark.
By sheer happenstance, Anita's mom was also on the flight and the two women emerged from the off ramp arm in arm and chatting gaily.
Oddly, Roger felt a pang of disappointment as it was apparent Sheila was not on this flight.
Anita squealed "Mom!" and rushed to greet her mother, the two embraced fondly and held each other for a long moment while Roger and Anastasia renewed their friendship with a long, warm hug and a tender, lingering kiss.
Moments later, Anita and Anastasia were hugging while Roger and Helen Larsen were exchanging pleasantries.
"How is it you two wound up on the same flight?" he asked.
Helen smiled and replied, "It was pure, dumb, luck. I happened to see Anna as I was boarding and we agreed to share the same row of seats. The flight crew was fine with us sitting together and we talked a great deal on the way up here."
She grinned, "Anita meeting up with you guys at that book signing event was truly a God send! Knowing that she was living with you two while I was overseas, really gave me some peace of mind and I can't thank you enough!"
She looked at her slightly built daughter and murmured, "She's still just a slip of a girl. I'll bet her clothing sizes haven't changed much since I left."
Roger chuckled and remarked, "You'll have to ask her yourself, we've mostly focused on keeping Freya clothed and Anita makes pretty much everything she wears."
He grinned, "She also made Freya's cap and gown as well as her skirt and blouse for her graduation present."
Helen chuckled and said, "I almost never bought her clothes with the exception of bras and under panties and shoes of course. She made almost everything else her self, of course her sense of style and the school board's standards were often at odds with each other, even though she's always dressed modestly."
Roger smiled to himself, perhaps it was best she not know of Anita's habit of walking nude to the shower or of her love life.
On the way home from the airport, Anastasia asked,"Who all's at the house?"
"Freya's parents, a cousin from her village named Britt, she is a girl who works for her great uncle and her older sister is married to Freya's cousin, Harald the Younger, the flight crew and the usual assemblage of people.
Roger asked in turn, "No Sheila this time?"
Anastasia smiled and said, "She had a commitment with her sisters and she wanted to ask them to look over her manuscript to see if she left anything out."
She grinned roguishly and asked coyly, "Shall I tell her you missed her?"
He laughed and retorted, "I can get into all the trouble I can handle without your help, thank you very much!"
"Just tryin' to help." she replied with a chuckle.
He smiled, "Just tell her I was asking about her, she can take it from there!"
As they pulled into the driveway to the house, Helen Larsen remarked, "That pine tree is huge! How tall is it now? I don't remember it being that big!"
Roger chuckled and replied, "We're not really sure, I've heard it's the tallest pine tree in Portland and the city did send an arborist to look it over to make sure it won't blow over and smash a house or two."
"And what did he say?"
"He said it was the healthiest pine tree he'd ever seen, although he did recommend thinning it out a bit, just in case."
"Did you have it thinned out?"
Roger grinned, "Yes it was thinned out, we have people to do that sort of thing."
As they entered the house, Anita said, "Mom's gonna stay with me in my room, so you can take her luggage up there if you like."
Roger dutifully carried Helen's suitcase up to Anita's room and set it down.
Retracing his steps, Roger entered the front parlour where he saw Helen Larsen making her acquaintances with Freya's enormous parents and the others who were enjoying the cheery blaze provided by Salamander.
Helen's face was a study in wonder as she met Sigurd and Gudrun, who cheerfully told her about Anita's visit to their rock built home up in Canada.
She laughed when told of poor Anita's vain efforts to pull weeds in the garden and smiled when Gudrun said, "She has th' heart, she jist dinnae hae th' strength."
Helen gaped when she met Flora and at her invitation, gently tugged on one of her curved horns to show they weren't fake.
When Dena came in, Helen smiled and cried, "Dena! I almost forgot how adorable you are. How have you been?"
The beautiful wood elf grinned and replied, "Ah've bin guid, an' ye?"
Helen sighed and said, "Missing so much of my daughter's growth because of my job overseas."
She glanced over at Anita while she chatted with Anastasia and said, "When I left, she was just a young girl. Now I'm seeing a poised, confident young woman."
She sighed, "And I missed it while it was happening."
Warren came in with Britt and she was carrying a book bag with several printed and bound manuscripts inside it.
She beamed and said happily, "Warren mad' these up fur me sae Ah can read them at me leisure."
