A Big Girl comes into his life

by Claidheamh Mohr

An Investigator for the Museum of Cryptozoology gets lost in the Canadian woods and meets a girl. A frost giant's daughter, here are their adventures.

117. Chapter 117

A hop, a skip and a jump

When they were still some two hours out, Roger contacted the Air Force facilities at Wake Island and invoked Major Caffery's name to let the people there know to expect them in a couple of more hours.

He glanced over at Freya who was slumped over in her co-pilot's chair and sound asleep.

She had gotten little sleep the night before with the building of an Inukshuk to the delight of their Hawai'ian hosts and the menehune who lived with them.

He knew that Lana was likely looking out the former front turret's plexiglas dome.

Being in the nose of the Martin Mariner meant the view was incredible and the three girls had encamped in there so they could see the sights as they flew over them.

They were going to land at Wake for fuel and to stay over night before visiting the bird sanctuary.

He took a glance at the GPS screen and saw that it was in agreement with the gymbal mounted compass sticking out from the instrument panel, grinning at that bit of good news Roger decided he liked the GPS more and more, it certainly made navigating easier.

The weather satellite monitor screen showed clear weather all the way to their destination.

Lastly, the engine monitoring gauges were all green.

Life was good.

The scent of fresh coffee caught his attention and moments later, Lorna was handing him a steaming mug of hot coffee and saying, "I wasn't too sure of how you liked it, so I doctored it up like I would be drinking it, hope you like it."

He took an exploratory sip and gave her a 'thumbs up'.

She grinned and went back down to the galley where she and Christina were making dinner while Lana observed.

The menehune girl was fascinated by everything she saw and flying in an airplane was about the most amazing experience of her life.

Being only some two feet tall, she could get into places the others could only dream about getting into.

Fortunately she seemed to be heeding Roger's admonition about not crawling into places where things were likely to move and crush her.

Roger smiled to himself, Dena was going to flip when she saw Lana and knowing her, she would demand to visit Hawai'i so she could meet more of her 'cousins'.

Freya stirred, sat up and blinked as she looked around, "Whaur ur we?" she asked.

"We, are about an hour's flight from Wake Island. I have contacted them and they are expecting us."

Jerking a thumb over his shoulder, Roger said, "The ladies have been busy in the galley, whatever it is they're making smells good and there's a fresh pot of coffee, if they haven't drunk it all up."

Freya smiled and clambered down to the lower deck where Roger heard Lorna's voice saying, "Hey sleepyhead, you've been out for hours. There's coffee if you want some..."

He chuckled when he heard Freya groan as she stretched and muttered, "Sleepin' in a chair is nae way tae get onie rest! Ah hae a kink in me neck, loch a knot's been tied in it."

"Thenk ye fur th' coffee!" and moments later, his long time companion slipped back into her co-pilot's chair with her own coffee mug in hand.

Handing the controls over to her, he climbed down to the galley and saw the ladies conferring on what condiments to use in their creation to bring out its flavor.

Sitting on the small dining table was Lana in her usual bit of cloth tied around her trim hips, on her face a look of amusement.

She was clearly enjoying the friendly debate between a girl of Japanese ancestry who knew her people's food and a girl from the Philippines, who'd learned cooking at her grandmother's side.

Sitting on the table in front of her was a small touristy drinking cup filled with coffee, Lana had been introduced to coffee during the flight and liked it.

Roger cleared his throat and said, "We're gonna be landing in about an hour or so, is this gonna be finished by then?"

Lorna grinned, "Of course! It's almost ready as a matter of fact..." she glanced at Christina "We just haven't decided on which spices we want to add to finish it."

"Okay, so what is it?"

The girls started laughing and Christina said gaily, "We have no idea! We just threw some ingredients together and turned on the stove."

She grinned, "This is like the smallest electric stove and oven I've ever seen. Where did you get it?"

"It came with the plane, the coffee maker came from a different plane."

"Really?"

"Yep, this was a long range patrol bomber and because of the long flights envisioned, it came with this small galley and a lavatory as well as the bunks."

"Why electric?"

Roger grinned, "Would you want an open flame on a plane loaded down with bombs and torpedoes?"

Christina paled and shook her head in an emphatic 'no'.

He smiled at the diminutive Filipina and said, "Anyway, we're gonna be landing fairly soon so you ladies might wanna secure this pot somehow, so it doesn't go flying while we're landing."

Roger snagged a couple of cookies before he climbed back up to the flight deck and settled into his seat

Freya remarked, "Ah've spoken tae th' tower an' they're expectin' us. Ah'm followin' th' radio beacon reit noo."

Roger grinned at her and said, "It's all yours then, take her home."

In the afternoon sun, he could see Wake island as a light brown area off in the distance and Freya remarked, "'Tis nae much tae see, thes place."

"It's a coral atoll that surrounds a lagoon and is mostly famous because it was attacked and later captured by the Japanese during world war two. It was a stop over for the old Pan American Airlines but it's mostly an Air force facility now where we can gas up and camp out for the night."

"Och aye."

Coming around to line up with the runway, Freya commented, "That, is a stoatin great lang runway!"

"Yep, it's 9,800 feet long!"

As Freya began the approach, Roger called out, "Secure that pot and buckle up, we're coming in for a landing!"

He rolled his eyes when he heard Lorna gleefully reply, "Roger, Roger!" before breaking into a bout of the giggles.

Roger hated that stupid movie where the robotic soldiers always said , 'Roger, roger'.

The landing gear came down smoothly and locked into place as indicated by a green light.

Soon after, there was the scuffing as the tires made contact and Freya reversed the propellers to scrub off speed.

A habit she'd picked up from landing on Ape lake's chill waters.

Coming to a near halt well short of the emergency vehicles, she taxied the plane up to them and saluted the ground guide who was grinning at them.

She made a chopping motion across her throat and Freya shut off the engines.

Activating the engine cool down system, she unbuckled her seat belt and the two of them climbed down from the flight deck.

Lorna and Christina had already unbuckled while Lana was nowhere to be seen.

Roger opened the side door and hung the ladder before climbing down it and greeting the facility's commander, a Captain Taufetee.

She grinned as Roger shook her hand and said, "I was wondering who would be invoking my old boss' name while coming in for a landing."

He grinned at her and replied,"The major, is a force to be reckoned with."

He gestured at Moby Dick's fuselage and said, "She signed off on this after it was given a make over by the folks at the flight museum."

Captain Taufetee grinned and said, "She was one of the air force's best test pilots, a lot of us were surprised when she resigned her commission and left the force."

Behind him Lorna came down the ladder and stepped aside for Christina, then Freya emerged from the plane and the ground guide exclaimed, "Holy crap! She's huge!"

Remembering himself he said, "Sorry Captain, I was surprised."

Captain Taufetee looked up at Freya's towering nine foot two inch height and said with a grin, "It's okay airman, in this case, I can readily understand your reaction."

She smiled at Freya and said, "Major Caffery told me about you, I have to admit that even forewarned, I was still surprised. Welcome to Wake Island, 'Where America's day really begins'!"

Freya smiled at her and replied, "Thenk ye fur yoor hospitality, Ah'm glad tae be haur!"

There was a brief pause when the propellers suddenly turned a bit then stopped again.

Airman Lewis gaped and said, "I thought you'd shut off those engines! What was that just now?"

Roger smiled and said apologetically, "Sorry, I should've warned you that would happen. This plane has an engine cool down system invented by one of the geniuses at the flight museum who worked on this. There're small fans inside the cowling that blow cooling air over the upper cylinder heads and every few minutes, the engines get rotated a turn to prevent valves from sticking in their guides."

Roger muttered, "I suppose adding a warning buzzer wouldn't hurt."

"That and telling the ground crew about it wouldn't hurt either, sir." remarked Airman Lewis.

By now their arrival had attracted a small crowd of Air force personnel and civilian contractors wondering what it was that had landed on their remote airstrip.

They also discreetly gaped at Freya's height and checked out Lorna and Christina's cute backsides without being obvious about it.

Airman Lewis was taking a lot of photos of the plane and its passengers, when he was finished he put away his smart phone and said to Roger, "Where on earth did you find this?"

"It was languishing in a Brazilian air museum's storage facility, we put it back together and flew it back to the states."

Airman Lewis started laughing and he said, "I read about this! It sure looks different now! My grandfather flew in one of these during the war. I can't wait to tell him about seeing this one in the flesh, so to speak."

When the crowd had thinned out Captain Taufetee asked, "So what are your plans while you all are here?"

Roger replied, "We'll stay the night, if necessary we can camp out in the plane as it does have a galley, a lavatory and bunks for six. Perhaps tomorrow we can explore the island, stay a second night then we'll leave for Guam in the morning."

Captain Taufetee smiled and said, "We do have a mess hall and guest rooms with actual running hot and cold water, you're welcome to stay in a couple of the rooms and eat with us. Or you could always hang out at the 'Drifter's Reef', they have some pretty good Thai food there."

Roger chuckled and said, "The ladies have already cooked up a pot of something they tossed together for grins. I'd hate to waste their efforts, but we'd love a good breakfast after a night in a proper bed and a hot shower."

Captain Taufetee smiled and said, "That can easily be arranged."

She turned to her aide and spoke to him for a few moments before he saluted her and she saluted him back before she said, "I'm leaving you in the care of my aide, senior airman Lopez."