Warren grinned and said, "Britt wanted to see some of Induna's books and so I printed up a couple of them for her to read. That EBM we got really comes in handy at times like this."
Helen asked, "EBM?"
"Espresso Book Machine, there's a few of them out there and we have one at the library." replied Warren.
He grinned, "They're pretty cool actually. They can print up a copy of any book in their library or they can print one off a PDF. It takes about 30 minutes or so to print the book and bind it. In Britt's case, she doesn't have access to any computer but she does have candle light, hence the printed and bound copy."
Helen simply shook her head and said,"You have a book making machine, that's amazing!"
Britt smiled and took out one of the volumes Warren had given her, she handed it to Helen who glanced inside briefly and after a moment said, "I can't read any of this, these look like Tolkien's runes or something like them."
Warren smiled and remarked, "Those are Jotun runes, they are what the Jotuns devised to write with before the Scandis came. The Scandis in turn adopted them and they spread across northern Europe after the Jotnar fled to Canada and became myths and legends."
He grinned, "Tolkien borrowed them, just like the Scandis had before him."
"Ah"
Putting her book away, Britt said brightly, "Let's see abit breachin' a cask ay 'at summer ale Ah brooght wi' me!"
Warren beamed and declared, "I like you! You say the nicest things!"
Roger grinned and said cheerfully, "Could this be the start of a beautiful friendship? Time will tell."
Roger smiled as the unlikely duo headed into the kitchen to see about breaching one of the kilderkins she'd brought with her.
Britt was fully grown and towered over Warren by some three and a half feet, not only that, she also had more of the typical Jotun woman's build, robust with breasts and hips to match, just the kind of woman Warren liked, in fact.
A few minutes later, Britt came into the front parlour bearing two foaming tankards of ale.
Handing them to Freya's parents she said, "Thes is th' last ay th' firkin ye hae, ye may as well finish it aff!"
Warren came in next and handed a foaming tankard to Roger, "Fresh from the tap!" He declared.
Within minutes, everyone there including Anita of all people, had a foaming tankard of Old Harald's summer pale ale in hand.
Roger cleared his throat, raised his tankard and said, "To our graduates!"
Everyone saluted Anita and Freya and took a big sup of the ale as a toast.
Having downed most of her tankard in one go Anita belched loudly, broke into the giggles and said brightly, "I may be a little hung over at my graduation tomorrow! What're they gonna do, take away my birthday?"
Almost as one, both Helen and Anastasia declared, "That's enough ale for you little missy! I won't have you acting like a drunken sot on your graduation day!"
While Anita stood there blinking in surprise, the two women looked at each other and smiled.
Helen grinned and said, "Great minds think alike!"
Anastasia nodded in agreement as she deftly liberated the now empty tankard from Anita's grasp and said, "C'mon, I'm putting you to bed before you hurt yourself."
"Awwww! Now you're acting like my mom!" mumbled the now clearly tipsy girl as Anastasia took her by the arm and led her from the room.
Helen glanced at Roger and he replied, "She has no capacity for alcohol and almost never drinks anything beyond a glass of wine with her dinner."
"I'm a little surprised she even touched the ale to be honest. She drank some when we took her up to Canada with us and it clobbered her. She wouldn't go near it after that."
Graduation day dawned brightly. Roger went around the house gently rousing his guests.
Anita's mom answered his gentle knock with a soft, "Give us a little while, someone's head is still under a pillow!"
Roger chuckled and replied, "No rush, she can sleep in if she likes she has hours to recuperate!"
Anastasia was already up and sipping her tea while looking remarkably fresh.
Britt and Freya were out running with Ildico Swensen and Roger could only imagine the neighbors reactions to the sight of the two young giantess' running past their houses.
Jacob and Eric were up and nursing their coffee.
After Roger had gently knocked on the master bedroom's door, he heard, "Come in, we're decent!"
Freya's towering parents rose from their luxurious bedding and stretched.
Her father playfully pushed his massive hands against the twelve foot high ceiling in the master bedroom of the big house he and Freya shared.
Roger chuckled and commented, "The house may have been built for a giant, but it is none too big for you big folk."
Having dressed, Gudrun cheerfully took over the kitchen from Silky and after chuckling at the smallness of the stove and cooking ware she turned out quite the bacon, eggs and toast breakfast.
Roger focused on the coffee and orange juice portion.
Freya back fresh from her run, happily took a video of her gigantic mother looming over Roger in the kitchen as they maneuvered around each other in the once roomy kitchen.