Once Captain Taufetee had walked away, Airman Lopez grinned at them and said, "I'm to give you folks the fifty cent tour while you're here, but first, let's get you all into some rooms where you can spend the night while you're here, where America's day really begins!"

He smiled at the gleaming expanse of white fuselage and said, "We're gonna have to get you a souvenir decal of Wake Island's official flag, to put on all that bare fuselage!"

Roger thanked him then said to the ladies, "Grab your overnight bags and bring an outfit suitable for dining in polite company, we've been invited to dinner!"

Christina asked, "What about the food we made, and what about, "

She glanced at Moby Dick and said, "Lana?"

For all of three seconds, Roger thought about it and said, "Oh hell, bring both of them, the world's gonna find out about Lana's people soon enough, just make sure she's decent. Grab one of Dena's little outfits, they might fit her."

Airman Lopez looked as if he was about to say something when Roger said,"Lana is a Hawai'ian native who's decided to come with us."

"What do you mean by 'Hawai'ian native'?"

"You'll see."

Lorna and Christina climbed into the seaplane and after few minutes, reemerged with a gleaming cooking pot and what at first, appeared to be a two foot tall fashion doll.

Freya being so tall, reached up and took the pot in one hand and the doll in the other.

Moments later, their overnight bags were handed down to Roger and Airman Lopez.

When the girls had rejoined them, Lorna smiled at Airman Lopez and said, "Meet Lana Llacuna, she's one of Hawai'i's little people."

At that Lana waved at him and he nearly dropped the bags he was carrying, "What th..." he began.

Then he smiled at the tiny girl and said, "I'm sorry, you have me at a great disadvantage, I have no idea what to say, other than 'pleased to meet you!"

Lana smiled at the flustered airman and said, "And I'm pleased to meet you too!"

He started laughing and said cheerfully, "Somebody pinch me! In one day I've met the tallest pretty girl and the smallest, pretty girl in the world!"

"Hey! What about us, don't we rate?" grumbled a somewhat miffed Lorna.

Airman Lopez glanced at Roger and he merely grinned as he said, "Sorry son, your mouth got you into this mess, it's gonna have to get you out of it!"

The arrival of the fuel truck saved Airman Lopez from further embarrassment as the driver, a female airman also named Lopez hopped out and said with a grin, "Is my husband bothering you ladies?"

She looked up at Freya and after a moment said, "Holy Mother of God! You're not still up on the ladder, you really are that tall! Who are you and where did you come from?"

Freya could only smile and reply, "Me name is Freya Sigurdsdottir an' Ah cam frae Canada an' yes, Ah'm really thes taa."

She smiled at Airman Lopez, the captain's aide and said, "Ef ye think Ah'm taa, ye huvnae seen me sister in law, she's taller than Ah aam."

Airman Lopez, the truck driver grinned and said cheerfully, "Clearly my wayward husband thinks he's a Latin lover again when he's got me to keep him warm at night."

In his defense, Lana spoke up in her squeak of a voice and said, "He wasn't flirting with any of us, he was just saying that today he'd met the tallest and the smallest pretty girls in the world."

Airman Lopez' lovely brown eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw that the little doll had spoken to her and was a real person, not a fashion doll.

Her husband grinned at her and said, "Now you know what I just went through, love of my life."

Without taking her eyes off of Lana, she nodded and said, "I can see why you said what you did, she's so cute I can't stand it, I just wanna hug her and go 'squeeee!'."

She smiled and said, "Anyway, I'm here to fill up an airplane with Avgas 100 and check its oil. While you get to play charming host!"

The Lopez' hugged briefly and she said, "I'll see you tonight, don't be late for dinner, I made enchiladas like your grandmother used to make."

He grinned at her and said teasingly, "No one can make enchiladas like my abuela used to make, but yours are pretty damn good!"

"Of course they are, your abuela showed me how to make them, she showed me how to make everything you like. We grew up together remember?" she retorted with a grin.

He smiled as he led the ladies away while Roger hung back briefly to show her where the fuel and oil tanks where.

Having done that, he caught up to them while Airman Lopez was telling the girls about Wake Island's history and pointing out the memorials to the fallen.

Roger overheard Lorna's remark, "There was a reason why my great, great grand parents left Japan during the Russo-Japanese war and came to America. They saw what was happening to Japan and decided they wanted no part of it."

They were led to a concrete cinder block built building where Airman Lopez showed them where they could stay while visiting.

Freya barely fit inside the room she and Roger were sharing as the ceiling was only eight feet high so she had to stoop when inside their room.

Airman Lopez could only apologize by saying, "We had no idea a girl as tall as you would ever come here, sorry."

Freya merely shrugged and replied, "Ah'm used tae it by noo, much ay th' wee fowk warld is too small for fowks loch me."

Roger smiled and commented, "I couldn't help noticing how sturdy these buildings are, are the storms down here really that bad?"

Airman Lopez grinned and said, "Oh yes, back in 2006 everyone was evacuated to Hawai'i because of Typhoon Ioke and its predicted storm surge. The island is only 21 feet above sea level, so that means a 30 foot high storm surge simply washes everything not tied down, out to sea.

"Like the bowling alley we used to have, it was destroyed by a rogue wave. It's all a part of life here, where America's day really begins!"

Christina giggled and said, "You've said that before, is that really true?"

He shrugged and replied, "Probably not, I mean Guam and American Samoa are farther west than us. I guess it's really just a slogan, although technically it is right, we are, just west of the international date line where the new day begins."

"So how many air force personnel are stationed here?"

Airman Lopez grinned and said, "Just the four of us, everyone else is a civilian contractor, here to keep up the roads and runways."

After dropping off their things, the girls left with Airman Lopez to get the 'fifty cent tour' while Roger wandered about, paying his respects at the various memorials and gazing out to sea.

He became aware of Lana's presence and after picking her up, he said, "You didn't want to go on the tour?"

She leaned against him and said, "I remember the attack on Pearl Harbor and how everyone was so scared we would get invaded by the Japanese. We little people became very concerned and resolved to go even deeper into the hills, because as bad as the Hawai'ans and the haoles were, the Japanese sounded even worse."

She said quietly, "I saw how those 'airmen' reacted to me and felt I didn't want to be seen by everyone here."

Roger chuckled and said, "I knew Freya for some time before I even learned about Dena and her people, like you she is quite particular about who she lets see her. If any strangers come around our house, she is nowhere to be found, nor is our house keeper, Silky."

He grinned, "Once she got used to me and accepted me, I couldn't ask for a more staunch friend, companion and ally."

Lana smiled and said, "She sounds like she's in love with you, are you in love with her?"

Roger gazed out to sea and murmured, "I think in our own way we do love each other very much. If it wasn't for our size differences, who knows what would happen between us? We do sleep together when she's not visiting her relatives and I have to admit she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, even if she is only your size."

Lana smiled and asked, "Are you and Freya in love with each other? You blend together so well I've noticed and she's plenty big enough to play with!"

Roger chuckled as he rose to his feet and said, "Let's check out the lagoon, shall we?"

Lana grinned, "You just don't want to answer my question do you?"

Roger simply smiled at his tiny interrogator.

They walked over to the lagoon and gazed upon its warm waters.

The temptation to land on it had been a strong one, but being there at the sufferance of the U.S. Air Force precluded such an act, even though PanAm had once landed their sea planes there when Wake Island been an overnight stop for their China Clippers.

The remnants of their hotel and facilities could still be seen on Peale Islet, an easy swim from Wake Island proper.

The war ended all that and the development of long range jet airliners had ended the age of air travel in the grand style of the old China Clippers and their catering to the rich.

Lana dipped an exploratory toe into the lagoon's warm waters and grinned, "It's warm! Wanna go for a swim? And don't give me some lame excuse about not having a swimsuit handy!"

"So, we're going skinny?"

"Yep!" Cried Lana as she doffed her clothing in a flash and dived in.

Coming up grinning, she smiled as Roger doffed his own clothing and soon joined her.

When he came back up for air he commented, "It's like swimming in a gigantic bathtub, the water's gotta be almost eighty degrees!"

On a whim they swam across the narrow gap between Wake and Peale islets.

Lana being a menehune, was completely at home in the water and she swam circles around Roger simply because she could.

Climbing out of the water they quickly walked deeper into the bushes on Peale Islet to avoid being seen.

The balmy ocean breezes quickly dried off their bare skin as they looked around at the tumbled down remains of the old hotel.

Roger commented, "This place must've been pretty nice to visit at one time, it was pretty deluxe."

He looked down at Lana who smiled at him and said, "I remember when the big passenger ships and the sea planes would come to O'ahu before the war. The haoles on the ships would throw coins in the water and the island boys and girls would dive for them, a good diver could catch many coins that way."

She frowned slightly and muttered, "Some haoles would throw worthless tokens, just so they could laugh at the divers just trying to make a living."

Roger sighed and remarked, "I'm not surprised, some people are jerks regardless of how much money they have, they can't help being jerks."

He and Lana wandered about on Peale Islet for some time, being the only ones on the islet, they weren't concerned about being seen naked by the others.

After some time had passed, Roger looked at the sun and remarked, "We'd better head back, I'm sure the girls have seen pretty much everything by now and they'll be looking for us."

Lana grinned, "I like it here, it's just the two of us and so quiet."

Roger chuckled and retorted, "True, but the food is over there." he said while pointing across the channel between the islets.