Frost Giants tended to fill up small rooms and the house Roger and Freya shared, even with its 12 foot ceilings on the ground floor and the giant sized bathroom for her growing body, was barely adequate for her gigantic family.
Technically Freya and Anita could have gone to school as it was a school day but in reality, none of the classes she was assigned to was open and all their teachers had the day off.
Roger took advantage of the quiet morning to check his email in box.
The email he got from the Commemorative Flight museum was most encouraging, it read:
"Moby Dick, ready for pick up. Looks really good. Don't dawdle!"
He smiled to himself, he and Freya were going back to Texas to get their plane back.
The how they were getting there remained to be seen.
Lunch was a simple affair, Roger, Freya, her parents, cousin Britt, Jacob and Eric all piled into the tall van and drove downtown to the Yamada Ramen shop.
As luck would have it, Lorna was on duty that day and the look on her face was priceless as she beheld Freya's enormous parents and cousin for the first time.
Momentarily stunned into silence, she gaped as her eyes took in Freya's family and stood there with a gob smacked expression.
Mako Yamada, her ever vigilant mother swooped in and said, "Hello, and welcome to our shop! You must be Freya's parents, I'm Mako and this lump here is my normally talkative daughter Lorna, please come in!"
Lorna shook her head as if to clear the cobwebs, bowed deeply and said, "I'm terribly sorry for being so rude. I've known Freya since grade school and should've expected to meet you."
Gudrun came to her rescue by saying, "It's nae problem, we shoods hae lit ye ken we waur comin'. It is a stoatin' pleasure tae meit Freya's auldest mukker doon haur, we've heard sae much abit ye, we feel as if we ken ye!"
The normal lunchtime crowd had fallen silent at the sight of the Giants standing in the doorway and as Lorna having recovered her wits, led them to where they could sit, she said to the crowd, "These are my friend's parents and her cousin, please welcome them."
To the surprise of Sigurd and Gudrun and Britt, the lunchtime crowd began applauding them and an occasional "Welcome to Portland!" could be heard.
Jacob and Eric just went with the flow and followed behind saying, "Hi! We're Jacob and Eric and we're their pilots!"
Once they were seated Tohru himself came out of the kitchen and said, "I'm Tohru and Lorna is my daughter."
He grinned and said to Freya's parents, "Freya had a very special relationship with my late mother, in a way they were the best of friends and my mom considered Freya to be like a granddaughter to her. She would share her secret recipes with her and we all loved seeing the two of them together as they bonded over my mother's secret recipes."
He bowed low to Freya's massive parents and said, "Thank you for sending her into our lives, she gave my mother such simple joy with her interest in our cooking and our culture.
He rubbed his hands together and said, "Lunch is on the house, order what you like and we'll make it for you with pleasure!"
As the small group of very large people perused the menu and listened to Freya's and Lorna's recommendations, Roger slipped away and slipped Mako fifty bucks.
When she looked at him questioningly and said, "Did you not hear my husband? It's on the house!"
Roger smiled at her and said, "Consider it a donation to the temple from me and delivered by you."
Mako nodded and slipped the money into her pocket while saying, "Since you've put it that way, I'll take it."
The ramen dishes were entirely new to the visiting giants who expressed their delight at the flavors and textures of the Japanese foods they were tasting.
Tohru ignored the rules about serving alcohol to underage patrons and brought out a large bottle of chilled sake.
Jacob and Eric grinned while the sake was being served, being pilots they'd sampled various forms of alcohol at many different places during their careers, the sake was no surprise to them, after all they were eating Japanese food so drinking sake was to be expected.
The giants surprised them by having a more discerning palate than they had expected.
Sigurd and Gudrun sipped the chilled sake and tasted it carefully before nodding at each other. They liked it.
Britt tasted her sake by taking several small sips and looking thoughtful before she smiled and said, "Ah loch thes!"
She grinned and said, "Ah dornt hink Auld Harald has e'er tasted oniethin' loch sake."
She peered at the label on the bottle and Roger said, "If you like, we can stop by the liquor store and get a bottle or two for Old Harald to taste."
She grinned and said brightly, "Ah'd loch 'at!"
He smiled and said, "We can stop by and get some tomorrow after graduation and before you have to leave."
He glanced at Jacob and said, "Are you guys on a tight schedule? Can we get her some sake tomorrow?"