They reentered the warm waters of the lagoon and lazily swam across to where they'd left their clothing.

Upon arrival, Roger noticed their clothing was missing and he grumbled,"Crap! Our clothes are gone."

Lana, who was only one third his height said, "What's that, our clothes are gone?"

"It sure looks that way." Muttered Roger "I don't see them from here."

He shook his head and remarked, "This is such a time worn cliche`it's sickening." he looked down at his tiny skinny dipping co conspirator and said, "Any second now, someone's gonna step out from behind a bush and say..."

"Looking for these?" chimed Lorna's voice as she did exactly what Roger had just predicted by stepping out from behind a bush and holding up their garments with a big grin on her pretty face.

Lana looked up at Roger and said almost in awe, "How did you know this was going to happen?"

Roger smiled at her and was about to reply when.

"How's the water? I'll bet it's warm, seeing as how we're nearly at the equator." remarked Lorna.

Roger grinned, "Why don't you join us, and find out!"

He repeated himself a bit louder, "Why don't all of you join us and find out, since you've had your fun at our expense."

Moments later, Freya stood up and smiled at him, then she took off her clothing without hesitation and stepped into the water.

She laughed and said gaily, "Th' water it's sae warm, it's loch takin' a bath!"

Not to be outdone by her old friend, Lorna stripped down to the buff and threw her athletic self into the lagoon's warm waters with a great splash.

Coming up laughing, she cried,"Hey Christina! Don't be a putz, get naked and join us!"

Christina hesitated for a few moments, watching as her friends were happily splashing about in the lagoon's warm waters.

She made up her mind and stripped down to the altogether, her taut, tiny body revealed for all to see.

She dived in and came up exclaiming, "It's like the world's biggest hot tub!"

She broke into the giggles and was blushing freely as she exclaimed, "I've never been naked in front of a man before and I never imagined I'd be naked in front of Roger!"

Freya came up behind her, lifted her out of the water with utter ease and said merrily, "Then let heem get a guid look at ye!"

Christina squealed in embarrassment as Roger got a good look at her, in spite of her efforts to hide her nakedness.

Freya laughed as Roger gaped, then she tossed Christina aside as if she was a toy.

Christina splashed down about twenty five feet away and came up spluttering and laughing.

"I haven't been thrown like that since I was a child! I didn't realize you were that strong, Freya."

Freya grinned and grabbed Lorna, again Roger got an eyeful of Lorna's taut, athletic body just before she too, was tossed like a ragdoll some twenty feet away.

Lana grinned and cried, "Me next!"

Freya cheerfully complied, hurling the tiny menehune half way across the channel between the islets with ease.

She grinned as she turned towards Roger and he squawked, "Hey now! What do you think you're gonna do?"

She reached for him and said cheerfully, "Ye got tae see me mukkers aw naked, noo it's their turn!"

She lifted him out of the water with appalling ease and her friends got a real good look at his nakedness, just before he too, got tossed aside like so much dead meat.

Freya just stood there laughing, towering over all of them and gloriously naked, she wasn't even trying to hide her nudity.

Lorna commented, "You're awfully casual about being naked in front of Roger, is this a normal thing for you?"

Then she thought about what she'd seen at the hotel and said ,"Oh, never mind..."

Roger waded back towards them and said, "Freya's casualness about nudity in front of me took a bit of getting used to, but after I took a bath with her mom one day, I stopped thinking about it. It's a Jotun thing, just accept it."

Lorna gaped and exclaimed, "You took a bath with her mom? How'd you manage that, she's huge!"

"I was already in the tub when she came in, doffed her clothing and got in. I kinda didn't have much of a choice."

He grinned and said, "Their idea of a bathtub would make a great hot tub for us, so there was plenty of room."

"That sounds kinda scary to me!"

Roger simply shrugged and replied,"It could've been worse, I could've bathed with her auntie Barbara, her mom's older sister. Until she got married, she was forever grabbing me up like I was her plaything and smooching me before she'd smother me in her cleavage."

He glanced over at Freya who was tossing Lana high into the air to her peals of laughter and said, "Freya would get a bit riled up over that and even her mom remarked to her about it. Meeting that widower from the Ottowa region was the best thing that happened to her and me, for that matter."

They played in the lagoon for a while longer, then everyone got out and waited for the tropical breezes to dry them off.

Once they were all dressed again, they briefly explored the bird sanctuary and admired the rare birds living there before heading towards the guest lodging they'd be staying in for the night.

That evening after showering and a change of clothing they ate the food Lorna and Christina had made earlier, then headed to the 'Drifter's Reef' to enjoy a beer or two before heading to bed.

The crowd at the bar was mostly the civilian contractors who, it turned out, were largely Thai and so Thai food was on the menu for the bar.

The men sitting there smiled when they saw Lorna and Christina approaching, the girls were new and they looked old enough to play with.

When Freya hove into view, the men openly gaped at her size as her head barely cleared the awning over the outdoor tables.

She smiled at them and said a cheery, "Guid e'enin'!" As she came under the awning and looked for a seat.

There was a hasty screeching of chairs as the men scrambled to accommodate her and moments later, a burly fellow declared, "This table's free!"

Freya thanked him and the three girls took their seats.

When Roger sauntered in and joined the girls, there was a murmuring among the men.

Their chaperone was here.

Roger grinned and looked around before declaring, "These girls are seventeen and are under my protection. You may talk to them as much as you like, you can even invite them to eat with you, but, you will return them in the same condition in which you found them. Capiche?"

Lorna looked as if she wanted to crawl under the table at his remarks, but it was Christina who came to his defense by saying in sotto voce, "Our parents let us go on this trip because they trusted Roger to keep an eye on us. Let's not blow it for him."

The burly man who had spoken before grinned and said aloud, "Hear that fellahs? He says the girls are off limits, the guy shows up with two cuties and a giantess, then has the nerve to say we can't touch them."

He looked around and said loudly, "I guess he's keepin' them for himself!"

Roger locked eyes with the burly man and said, "These girls are my responsibility and I'll thank you to respect that. You getting all loud and scary is not going to change things in your favor."

The man glared at Roger and was about to square off at him when Airman First class Lewis said, "Dude, chill out, these people are friends of Major Caffery, d'you want to get sent home for tryin' to start a bar fight? This ain't Thailand. Besides, they'll be leaving tomorrow, let's not give them a reason to say Wake Island sucked to visit."

All the air seemed to flow out of the burly man and he visibly deflated.

Finishing off his beer, he tossed the empty into the recycle bin and noisily left the bar.

Airman Lewis said to Roger, "Sorry about him, he gets a little carried away sometimes and seeing these young ladies, well you saw how he gets."

Roger could only shrug and reply, "I'm ex military myself, I know what it's like to be a long way from everything I knew, and in a land where I'm just about the only one that looks like me.

"I can't say I blame him for thinking he'd struck the mother lode when we showed up. I didn't say he couldn't talk to them, I just wanted him to know there were limits to his actions, he couldn't treat them like they were bar girls he'd just met."

Airman Lewis grinned and commented, "This place is just about as remote as you can get and still have some civilization. For guys like him, for guys like many of us, we have to fly to the Philippines or to Thailand to meet 'bar girls' as you put it." Roger smiled and said ruefully, "And here we show up, bringing three real live girls with us. Sorry about that, hopefully Guam will be a bit less remote, people wise."

Airman Lewis chuckled, "You could say it's almost crowded by comparison! After all, this is Wake Island, 'where America's Day really begins!' "

Later that night, Roger took a stroll along the beach.

Joining him was Lana, she had been staying in the plane rather than deal with all the strangers.

Meeting the Lopezes had been bad enough.

A decision that Roger was quietly grateful for, he knew that Dena could cast a forgetful spell so people who saw her would think it had been a wonderful dream.

He didn't know if Lana knew any similar spells.

Sitting down on a crumbling remnant of the fortifications built during the war, he looked out to sea.

Watching the waves curling over as they rolled towards where they sat, he looked down at his tiny companion.

Lana was looking out to sea with a little smile on her pretty face.

"Like it here? we can stay another day if you like."

Lana murmured, "I like the island, I've enjoyed the visit but I wouldn't want to live here, not where I'd be the only one like me here and if a really bad storm comes along? Where would I run to?"

Roger grinned and said, "I'll take that as a 'no' then."

He stood up then reached down and gently picked up Lana, cradling her in his crooked arm he set out for the Martin Mariner, parked on the hardstand.

Opening it up, he let Lana go inside so she could sleep and locked it back up again.

The next morning, they rose at 5 A.M. And after thanking their hosts, climbed into the bulky sea plane.

Roger grinned when he saw the freshly applied Wake Island flag decal added to Moby Dick's gleaming fuselage.

He gave a cheery 'thumbs up' to Airman Lopez for the flag decal, and closed the hatch behind himself.

A few minutes later the engines were purring like two enormous kittens while Roger and Freya ran through their list of preflight checks.

Lorna, Christina and Lana were safely buckled in and waiting until after take off before they could curl up in one of the fold down bunks and finish sleeping.

Lorna and Christina had stayed up pretty late, drinking beer and talking to the men at Drifter's reef and had only just gotten to bed before Roger and Freya rose to wake them.

Roger suspected they might be a little hung over and figured a little post drunk misery just might discourage any more of that behavior.

He made sure to extend their misery as long as he could without them catching on.