Jacob grinned and replied,"Not a problem, we gave ourselves enough leeway to fudge a day or two to get back."
"Coolness!"
Freya emerged from her bedroom wearing a simple skirt and white blouse outfit suitable for a spring graduation.
While Roger was used to seeing her in contemporary clothing, her family was not and the sight of her in a skirt and blouse that did little to hide her very long legs and well rounded bust line caused Sigurd to comment, "Me yoongest is nae a wee bairn oniemair,she's become a yoong lady afore me eyes!"
Dabbing at his eyes, Sigurd enveloped his youngest child into a tender hug and they held each other for a long moment.
Gudrun after a bit, spoke up, "She's my bairn too!" and she wrapped her arms around both of them.
Roger brought the big van around front and the family and guests boarded it. Settling into their jumbo sized seats for the ride to her school, they made appreciative comments about the houses they saw during the ride.
Pulling into Providence park's parking lot, Roger showed the parking pass to the school official standing there and he was waved through, then directed to a parking spot.
A young female student with an 'Usher' armband on came trotting up and stood smiling nervously while Freya and her parents, followed by Anita and her mom exited the tall van.
Roger, Anastasia and Britt fell in behind.
While she was very familiar with Freya, anyone associated with Abraham Lincoln High School knew who she was.
The girl had not seen her family before, none of them had, they just knew they were Frost Giants.
Sigurd and Gudrun were wearing their traditional Jotun clothing for a formal event and Freya's graduation could be considered worthy of wearing such garb.
Britt was wearing a sort of Scottish highlands meets Goth outfit and being a nine foot tall young woman with a heroic build, she stood out like a very sore thumb, to Freya's mild amusement.
For once, she wasn't the object of everyone's stares and surreptitiously taken photos.
Seeing the cluster of cap and gowned graduates, Anita and Freya got out the caps and gowns Anita had made and put them on.
There was a brief flurry of hugs, kisses and 'Good lucks!' then the two young women, one slightly built and barely five feet tall, the other a towering nine foot two inches tall and slender, hurried off to join their classmates.
Lorna was there with her parents and she grinned at Freya as she rushed to join the rest of her classmates, today was graduation day!
Freya smiled and waved at her long time friend.
"Funny seein' ye haur, werenae ye at wark not tae lang ago?" she said cheerfully.
Lorna grinned and said, "We got a little busy around lunch time today!"
Lorna glanced at Anita, "I kinda thought you might've shown up."
Anita mumbled, "Ugh, don't remind me. I drank some of that Jotun ale Britt had brought with her last night. Stupid me thought 'one tankard shouldn't hurt' Wrong!"
They were joined by Deirdre Shannon as they followed the rest of the graduating class into the looming stadium portion of Providence Park.
Roger and company were led into the bleachers portion of the huge stadium where the staff, after they recovered from the shock of seeing Freya's relatives, quickly put together a place for them to sit.
Hardly had they settled down when the Shannons, dressed in period garb made their way to the box where Roger and company was seated.
Maeve Shannon smiled as she approached and said, "Good evening! I'm Maeve Shannon and this is my husband Paul and his father Tom. Deirdre is our daughter and a classmate of Freya's. It is a great pleasure to meet you at last!"
Gudrun smiled at her and replied, "Freya has tauld us ay ye an' yer Ren Faire which soonds loch a fin place tae visit."
Tom chuckled and said, "'Tis a fine place indeed! Your family would be most welcome to visit us when we are open for visitors, most welcome indeed!"
Gudrun smiled and asked, "When is this Faire ay yoors?"
Tom replied, "This year it will be held the 23rd and 24th, then the 30th and 31st of July."
Roger said quietly, "I'm afraid we will be out of town during that time, unless we can get back sooner than we anticipated."
At Maeve's puzzled expression he replied, "We're taking a trip across the Pacific in Moby Dick and anticipate being gone most of a month."
"And when is this blessed event taking place?" she asked.
Roger grinned, "Freya and I are headed to Texas early next week, then we'll load up and take off for L.A."
He was about to elaborate when he spotted Christina's parents working their way through the mingled parents towards their box.
Rudolfo Aquino emerged from the assemblage and stuck out his hand.
As he and Roger were shaking hands, Maria was introducing herself to Freya's parents.
"Hello, I'm Maria Aquino and this is my husband Rudolfo, we are Christina's parents and it's a great pleasure to meet you!"