Soon, the white sea plane was roaring down the 9,850 foot runway and lofted into the air with ease.

Their destination, Guam some 1,500 miles and 7.5 hours flight time away, give or take.

During the flight, the girls slept off the beer they had drunk back at Wake Island and Lana sat up in the cockpit with Roger and Freya where she could watch them while they flew the plane.

Being so tiny, she did not take up any room and could watch them without disturbing their concentration.

About halfway to Guam, Lorna surfaced and after muttering to no one in particular about having a headache, she relieved herself and fixed herself a fizzy seltzer for her headache and sour tummy.

Downing it in one go, she crawled back into her bunk and went back to sleep.

About an hour later, Christina rose from the dead and went through nearly the same gyrations Lorna had done only an hour before.

They did not resurface until it was time for them to buckle in before they landed at Guam International airport.

Seated in the pilot's seat while Roger monitored the engines and everything else, Freya eased the gleaming white sea plane onto the runway at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam and slowed to a stop before exiting the runway and following a ground guide vehicle to the airport's facility for non commercial arrivals.

Parking the seaplane where it would stay while they were visiting Guam, Freya engaged the parking brake and shut off the engines.

Taking off her headphones she grinned at Roger, another successful flight completed!

Roger called out to the girls, "Get out your I.D., They're gonna want to see it." While they dug around in their personal luggage for their I.D. Cards, Lana made herself very small it seemed and disappeared among the bulkheads reinforcing the wings.

They exited the plane, with Freya coming out last.

The customs officials smiled at Roger and the two girls, after all, pretty Asian girls were fairly common in this part of the world.

It was Freya he was unprepared for.

As she emerged from the Martin Mariner, his eyes got bigger and bigger until he finally muttered, "My God, she's huge!"

Standing before him at 9' 2" tall, the towering young giantess smiled at him and presented her Canadian passport and U.S. Issued pilot's license with a cheery, "Guid e'enin, an' hoo ur ye today?"

The Guamanian official gaped at her briefly then finally remembered his manners and said, "I'm fine thank you, anything to declare?"

Freya smiled and replied,"Ah hae naethin' tae declare. We stopped haur fer Avgas 100 an' an oil check, a bite tae eat an' a kip."

He nodded with a blank look until Roger muttered, "We're only here for maybe two days, then we're off to the Philippines."

He jerked a thumb towards Christina and said, "We're gonna surprise her grandmother!"

The inspector nodded at Roger's comment and said, "I do have to take a look around inside your plane, any problems with that?"

Roger smiled and said, "None whatsoever, take your time."

The inspector nodded and climbed inside the Martin Mariner while the girls took seats and waited.

While waiting, Roger and Freya made arrangements to get the fuel topped off and the oil looked at.

A half hour later, the inspector reemerged and climbed back down.

He grinned at them and said, "That thing's pretty deluxe for a world war two seaplane. It's like an RV inside!"

Roger chuckled and replied, "Yeah, we've had some work done to it. Mostly engine up grades and airframe improvements, the comfort part kinda just worked out that way."

Seeing they had nothing to declare, the customs inspector saw the Hawai'i and the Wake Island decals on Moby Dick's gleaming fuselage as he signed off on their papers and remarked, "We'll have to get a Guamanian flag to go with those!"

Roger grinned, "Please do, we plan to add a few more before this trip is over!"

The man chuckled and said a cheery, "Welcome to Guam, where America's day begins!"

He paused in mid sentence, smiled and said to Freya, "You probably hear this an awful lot but I'm gonna ask any way. Do mind me taking a picture with you?"

Freya grinned and said gaily, "Otherwise me family willnae believe me story abit meitin' a giantess!"

He laughed and said, "Yeah something like that!"

Freya smiled and said, "Yea, Ah dae hear thes an awful lot, but Ah dorn't mind, whaur dae ye want me?"

Moments later, Freya was standing beside the chief customs inspector and the fuel truck driver and all three smiled for the camera.

As Roger handed back the chief's smartphone, he asked, "Where can we see the culturally significant places here? I'm not talking about the 'tourist trappy' sort of places, I'm talking about the places the CHamorros hold dear."

The chief looked at Roger for a few moments before answering, then he said,"There's not that many left, the Spaniards destroyed many of them to suppress our culture and make us more like them, to make us forget our old ways."

In reply Roger pointed at the 'Museum of Cryptozoology' logo on the fuselage of Moby Dick and said, "I'm a field investigator for them and she," he indicated Freya with a nod, "is a representative of her people, the Jotuns or frost giants of Norse mythology. She is not just a freakishly tall young woman, she is of average height for her people."

The chief looked over at Freya who was chatting pleasantly with the fuel truck driver while he filled up the wing tanks on Moby Dick.

"You say she is of average height for her people and she is a frost giant, like in the comic books 'frost giants'?" He asked.

Roger chuckled and replied, "Yes, yes and no, not like the comic books. Like usual, they got it all wrong. Freya's people fled northern Europe to get away from the Norsemen, they emigrated en masse to Canada some two thousand years ago and disappeared into the forests."

The chief grinned and said, "Believe it or not, we have heard of them down here. Guam isn't that remote you know."

Roger grinned, "Just makin' sure. Anyway Freya is going to want to pay her respects to your ancient sites, she may even want to build an Inukshuk, it's a Jotun thing, just accept it."

"What's an Inukshuk?"

"A stone way marker, her people put them up all across Canada to guide them in their travels, they're also put up to pay respects to the ancestors. She put one up in O'ahu as a tribute.

"For a long time it was thought the first peoples had put them up, turned out it was the Jotuns keeping up a tradition they'd brought with them from Europe."

The chief frowned slightly and said, "I'm not so sure about her putting up an Inukshuk, I'd have to talk to the elders about that

"I have no objections to her paying her respects, in fact that would be appreciated and if you like, I can make a few arrangements to help her out."

Roger smiled and stuck out his hand, "I'd like that very much."

He and the chief customs inspector shook hands and exchanged contact info.

They'd get in touch later on.

As if on cue, a fringe topped convertible taxi arrived with music blaring and the driver called out, "Did somebody call for a taxi?"

The chief laughed and said to Roger, "My nephew, I called him, he'll take you whereever you wish to go in Guam!"

The driver hopped out of his brightly painted taxi and opened the doors with a flourish.

Lorna and Christina glanced over at Roger and he nodded his approval, they grinned and picked up their overnight bags then handed them over to the chief's nephew.

He stowed them in the trunk area and waited while Roger called out, "Hey Freya, get your things, we've gotta ride!"

Freya stepped out from behind the fuel truck and Roger saw at once she had Lana with her.

Freya grinned and replied, "Be reit thaur!" as she took up her own bags and came over to the astonished taxi driver who gaped as he took her bags.

When he finally spoke, it was to say, "My uncle wasn't kidding!"

Grinning he said, "My name is Tomas, and I will be your driver while you're here in Guam. Where do you want to go?"

Roger cleared his throat and said, "A cheap hotel would be nice, we're traveling on a budget, what can you recommend?"

Tomas grinned and replied, "My folks have a nice guest house with three bedrooms, two baths and a nice kitchen. Hundred bucks a night okay with you?"

Roger grinned, "Works for me and your taxi services?"

"Hundred bucks a day, three day minimum."

"Done!"

Freya took up a row of seats while Roger and the girls took up the other row, and Tomas drove off to his parents' house.

Lana sat in Roger's lap and enjoyed the view of the Guamanian countryside.

A few minutes later they stopped at a well built Spanish colonial styled house and Tomas announced, "Here we are, I'll go get my mom!"

He bounded into the substantial home and a few minutes later, reemerged with a plumpish woman wearing a brightly colored mu'u mu'u, her grey streaked black hair was tied neatly in a tight bun at the back of her head.

Tomas grinned and said cheerfully, "Folks, this is my mom Anna Liza, she handles the rent on our guest house."

Roger exited the taxi and said, "Hi, I'm Roger Tate and these young ladies are in my care!"

He shook hands with Anna Liza as she glanced around and said, "My brother called from the airport, said something about a giantess?"

Roger chuckled and said, "That would be Freya." he turned and said, "Freya, our hostess would like to meet you!"

Moments later, Anna Liza was standing, mouth agape as Freya smiled at her and said, "Hello, me nam is Freya Sigurdsdottir, it's a pleasure tae meit ye!"

Anna Liza laughed and exclaimed, "I'll never doubt my brother's word again, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Freya!"

Anna Liza's eyes spotted Lana and she said in wonder, "Is she what I think she is?"

Tomas asked, "What are you talking about mom?"

Anna Liza said, "That tiny girl sitting there, didn't you see her?"

"What tiny girl?" replied Tomas with a puzzled look on his face.

Lana smiled at the mature woman and said in sotto voce, "He may not be able to see me, your brother didn't see me either."

Anna Liza nodded in response and told Tomas to take their things into the guest house, then start up the water heater for hot water to wash with.

He nodded and took up some of the luggage while Lorna and Christina took up the rest, then headed towards the guest house.

Once they were gone, Anna Liza said to Lana, "You came from Hawai'i didn't you? I'd heard there were still some of the little folk living there, I'm glad to see it is true."

Lana smiled and replied,"I did come from Hawai'i and I am traveling with them back to the U.S. To meet what may be distant cousins of mine, they are known as wood elves and I wish to meet them."

Roger said quietly, "If you know any old stories from before the arival of the Spanish, I'd love to record them, for our archives."