Gudrun smiled at the tiny woman and said, "Ah'm Gudrun an' me guidman is named Sigurd, an' It's a pleasure tae meit ye too, Freya has tauld us ay Christina an' hoo she is gonnae tak' 'er tae th' Philippines thes Summer."
Maria smiled and said, "Christina is really looking forward to this trip, it'll be a great adventure for her and I'm sure her grandmother is going to spoil all of you rotten with Filipino hospitality!"
Rudolfo tapped a passing parent on her sleeve and asked her take a couple of pictures of all of them together.
She smiled and nodded as he handed her his smartphone.
Moments later Freya's enormous parents were standing behind the Aquinos and the Shannons and smiling for the pictures the woman took.
She handed back the phone and said brightly, "It's my turn!"
Seconds later, she stood in front of Freya's parents and grinned as Rudolfo took a few pictures of her with the gigantic couple.
The school orchestra began playing 'Pomp and Circumstance' and the graduating class of Summer 20XX began filling their seats.
As there were some 400 students, it took a little while and seeing as how there was plenty of room in the box, the Aquinos and the Shannons joined the party.
Each student had their own cheering section who would clap and cheer when the student began walking across the field.
It was easy to tell which student was popular by the amount of applause they inspired.
Christina was easy to spot because she was so tiny as she walked behind a hulking young man who was a huge foot ball player.
When Freya emerged there was a collective murmur as she strode to her specially built seat, the giantess of Portland was graduating from high school and dear old Abe Lincoln high would not be as interesting anymore.
When the last of the students had taken their seats, Roger commented drily, "Now comes the speechifying part!"
Anastasia elbowed him and hissed, "If you can't say anything nice..."
While Freya's parents and the others listened raptly to the speeches given by the school's principal and the class valedictorian, Roger quietly tuned them out and thought about their upcoming excursion.
He was still in the zone when he heard Anita's name being called out.
Quickly returning to reality, Roger listened as Anita stood at the microphone and announced that she was establishing a scholarship program to encourage gifted young writers like herself.
She grinned as she revealed that she was indeed, the author of a number of popular young adult novels including a couple that had been made into movies.
There was a ripple of reactions among her classmates as they absorbed what she had just said.
Anita Larsen was in fact, the A. Larsen who had penned the books so many of them had loved.
To cap it all off, she presented the school with a generous check to fund her scholarship program.
Roger smiled to himself at the thought of her least favorite English teacher's reaction when he heard of her gift to the school.
More than once he had told her in response to her muttering about something the teacher had said, "Those who can't, criticize."
Next Freya's name was called out and when she stood next to the principal, towering over him by several feet, he smiled and said "Freya has not only been one of our best students with her consistent academic record keeping her in the top ten of our students. She also introduced us to her own customs and culture and dare I say it; expanded our definition of what makes us a species."
He continued, "We humans are one species with many wonderful variations on a theme. No matter where we came from, no matter our ancestry or national origin, we are all humans that can and do, marry across color lines, adopt each other's customs, borrow from each other's languages and somehow, manage to love each other.
"Freya and her people came out of the mists of fantasy and legend, a race, a people thought to be a myth, and she was only the first. Right this minute there are a number of lamia students and an arachne in the Phoenix, Arizona school system. In Great Britain we now have Hellhounds being recognized by the crown as British subjects. Who knows what our definition of humanity will cover in the future, I'm sure it will be very interesting!"
He smiled at Freya, "Thank you for choosing dear old Abe Lincoln high for your secondary education."
Freya blushed freely and said, "It is Ah hoo shoods be thenkin' ye fur giving me sich wonderful memories ay me skale years."
The principal gestured towards her gigantic parents and said, "Thank you for sharing your wonderful daughter with us, we will never forget her!"
There was a brief interlude when students from the music class played a heartfelt rendition of Green Day's 'Good Riddance (The time of your life)' and many of the graduating class dabbed at their eyes as they knew that in this moment, their childhoods were officially over and from this point forward, they were in the adult world with all its cares and concerns.
The rest of the ceremony was a roll call and as each student crossed the field to receive their diplomas and resume their seats before being released to join their families, the band played a slow retreat.
Finally the school's principal stepped up t the microphone and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to present the class of Summer 20XX!"
As the words died away, the entire class in spite of being admonished not to, threw their hats as high as they could and let forth a great cheer.
They were free at last!