Anna Liza sighed and remarked, "So few of our old tales have survived, the Spanish suppressed our old ways so fiercely and destroyed our old sacred places whenever they found them."

Freya said quietly, "Ef Ah may, Ah'd loch tae pay me respects tae yoor auld sacred places. Maybe even build an Inukshuk as a sign ay friendship atween uir twa peoples."

Before Anna Liza could even ask, Roger held out his smartphone with some photos of Inukshuks, "These are Inukshuks, it's a Jotun thing, they've built them all across Canada." he said.

Lana grinned and in her squeak of a voice declared, "My people helped Freya build one where I grew up in Hawai'i as a sign of respect."

Anna Liza studied the photos for a few moments and finally said, "We can ask the council of elders if they would let her put one up at Fouha bay, near Fouha rock. I can't promise anything, but I can ask. My parents were on the council so we may have some pull there."

Moments later, Anna Liza said to Lana, "Do you think some of your people would be interested in coming to Guam, to live?"

Lana smiled and replied, "It is pretty here and it's not all built up with tourism in mind. I can let my people back home know of your interest and they can decide."

Anna Liza smiled at the tiny menehune, "That would be nice. Guam needs little people, to keep us honest."

Roger at that point asked, "What is the significance of Fouha bay and Fouha rock?"

Anna Liza smiled at his question and replied, "According to CHamorro legend, Fouha bay is where we originated and it just so happens that the rocks in the area go back about 55 million years or so and are the oldest rocks to be found on Guam. The legend tells of our creation at Fouha rock by the gods who created us."

"And these gods would be?"

Anna Liza began, "According to the CHamorro people, a very long time ago, the brother and sister gods Puntan and Fu'una devised a plan in which their supernatural forces would be put to extremely powerful use. Puntan instructed his sister to take apart his body and create the parts of the world. One of his eyes would become the sun, and the other would be transformed into the moon. Puntan's eyebrows would become rainbows. His back would become the earth.

"Fu'una had supernatural powers of her own. She used her energy and spirit to bring to life the parts of her brother's body that now formed the world. With her power, she made the sun shine and the earth blossom. After she completed her task of bringing new life to Puntan's body parts, Fu'una decided to create life out of her own body, as she had her brother's. She threw her body into the earth and created Fouha Rock, sometimes called Creation Point. Out of Fouha Rock, the first human beings emerged. This rock can be found close to Humåtak Bay in the southern part of Guam."

Freya had been listening in and she said, "That woods be th' place Ah'd want tae build an Inukshuk, the auldest part ay Guam."

Roger said quietly, "I wouldn't count on the CHamorro elders letting you put up an Inukshuk on what is likely sacred grounds. And then there is coming up with the right stones? You're kinda particular about the stones you like to use, Guam may not have the right kind of stones."

Freya smiled at him almost indulgently and said, "'Tis nae problem, ef it cams tae 'at, Ah kin get me stanes frae haem an' ship them haur tae build me Inukshuk wi'."

Anna Liza asked, "Is there a special kind of stone you prefer using?"

"Ah prefer stanes 'at dinnae need much warkin', a few blows wi' a hammer or such is fine, but nae much mair than 'at. Th' stanes need tae hae their integrity mostly untooched fur them tae be proper Inukshuk stanes."

When Tomas returned with the news that the house was opened up, the water heater was working nicely and the girls had fallen asleep almost immediately.

Anna Liza smiled at her son and said,"Freya here needs to go look for building stones around the Humåtak Bay area, she wants to build an Inukshuk and wants the proper stones. Do you know of any places where she can look?"

Tomas looked over at the towering young giantess and said, "There is a couple of old rock quarries near there, we can go check them out."

Freya grinned at his suggestion and moments later the two were driving off towards the Humåtak Bay area, leaving a bemused Roger standing there with Anna Liza for company.

She laughed and said, "That girl doesn't waste any time does she?"

Roger could only shrug and reply, "When she's on a mission, it's best to just get out of the way, you're less likely to get hurt."

"How so?"

"Freya, like all of her people is quite strong. Her bone and muscle density is greater than a human's, a human her size would need leg braces and a cane just to stand up. She's as agile as a human girl one third her size and even when she was my size and only nine and a half year's old, she was stronger than me in some ways."

He grinned, "I've seen her lift and carry things I could hardly budge, a 500 pound rock for example, she'll just carry the damn thing for a short distance, rather than bother with a cart or something."

He smiled, "Don't let her size and strength scare you though, while she will defend herself, she wouldn't hurt a fly on purpose, it just isn't in her Jotun nature. They really are the gentle giants of the northlands."

Anna Liza thought about his remarks and finally asked, "Any ideas on where they came from? Any fossils?"

Roger chuckled and replied,"There are almost no fossil traces of them, part of that may be from their funerary practices of leaving their dead out for the great bears of the north to eat, thereby paying their respects to the great bear spirit of the northlands."

He continued, "Some paleoanthropologists think they may be descendants of the giant ape known as Gigantopithecus whose fossils were first found in southern China, although it is kinda hard to really prove."

He shrugged, "How they wound up in northern Europe is anybody's guess, we do know they left Europe around two thousand years ago and came to Canada. Their long time habit of wearing bearskins while traveling inspired the 'big foot' legends, a habit they gave up once they revealed themselves."

"Why is that?"

"Too many of them were getting shot by hunters who'd thought they were brown bears. I've met a few widows who'd lost their husbands to hunters."

"How sad, to lose a husband like that." remarked Anna Liza.

Roger nodded in agreement and said, "I try to imagine the shock a hunter would feel upon discovering that he had shot a huge man rather than a bear. Sadly, many of those deaths went unreported as the hunter most likely panicked and left the poor guy where he'd fallen without saying a word to anyone."

There was a pause in their conversation while Anna Liza thought about what Roger had said, then she smiled and said, "Would you like to come in for some coffee? I have no idea how long my son is going to be out running around the island with Freya."

"Coffee sounds like a great idea and I certainly don't expect her to be returning any time soon."

Leading the way, Anna Liza entered the roomy old house while saying, "This was built during the Spanish colonial era and my family worked for its owners. Once the Spaniards left, it became ours by default and we've lived here pretty much ever since."

"Pretty much?" asked Roger.

"It was commandeered by the Japanese during their occupation of our island, when the Americans came back, so did we!"

Roger chuckled and remarked, "Of course you did! After all, you've earned it."

Lana cleared her throat and said, "You can put me down now, I can walk just fine, thank you!"

Roger laughed and set her down gently, "Sorry, I forgot you weren't Dena, she likes it when I carry her or let her sit in my lap. God knows she likes sleeping with me!"

Anna Liza looked down at the two foot tall island maiden, then looked at Roger before raising an eyebrow to ask, "You sleep with a girl this tiny? How?"

He chuckled and said, "It's not what you think and we're not like that. For starters it would be nearly impossible. Dena also slept with Freya's grandmother. Apparently if a wood wife bonds with a human, she'll sleep with that human. Dena says I'm good at keeping her warm on cold nights and besides, Freya and I often sleep together and before you ask, we're not that way either, even though she is plenty big enough!"

Anna Liza rolled her expressive brown eyes, laughed and said, "Heaven forbid I should get the wrong impression about your relationships!"

Roger and Lana followed her into the kitchen where she started making fresh coffee.

Once the coffee maker was doing its thing, making burbling, gurgling noises while turning water into coffee.

Anna Liza got out a couple of coffee cups and saucers, then paused.

She looked down at Lana and asked, "Would you like some coffee as well? I don't really have any cups your size, I'm afraid."

Lana smiled at her hostess and said, "Yes, I would love some."

Roger smiled and said, "If you have some of those little kid size tea set cups, they'll work just fine. I found a whole set of them for Dena to eat from and the furniture to go with them."

Anna Liza looked at Roger and said, "You two must be pretty close for you to go to that much trouble for her."

Roger grinned and said, "We've got each other's back."

"How so?"

"Coffee and nibblies first, then I'll talk!"

Anna Liza chuckled and said, "You're on!"

A few minutes later they were seated comfortably enjoying their coffee and nibblies while Roger told them the story of how he met Freya, Dena and the gigantic wolf named Sasha.

He told them of the big house they lived in and of their many adventures together and separately.

When he was finished talking, Anna Liza asked, "So what are your future plans with her?"

Roger pursed his lips and said, "I'm not really sure to be honest. In the short term she is slated to enroll in college this fall, although that might change after her eighteenth birthday."

"Why is that?"

"The Jotuns have this custom where a young woman upon reaching her eighteenth year, can declare her heart's true love and name the young man she wishes to marry."

Anna Liza paused and asked, "Do you have any idea of who she might be thinking of?"

Roger shrugged, "Not a clue, she's never mentioned anyone and whenever we do visit her family, she hangs out with the girls she grew up with or her mom. If there is a young man in her heart, I sure haven't seen him!"

As he set down his coffee cup, he failed to see the exchange of knowing glances between Anna Liza and Lana, their looks said it all. 'Men, always so clueless when it comes to a young woman's heart!'

It was well after dark by the time Tomas and Freya returned from the rock quarry near the Humåtak Bay area.

They came into the house laughing and Freya said gaily, "Yer friends sure made me laugh, Ah almost fergot wa Ah was thaur. Ef ye hadnae reminded me ay wa Ah was thaur Ah'da clean fergot!"

Tomas grinned and replied, "They sure got a kick out of meeting you and once they got over the accent, they were happy to help you pick out the rocks you wanted to use tomorrow."

Anna Liza called out, "Dinner is ready, wash your hands and come join us!"

"Okay mom, we'll be right there!"

A few moments later, Tomas was taking his seat at the table while Freya had to sit at an improvised table hastily knocked together by Roger.

Lorna and Christina had awakened and were sitting to Roger's left, on his right side sat tiny Lana, still seemingly invisible to Tomas who had looked right at her without noticing her.

This puzzled the two classmates of Freya's as they could see her quite plainly, just like they had seen Dena, Silky and Flora upon their visits to Freya's home.

Roger asked, "I take it you guys found the rocks you were looking for and you're going to put them up tomorrow?"

Freya smiled and said, "Och aye, we did an' we've awreddy taken them tae whaur we're gang tae put them up oan th' morrow."

That night Roger found himself sleeping alone for the first time in quite awhile, ordinarily Dena or Freya slept with him and he had become accustomed to their comforting presences in his bed.

Lying awake in the room chosen for him by Anna Liza, he found it a bit strange not having some sort of 'neighborly' presence in the room with him, even a sprite or two would have been welcome.

The next morning they arrived at Humåtak Bay and saw that a small crowd had gathered there.

The elders had approved of Freya putting up an Inukshuk.

Many of them were dressed in traditional attire playing music and dancing, while a few of the women had cooking fires going, pots bubbling and the smell of the food was enticing.

Tomas grinned and said cheerfully, "We CHamorros love to party, we put the word out to gather at Fouha rock and here we are!"

Exiting Tomas' taxi, Freya stood up and many of them gaped at her size while others waved and called out greetings, they had already met her when they helped her gather the heavy stones the day before.

She smiled and waved at the crowd, "Guid morrow e'ryone, thenk ye fur camin' tae help me today!"

Stepping over to where she had chosen to place her Inukshuk, she stood there looking over the site.

Roger could see that foundation holes had already been dug and were awaiting the placement of the heaviest stones.

Freya beckoned and several rather burly men stepped forward.

Wearing little more than loincloths and facepaint, they took hold of the first heavy stone and by main strength alone, raised it from the ground with a mighty yell.

At Freya's direction, they placed the first stone in its respective hole and stood it up.

While they held it steady with wooden poles, several women came forward bearing baskets filled with earth, these were emptied around the base of the stone and two more women came forward armed with long pounding poles.

The earth was pounded down firmly, then more earth was added and pounded down in turn until the hole was filled and the soil tightly compacted.

Next, the height of the stone above ground was measured and the second stone was marked accordingly.

The depth required was measured and the second hole was deepened slightly by pounding away with the long poles until it was ready.

The placement of the second main stone was a repeat of the first performance and before long, the two main stones stood firm.

After that, it was a matter of selecting the desired stones, placing them atop the uprights and making adjustments to balance them properly.

By late afternoon it was finished, Freya's tribute to the legends of Guam stood silently, a brand new Inukshuk now stood in Guam's most sacred place, Humåtak Bay.

More fires were lit and before long many of the CHamorros were singing and dancing to celebrate their new found friendship with the Jotuns.

Even Freya and her friends joined in and Roger couldn't help smiling as he watched his towering companion enjoying herself immensely.

Freya made for quite the sight as she loomed over everyone there and yet was light on her feet.

"Freya's a good dancer!" Remarked Anna Liza, "I didn't think someone her size would be so light on her feet."

Roger grinned and replied, "She's quite the athlete in her own right, the main reason why she isn't on any basket ball teams is because she's much too tall, being some two feet taller than just about any of the other players and quite a bit stronger, gives her an unfair advantage.

"She still likes to play on the courts at the rec center near our home up in Portland, Oregon and has no shortage of challengers wanting to try their skills against her."

Anna Liza smiled and asked, "Where are you headed after this?"

Roger pointed out Christina who was dancing with the other young women in the group and said, "We're going to the Phillippines to visit her grandmother, she wants to surprise her grandma by showing up unannounced."

He chuckled and said, "Although I have a feeling her parents may have let that cat out of the bag by now!"

Anna Liza pointed out Lorna who was sipping on her drink and chatting with one of the young men. "The Japanese girl, what about her?"

"Lorna is one of Freya's oldest friends in Portland. They've known each other since fourth grade. We're going to be stopping by Hokkaido, Japan to drop her off at her auntie Meiko's for the rest of the summer, then it's a long flight home back to Portland."

Anna Liza chuckled and remarked, "That's quite the itinerary, hopefully it won't hit any snags!"

"Keeping my fingers crossed does help!" Replied Roger with a grin.

The next morning after a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast Guamanian style, They were back at the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam.

The gleaming white sea plane had a full load of fuel and oil and had acquired a Guamanian flag decal while it sat waiting for them to return.

There was a round of hearty handshakes, manly embraces and lingering hugs while they said their goodbyes.

The chief was there, as was Anna Liza and Tomas who finally saw tiny Lana and gaped when he realized she wasn't a little doll, she was a tiny and very pretty girl.

He looked at his mom and spluttered hoarsely, "She's a real live girl!"

Anna Liza smiled indulgently at her son and replied,"I know, we met the day they got here."

He gaped and blurted out, "And you never thought to tell me about her? I think she's amazing!"

Anna Liza smiled and replied,"To be honest, I was surprised you didn't see her, she was in plain sight most of the time she was here. I guess she just didn't register with you?"

Tomas muttered, "I can't believe I missed seeing her!"

Before they left Anna Liza presented them with a basket full of freshly cooked barbecued chicken and pork ribs with a cheery, "A little something for your flight, in case you get hungry!"

Christina grinned and said, "I loved your pork ribs, the sauce is delicious!"

Lorna chuckled and quipped, "Don't be hogging all that food, we're gonna want some too!"

Christina laughed gaily as she clambered into the bulky sea plane with Lorna right behind her.

The basket of food was stashed in the galley, then the girls took their seats.

Roger and Freya finished their goodbyes and boarded the Martin Mariner.

Closing the passenger door, they took their seats and began going down the preflight checklist before starting the engines.

A short time later they were airborne and Guam was behind them and getting smaller with every minute of flight time.

Ahead lay the Philippines, and Christina's grandmother some 1,600 miles and eight hours flight time ahead.

They were going to land at Clark International airport, then catch a ride to Quezon City near Metro Manila.

To while away the hours, Lana slept while Lorna and Christina played video games until it was time for lunch and they dug into the basket of food Anna Liza had given them.

Laying out the food on the small dining table, Lorna called out, "Lunch is ready!"

Freya left her post to eat with them while Roger stayed at his post.

His last comment was, "Make sure I get at least a taste!"

Freya merely grinned and replied, "Ah cannae mak onie guarantees!"

Even though the Martin Mariner had a good autopilot and it was engaged, he preferred to have a warm body at, or very near the controls.

When Freya returned to her post, she had a generous mug of fresh coffee in one hand and a smile on her face, "Yer scran is waitin' fer ye!" she said as she took her seat.

Roger grinned and wasted no time in climbing down from the flight deck and joining the girls at the small table.

Lorna and Lana were still noshing on some pork ribs while Christina was talking to her mother via the satellite phone that was part of the plane's equipment, from her end of the conversation it was pretty animated.

"Ma! I wanted to surprise grandma, now she knows I'm coming. Dad spoiled my surprise!"

There was a pause then, "He could've told her something else besides me flying across the sea in an old airplane!"

Another pause, "I know ma, dad could never lie to his mom and she can always get him to confess. But still, I really wanted to surprise grandma by showing up unannounced."

Christina glanced at the clock on the bulkhead and said, "We should be there in about four hours, give or take. Yes, we'll be landing at Clark 'cos it's cheaper to land there than at Manila."

Yet another pause, "Of course I love you ma, I was just upset that's all.

I'll call from grandma's house when we get there."

A final pause, "I gotta go ma, the rates on these satellite phones are crazy expensive! Bye now!"

Ending her call Christina grumped, "Dad told my grandmother I was coming, he spoiled my surprise. Mom says not to be angry with him because he could never lie to his mom, but damn! I sooo wanted to surprise her, now she'll have a mountain of food waiting for us and half the Philippines will be there to see me."

She grinned evilly, "Wait'll they get a load of Freya! She'll knock their socks off, I just hope she doesn't cause a riot or something."

Roger finished nomming on the rib he'd been eating and commented drily, "It wouldn't be the first time. When she was fourteen, I let her wear a short skirt and thigh high stockings to the mall one time and I could see every male with a pulse in the place doing a double take. I couldn't tell you how many photos were taken of her that day!"

He grinned, "You saw the reaction she got at Anime Expo. Being the focus of people's attention is kinda a fact of life for her. Thank goodness she's not some big name celebrity with Paparazzi following her every move."

Lorna chuckled and commented, "Could you imagine her in a mini skirt and thigh highs now? Her legs are longer than Christina here is tall!"

Christina pouted adorably and muttered, "I can't help being a shrimpie! It runs in the family, we're all tiny."

She grinned at Lana and remarked, "With you here, I'm no longer the tiny one of the bunch!"

Lana giggled and shot back, "That's only if I let anyone see me, we menehune are very good at hiding, we have to be, people would want to make pets of us or worse!"