Within minutes the seats were empty and the students were mingling for that one last time with friends they may never see again.
Proud parents took photos of their kids with their friends.
Christina's cheer squad friends swarmed her and tossed her high into the air for the last time.
Anita's friends from the writing club gushed over her being the author of some of their favorite books.
Roger couldn't help noting the absence of Tamara Johnson, her family had moved to New York to be near her grandmother the year before.
The Yamadas came up to Roger and Freya and Tohru said, "Congratulations!" he grinned, "We're having a graduation party at our shop, you guys're invited if you'd like to come!"
Roger said, "Regrettably, we have quite the spread waiting for us at home, can we take a rain check?"
Tohru laughed and said, "Sure, but y'gotta honor it before you leave in two weeks!"
They lingered for almost an hour while Freya exchanged fare thee wells and hugs with her class mates before leaving for hearth and home.
The house had a banner cheerfully proclaiming "Congratulations Grads!" strung across its front portico and once inside, Freya carefully put away her cap and gown to be given to Gudrun when she left for home.
Silky had really out done herself when it came to the spread of foods and stood silently with a little smile on her delicate features while Jacob, Eric and Dena in her own little maid's costume stood ready to serve.
At Roger's raised eyebrow, Jacob grinned and said cheerfully, "For someone who never speaks, she is quite persuasive!"
Roger chuckled and muttered, "I could tell you stories!"
There were twelve people seated at the big table in the formal dining room, it was one of the few times it was at near capacity and everyone there ate and drank their fill.
Jacob and Eric ate well but drank moderately, saying "We gotta be able to fly tomorrow and this ale is pretty strong!"
Gudrun sighed and remarked, "Ah woods loch tae visit haur a bit langer next time, thaur is sae mony things Ah want tae see doon haur."
Britt chimed in with, "Ah ken whit ye mean, Ah've ne'er seen sae mony diff'rent things an' sae mony diff'rent kinds ay fowk!"
Roger smiled at her remarks, Britt had sat wide eyed throughout the graduation ceremony while looking at the variety of nationalities and ethnicities mingled together and calling themselves a people.
He told her, "If we get back in time for the Canterbury Shire faire, we'll try to come get you guys so you can see the faire for yourselves. I know they'll love meeting you!"
Britt smiled brilliantly and said, "Ah'd loove tae see thes faire ye speak ay!"
Freya rolled her eyes and muttered, "Th' faire woods lochly ne'er recover frae yer visit!"
Roger could see her point, Britt was heroically built with powerful arms and legs, she exemplified the fantasy artists ideal Frost giantess, needing only fantasy armor, a massive club or double bitted axe to complete the outfit.
Warren smiled and commented, "Now that, would be a faire to make all the others green with envy!"
Roger chuckled and said, "What, it isn't already? Freya and I have attended the faire since she was fourteen, we've brought Dena and we're about to bring Flora. Bringing Freya's family would really take the cake!"
Warren grinned, "My point exactly!"
The next morning Freya and Roger drove her parents, her cousin Britt and Jacob and Eric out to Troutdale airport where they opened up the ungainly looking Short skyvan plus 90.
There was a round of handshakes with Jacob and Eric and a series of bone straining hugs by Freya's kinfolk before they stepped into the aircraft and the loading ramp closed behind them.
Roger and his towering companion stood and watched while the flight crew ran through the preflight checks before starting the engines.
They watched while the engines warmed up and waved goodbye when the boxy skyvan taxied away.
Minutes later they watched as the slab sided skyvan roared into the sky and headed north.
Roger looked up at his giant sized companion and said, "Let's go get our plane back!"
Freya grinned and nodded a yes.
Two days later they reluctantly boarded a commercial flight to Addison, Texas.
Try as he might, Roger could not cadge a lift from anyone flying that way, so he resorted to buying four tickets for the two of them.
Three of the seats were together and the fourth was across the aisle.
Freya was taking the three seats so she could sit sideways and be somewhat comfortable.
Naturally the sight of a nine foot two inch tall teenaged girl with red gold hair in two thick braids attracted a good deal of attention and the two of them merely ignored the sidelong glances and surreptitiously taken photos.
These sort of reactions had been a fact of life ever since she exceeded seven feet tall.
Having to stoop nearly double just to enter the wide bodied jet, Freya made her way to their seats and sat down with a sigh while Roger sat across the aisle.
A short time later they were airborne and headed southeast.
Seated sideways, Freya was more comfortable than she had expected and smiled as she watched Roger contend with a brat of a kid who was kicking the back of his seat while his mother ignored him.
Mercifully, the mother had to go visit the restroom and while she was gone, the tousle headed boy moved over so he could look out the window.
When she returned he refused to move and rather than cause a scene, she sat behind Roger and silently fumed.
Upon their arrival they were greeted by Tom Sanders himself and he grinned as he saw them emerge from the wide bodied jet.
Freya stood up straight and worked a minor kink out of her back before she smiled at him and said, "Ah'm glad tae see ye efter 'at flight!"
Roger grinned at him and said, "We had to fly commercial and for once, Freya had it better than I did."
"How so?"
"I got her three seats in a row so she had a row to herself, me? I had to deal with a little bastard who kept kicking the back of my seat, while his mother played dumb."
"What did you do?"
Roger smiled and said, "When his mother wasn't looking, I gave him a little advice along with a nerve pinch to make it stick."
He paused as the frazzled mother and her red faced boy scurried past, his tear streaked face mutely told a story of pain and suffering.
She shot Roger a glare that was meant to kill, if looks could do such things.
Tom grinned and said, "If a few more kids got a lesson in manners, there'd be a lot less trouble in this world."
He led them to a waiting van and they drove off to the flight museum's airfield.
Knowing that they would want to see how Moby Dick had turned out, Tom drove straight to their bulky sea plane.
Getting out of Tom's van, both of them slowly walked around the Martin Mariner while Tom stood grinning at them.
"Well?" he said, "How do y'all like it?"
Roger smiled and pointed out the slight change in the airplane's name.
It now read "Moby Dick 2.0" instead of simply Moby Dick.
Tom grinned and said, "I thought you'd like that, this old bird is almost like a Martin Marlin on the water, lengthening the fuselage that 30 inches really made a difference in rough water landings and take offs."
He pointed at the prow, "We tripled the thickness of the bow plates, partly for strength and partly to move the center of gravity forward slightly."
Freya looked up at the opened bomb bays and noted the newly installed racks filled with one gallon jugs of motor oil, when she glanced at Tom, he grinned and said, "That's your oil reserves so you don't have to store it inside the fuselage, Roger designed the racks and we made them up."
Tom pointed out the large spinners they'd put on the propeller hubs, "Those spinners helped you pick up an extra twenty miles an hour on your cruising speed. And having the oil coolers exhaust into the laminar flow also helped."
He grinned "Anything to help these old birds fly better is a good thing."
Roger smiled and commented, "An extra ten to twenty miles per hour will make a real difference on those long hops we're planning to take."
Freya grinned and said gaily, "We'll take it!"
That evening they gathered for dinner at the restaurant Tom frequented.
The towering presence of Freya didn't even get a reaction, they'd seen her before.
Pedro and Eduardo were there of course, as was Major Caffery USAF retired.
She smiled at Freya and said, "Your bird is one sweet flying boat, I'd take her anywhere without hesitation!"
Pedro nodded in agreement with the good major's assessment while Eduardo grinned and said, "Of course it flies good, I and my crew did all the work!"
"So when are you guys leaving?" asked Tom.
Roger smiled and replied, "In about a week after we get back, we already have all of our things packed and ready to go. Freya's school mates are also ready to go, in fact they're more exited about this than we are!"
Tom roared with laughter and said, "Of course they are, they don't have to do any of the work!"
Early the next morning, the predawn quiet of the flight museum's airfield was shattered by the coughing roar of a pair of 18 cylinder radial aircraft engines waking up and clearing their throats.
While the engines warmed up, Roger and Freya went through their preflight checklist.
When everything was checked off and the engines were warm, Freya took over the piloting duties and taxied onto the access road.
Once in place, she held onto the brakes and throttled up the engines to maximum revs, the brakes straining to hold back almost 7,000 horsepower.
At the tower's go signal, she released the brakes and the bulky sea plane surged forward pushing the two of them into their seats.
Moments later they were airborne and headed home again.
Roger smiled as he looked over at his towering companion, she never looked so happy as she did when she was at the controls of her airplane and flying.
Leveling off at 9,000 feet, Freya set the autopilot on a heading and the cruising speed at 210 MPH.
When they got over San Diego the course would be reset, until then it was sip fresh coffee and watch the skies, the plane would do the rest.