Christina said quietly, "Once upon a time they had human zoos in Europe and America where natives from Africa and Asia were put on display like animals in a zoo."

She glanced at Lana and said, "I don't blame your people for wanting to hide."

Roger sighed and remarked, "The house we live in was built for a retired circus giant couple, that's the reason why the ceilings are all so high and the giant sized bath tub, toilet and sink in the master bathroom. Everything was to scale for them."

"Thing is, they were white and treated with respect. They earned enough money to afford that house and enjoy a retirement while the 'natives' were simply exploited as examples of the inferiority of the native peoples of the world. They couldn't do that today, not without somebody raising a stink about it."

In an effort to break the mood, Lorna chuckled and said, "That humongous stove in the kitchen is no joke either, I always marvel at how big it is, my folks really got a kick out of it."

Roger grinned and said, "Silky sure likes it, even if she has to wear gloves while cooking."

"Why is that?" asked Lorna.

"She's fae and fae don't like the touch of cold iron, hence the gloves."

"Ah, I keep forgetting that."

Having finished his lunch, Roger put the paper plates in the waste bin and returned to his seat with his own generous mug of coffee in hand.

He glanced at the dashboard clock, three more hours to go.

A quick glance at the weather monitor showed clear skies all the way to the Philippines.

He saw that Freya was homing in on the radio beacon sent out by Clark International airport and all of the engine monitoring gauges were reading normally.

The flight was almost boring, so far.

When they were still about a hundred miles out, a Philippine Air Force FA-50 PH fighter jet eased alongside of the lumbering sea plane.

The pilot waved at them to get their attention and called over the radio, "What is your destination? Over."

Roger answered with a cheery, "We, are headed towards Clark international...Is there a problem? Over."

"No sir, there is no problem. Your aircraft has been identified as being of world war two vintage and we don't see many of those. Over." replied the grinning pilot.

Roger chuckled and replied,"I believe this may be the only one of these still flying. Over"

"My boss just radioed me and asked me to extend an invitation for you to land at Basa Air force base for free. Over."

Roger gave the grinning pilot a thumbs up sign and said, "We'll follow you in. Over"

Moments later, the sleek fighter jet pulled ahead of them and Roger began following the jet plane to the airfield in question.

Freya glanced over at him and asked, "Whit is gonnae oan? Ah thooght we were landin' at Clark International."

Roger grinned at his long time companion and replied, "We just got invited to land at Basa Air force base, for free, courtesy of the Philippine Air Force."

Roger turned in his seat and called out, "Christina! There's been a slight change of plans."

Moments later, the tiny form of Christina Aquino climbed up the short ladder to the flight deck and asked, "What kind of change of plans?"

Roger pointed at the sleek fighter jet loafing along just above stall speed ahead of them and said, "It seems we've been invited to land at Basa Air force base, free of charge."

The tiny cutie thought briefly and said, "Free is a good thing isn't it?"

"It is when you consider how much an airport charges us to use their facilities, we'll be saving some real money."

Roger grinned at her and said, "You might want to let your grandmother know where we're landing so she doesn't waste time looking for us at Clark."

Christina nodded and climbed back down to use the satellite phone.

A short time later the plane braked to a stop as directed by the ground guide and the engines fell silent as the huge propellers whirled to a stop.

They were now on Philippine soil at the invitation of the airbase commander.

There was a small contingent of Philippine Air Force officers and enlisted men standing there as they exited the bulky sea plane.

Their commander, a brigadier general named Pedro S. Francisco smiled at them and said, "Welcome to the Philippines!"

Roger grinned at him, snapped off a crisp salute and said, "Roger Tate, thank you for inviting us!" as he extended his hand in greeting.

The two men shook hands and General Francisco grinned, "When our radar first picked you up and our patrol plane reported your arrival, I couldn't help thinking I'd like to see a world war two seaplane and so I had him extend an invitation."

Over Roger's shoulder, Christina and Lorna were seen exiting the sea plane first then a moment later Freya stepped out and straightened up to her full height.

There was a collective gasp and General Francisco's eyes widened as he took in the sight of a nine foot two inch tall young woman with red-gold hair and Norse goddess looks.

Roger grinned at his reaction and said, "This is Freya Sigurdsdottir, she's my co-pilot and the girls are her schoolmates, Christina Aquino and Lorna Yamada."

General Francisco smiled and said with a wink, "Miss Freya I've heard about through friends in the U.S., it seems they forgot to mention the other little girl!"

Puzzled at his remark, Roger turned around and saw that Freya had Lana with her.

He laughed and replied, "Well, so I did! That sir, is Lana Llacuna a menehune from O'ahu, Hawai'i."

The general smiled at Lana and said, "I well remember the stories my lola told me about the little people of the Philippines, I'm very glad to meet you Miss Lana."

He extended a finger and Lana grasped his finger then shook it with a smile on her pretty face and said, "My pleasure, Mister General."

A walkie talkie squawked nearby and few moments later, a young lieutenant approached and said, "Sir? There's a civilian woman at the gate who says her granddaughter is here and she wants to pick her up."

Christina rolled her eyes and said, "That's my lola, she knows I'm here because I called her as we were coming in for a landing. I didn't think she'd just show up so soon!"

General Francisco chuckled and said, "Let her in Lieutenant, the last thing we want is our lolas upset with us!"

He smiled at Roger and said drily, "Pinoy lolas are a force to be reckoned with, pissing one off is not in your best interests!"

The young lieutenant grinned at his commanding officer, saluted and responded to the radio call in Tagalog.

Moments later he grinned and said, "Lola has been admitted, sir!"

Soon a jeep with a rotating blue light arrived with a big, gleaming black Mercedes-Benz SUV following right behind, Christina's lola had arrived.

A mature, well dressed, neatly coiffed and tiny Filipina got out of the driver's side, spotted Christina standing next to Lorna and asked,"What did you do to wind up here, instead of at Clark International?"

General Francisco smiled at the woman and said, "They are here at my invitation ma'am, your granddaughter did nothing wrong."

She looked the general up and down as if checking to see if he was properly dressed and said, "And just why did you invite my granddaughter to land here, instead of letting her land at Clark?"

General Francisco was about to reply when Roger said, "General, if I may?"

He looked at Christina's lola and said, "General Francisco invited all of us to land here because he wanted to see our plane, he had no idea your granddaughter was aboard this plane."

Her dark eyes focused on Roger, narrowed briefly and she said cooly, "And who, are you?"

"My name is Roger Tate, I'm the pilot for this plane and the girls' chaperone for this trip."

He gestured at Freya, who had somehow escaped her grandmother's notice and said, "Freya here is her classmate and my co-pilot."

The woman glanced at Freya, then her jaw dropped as she stepped back and gasped, "Ina ng Diyos !" just before crossing herself.

Recovering her wits she looked at Christina and blurted out, "Hindi mo sinabi sa akin ang tungkol sa pagkilala sa isang higanteng babae! "

Christina sighed and said pleadingly, "Lola, they don't understand Tagalog, speak English please."

Her grandmother gestured at Freya and exclaimed in a strangled voice, "You never told me about knowing a giantess!"

Christina replied patiently, "Lola, I did tell you about Freya, I mentioned her in some of my letters, didn't you read them?"

Mrs. Aquino looked up at Freya's face looming nearly twice her height above her and blushed when Freya smiled at her and said, "'Tis me pleasure tae meit ye, Christina's lola!"

The woman suddenly smiled and said cheerfully, "And people say I have an accent!"

She extended her carefully manicured right hand in greeting and Freya gently shook it as they smiled at each other.

With the ice broken, the ladies gathered round and talked to each other while Roger showed General Francisco around inside the Martin Mariner.

He nodded his approval of the work that had been done to allow Freya to take the controls, the adjustable seats and pedals, the relocation of the galley stove, sink and refrigerator.

When he asked about the former gun turrets and bombays, he chuckled at Roger's comment about trading all of them to help pay for the work on the plane.

There was a brief pause when the starter motors kicked in to rotate the engines a couple of turns during the post flight cool down process.

He grinned when Roger commented drily about keeping the now scarce Curtiss-Wright R 3350's in working order by resorting to various methods of prolonging their useful lives.

Exiting the sea plane, General Francisco exchanged salutes with the young airman assigned to guard the Martin Mariner and to protect Lana.

They approached the gaggle of women as they worked out how to get from the airbase to lola Aquino's home in Quezon City.

It had been agreed upon that Christina and Lorna would ride with her lola while a Jeepney was being arranged for Freya and Roger.

A few minutes later a jeep escorted Jeepney arrived with its stereo blasting popular music.

The driver shut down the music as he pulled up and stopped.

He leaned out his window and called out "Tumawag ka para sumakay? "

Lola Aquino pointed out Roger and Freya and spoke to him briefly.

His reaction to Freya's size was almost comical, he started laughing at first, then he quickly recovered his wits and manners as he got out of his Jeepney and opened the back doors for them.

There was a brief flurry of photos taken with the travelers and their Filipino hosts with Freya standing in the middle of the group and looming over all of them.

Then Freya slipped into her seat and sat sideways while Roger sat in front of her.

The overnight bags were tossed in the back of the colorful Jeepney and they fell in behind Christina's grandmother as she drove through semi chaotic traffic on her way back home.

The Aquino's house was situated on a slight hill overlooking much of Quezon City, in the backyard loomed a very healthy looking yellow mango tree, laden with ripening fruit waiting to be picked.