Once in a while, a private jet would come close to look the big sea plane over, Roger would smile and salute the flight crew with his coffee cup, they would laugh and wave back before accellerating away to a much higher altitude and more than thrice their cruising speed.
After making a course correction just past San Diego, they flew over a joint Naval operation happening at Camp Pendleton and Freya asked, "Werenae ye a Marine at one time?"
Roger glanced at the swarm of amphibious landing crafts heading ashore and replied, "Sure was, this place brings back some real memories. We all did this sort of thing, damn near drowned during one of these exercises, it gave me a real incentive to get into embassy security duty, less chance of getting my feet wet!"
Freya chuckled at his remark and continued watching the skies.
It was after dark by the time they got to Portland and landed at Troutdale airport, Freya had eased the big sea plane onto the runway with barely a shudder and slowed the plane rapidly by reversing the four bladed propellers and deftly applying the brakes.
Exiting the runway, she maneuvered the plane over to the hardstand where it could get serviced, parked it and shut off the engines.
As they whirled to a stop, she smiled at Roger, "We're haem! Did ye caw Anita?"
"Of course, d'you think I wanna camp out here tonight?"
Freya grinned and said coyly, "Et woods be guid practice fur when we're oot at sea."
Roger laughed and retorted, "Not even close, dear, not even close. At sea we would have the rocking of the boat to lull us to sleep. Camping out on a hard stand does not count!"
Freya just smiled at her long time companion and activated the engine cool down system.
They both heard the van's horn tooting at them and they exited the plane before locking it up for the night.
Anita was grinning at them as they climbed into the van and took a couple of the back seats Freya's family had sat in.
Roger looked like a little kid sitting in a seat meant for a giant and Anita couldn't resist saying, "Do you need a booster seat?"
Roger merely grinned and said, "No comments from the chauffeur please!"
Anita giggled and said gaily, "Yes sir, duly noted, sir, no smart assed comments allowed, sir!"
Minutes later they were headed for home.
Anita asked, "How did the flight go?"
"Smooth as silk." replied Roger. "With Freya at the controls, it's always smooth flying."
They had a week to go before leaving, a week that was spent going over their flight manifesto to be reported to the F.A.A.
It was mandatory as they were going to be flying long distances over ocean waters and having a route to follow, would help the F.A.A. in figuring out where to look if anything went sideways during their travels.
Roger looked over the sheaf of introductory letters Major Caffery had given him with the remark, "These are the good guys, they'll be glad to see you guys."
Lorna came by with a couple of cases of ramen soup packets courtesy of her parents, her comment was, "They want to make sure I get enough to eat during our trip."
When she asked Freya about her swimsuit, Freya told her about her burkini she usually wore when swimming, Lorna was aghast and exclaimed, "The whole idea of wearing a cute swimsuit is to catch eyes, preferably from a hot guy!"
She shook her head and muttered, "Obviously Christina and I have our work cut out for us! So much to do, so little time left!"
The next day, Christina and Lorna came and shanghaied Freya with the avowed goal of finding her a cute swimsuit.
Roger merely chuckled and said, "Take her to Emma's, she'll fix her up with a scanty swimsuit if she's not too busy."
At their mystified looks, Roger said, "Emma Granger, she makes clothes for Freya, do you honestly think a girl her size can find stuff hanging on a rack? There's a reason why she doesn't go clothes shopping at any malls."
Lorna looked pained and said contritely, "Damn, I forgot, I'm so used to her size that I don't even think about that sort of thing...Sorry!"
Freya just smiled at her two friends and said, "We can gae see Emma first, then Ah'll gae wi' ye tae gae shoppin'."
Minutes later they had driven off in the tall van Freya drove.
Roger merely shook his head and continued packing for the trip.
June 15th at 5 A.M. Troutdale airport reverberated to the throaty coughing of a pair of Curtiss-Wright R3350 engines being awakened as a small crowd of well wishers looked on.
Anita was there, Lorna's parents were there and so were Christina's parents.
They had watched as Roger and Freya had gone over the preflight checks one by one.
Now they were watching the mighty eighteen cylinder engines being warmed up, soon they would be watching the bulky sea plane taxiing towards the staging line, next they would see and hear the roaring of the engines and soon after that, the plane would become a mere speck in the predawn sky as it headed south towards Los Angeles, California.
Their girls were about to have the adventure of their lifetimes and all they could do was wait until they got back to tell their tales.
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