Mrs. Aquino parked in her circular driveway and the colorful Jeepney stopped out on the street.

The driver hopped out and opened their doors before he hefted the overnight bags and set them on the sidewalk.

Roger slipped the man a ten dollar bill as a tip before Mrs. Aquino came over to pay him, he grinned at Roger and the bill quickly disappeared as Mrs. Aquino approached them.

She smiled at the Jeepney driver and gave him a hundred Peso bill, he grinned and took the proffered bill as he said, "Salamat po!" and bowed slightly.

The Jeepney driver looked at Roger, handed him a business card and said quietly, "My name is Juanito Gatus, if you need a ride anywhere, call me!"

Roger grinned and shook his hand, "Gotcha! Name's Roger by the way and my girl's named Freya."

Juanito grinned and said, "My wife's not gonna believe me when I tell her about you two!"

Roger chuckled and said, "That's why you took her pictures, right?"

Juanito grinned again as he hopped back into his brightly painted Jeepney, cranked it up and drove off, music blasting once more.

Roger smiled at Mrs. Aquino and said, "He's a pretty nice guy, as he drove he was pointing out the sights and telling us about them, a regular tour guide that guy."

The woman smiled slightly and said cooly, "Many of them make their living doing just that, he'll drive you anywhere you like, if the money is good."

Roger grinned and quipped, "Let's hear it for independent businessmen!"

Taking up the overnight bags, they followed the immaculately dressed, neatly coiffed, tiny Filipina into her roomy house, after leaving their shoes at the door.

The interior was pleasantly cool, well furnished and spotless.

All signs of a good air conditioning system, good taste in furnishings, a good housekeeper, and the money to support the lifestyle.

The Aquino's lived comfortably.

The front hall had a high ceiling, allowing Freya to stand up straight without having to mind the light fixtures.

Christina and Lorna were seated on the couch and smiling at them.

Christina grinned and asked, "How did you like the Jeepney ride?"

Freya grinned and replied, "Ah loched it jist fine, Juanito was pointin' oot th' sights an' tawkin' abit whit we were seein'."

Roger held up Juanito's business card and said, "He gave me his contact info if we need a ride anywhere."

Lorna chuckled and said, "Wait'll we get to Japan, the taxi drivers'll be fighting over you guys!"

Roger just smiled and said, "It's like that pretty much everywhere we go, I couldn't tell you how many times we've posed with a cabbie while pictures were taken of us, as proof the cabbie was not making up a story about seeing a giantess."

He smiled at Freya and said, "Thank goodness you've been a good sport about it all."

Within minutes, Christina's many relatives began showing up.

Aunts and their families arrived, with the uncles and their families not far behind.

Before long Roger and Lorna sat in mute astonishment as Christina's relatives lavished attention upon Christina's tiny self, chattering incessantly when they weren't gaping at Freya's size and insisting on posing with her while photos were taken of a gamely smiling Freya standing next to the doorway with various tiny Filipinos standing beside her as proof they had met a giantess.

"Now I know what they meant by 'wallflower', it's like we're not even here!" muttered Lorna.

Roger murmured, "It could be worse, try being around a bunch of Jotuns some time!"

He asked, "Can we expect this when we get to Hokkaido?"

Lorna muttered, "Naw, auntie Meiko's real big on decorum, she won't allow this sort of thing to get out of hand. Don't get me wrong, she's great to hang with, but she likes her gatherings in smaller doses."

As if by magic, food appeared and soon, the side board was groaning under a plethora of 'secret family dishes' all laid out and waiting to be eaten.

Christina, momentarily able to talk to them said quickly, "Eat like you mean it, try a little of everything, that way some of my nuttier relatives won't feel that you snubbed their cooking."

Lorna asked quietly, "Are all family gatherings like this in the Philippines?"

Christina grinned and said with a wink, "Nope! Some of them are real drama fests, like being in a live action soap opera with all the family secrets being brought out to replay!"

Freya smiled, took up a plate and began taking samples from the various dishes, a spoonful here, a slice there and before long, her plate was full.

Marking her place on the sideboard, she sat down at the raised card table Christina's grandmother had set up for her height.

Christina's relatives smiled and nodded to each other, the giantess was trying their foods, such a nice giantess!

By the time Freya had sampled most of the dishes on the sideboard, a karaoke machine had appeared and many of the guests were trying their hand, or voices at singing to the enjoyment of the rest of the Aquino clan.

Christina, being an Aquino got dragged into the song fest and was soon acquitting herself competently with a fine singing voice and natural stage presence.

She paused between songs and beckoned to Lorna, who was no stranger to karaoke machines.

Lorna grinned and joined in after announcing, "I'm here to represent Lincoln High School class of 20XX!"

She glanced at Freya, grinned and said gaily, "Freya! Get your tall self up here and help me represent our graduating class!"

Freya set aside her plate and joined Lorna and Christina in front of her family.

Christina smiled and handed Freya a microphone while saying, "I know you can sing, I've heard you!"

Roger smiled as he saw numerous smart phones being raised to record their singing.

Before the night was through they would be all over the internet, for good or ill.

The girls began with their school's song, their voices blending quite nicely as they sang.

When their school song ended, the trio paused for a few moments to hug each other.

Freya knelt to wrap her long arms around her friends and simply held them tenderly.

Moments later they broke up and as Freya stood straight again Christina dabbed at her eyes and said, "My first day in my new school in America, I was very nervous as everyone seemed to be so much bigger than me. In my American History class I saw Freya for the first time. Even then she was nearly twice my height and I couldn't believe my eyes at first.

"After school I ran to meet my mom who happened to be talking to Roger and I started talking real fast about Freya. I just blurted out 'Ma! They have a giant girl here!' then I started jabbering in Tagalog. "

She grinned, "You can't imagine how mortified we both were when Freya just came up to Roger and started showing off her school work, then she turned to me and introduced herself and we shook hands, we've been friends ever since!"

Christina giggled and said gaily, "When we went swimming in the lagoon at Wake Island, Freya would just throw me up in the air and I'd fly about twenty feet or more before splashing down. And in Guam she danced with a whole bunch of CHamorro women after they had put up an Inukshuk."

Lorna grinned and said, "Don't let her size fool you, she totally kicks ass in basketball!"

She smiled at her towering friend and said, "My grandmother loved making her 'secret family recipes' for her, recipes she wouldn't even share with us! I used to get such a kick out of seeing the two of them together, my grandmother telling her stories about her own childhood while they ate her latest 'secret family recipe'.

"Freya was always so appreciative of my grandmother's cooking and I'm thankful she could draw them out of my grandmother, so I could learn them as well!"

By the time the two girls were finished talking, Freya was blushing a near scarlet hue and Roger was simply enjoying her discomfiture.

For once, she was on the spot and not him.

The next morning Roger and Freya caught a lift from Juanito Gatus, the jeepney driver they'd met the day before.

First they stopped at a Jollibee restaurant and after the staff got over their astonishment at Freya's height and accent, they ordered breakfast sandwiches to go.

Noshing on their food while Juanito drove, they headed to Basa airbase to check on Moby Dick and to see how Lana was doing.

After showing their pass to the gate guards, Juanito drove them to where Moby Dick was parked.

He was sitting in the morning sun, quietly looming over the smaller aircraft, an anachronism in today's jet powered air force.

Roger opened up the bulky aircraft and was greeted by Lana who smiled happily when Roger handed her, her own breakfast sandwich and orange juice from Jollibee.

Switching on the power, he opened up the former bomb bays so they could access the oil jugs stored there.

While he was setting up the folding ladder by the starboard bomb bay, Freya was checking the oil level and looking for any bad oil leaks on the starboard engine.

Seeing nothing to be concerned about she called out, "Thes 'un needs abit seven gallons!"

"Check! Seven gallons, starboard engine." replied Roger as he took down the requisite number of plastic jugs of oil.

Placing the jugs in a canvas bucket with a rope tied to it, Freya raised the jugs to her level and added the oil to the engine's reserve tank.

Crossing over to the port side engine, Freya checked the engine over while Roger moved his ladder and climbed into place.

"Port side engine looks guid an' it needs oanly six gallons ay oil." called out Freya.

"Check! Six gallons, port engine." replied Roger as he repeated his performance on the starboard engine.

Having topped off the engine oil and noting the oil consumption down, Roger closed up the bomb bay doors and secured them.

Coming back inside the huge aircraft, Roger chuckled as he saw Juanito sitting at the small galley table while talking to Lana.

He glanced up at Roger and said, "My lola used to tell me stories about the little people, the shy ones as she used to call them."

Smiling at Lana he said, "Now I have my own story about a little person who came from Hawai'i and visited with me while I was waiting for you two to finish your chores!"

Lana sipped at her orange juice and grinned.

"Is your lola still alive?" asked Roger.

Juanito smiled and said, "She lives with us and helps us with our kids while we're out working."

Roger grinned and said, "Shall we pay her a visit? Myself, Freya and Lana in your jeepney?"

Juanito's eyes opened wide and he said, "My lola will kill me, you do realize? Me springing you three on her unannounced? Hoo boy!"

Roger laughed and said coyly, "It'd be even worse if she finds out you had such interesting passengers who wanted to meet her and you didn't bring them by."

Juanito chuckled and replied, "You drive a hard bargain Mr. Tate!"

Minutes later, Juanito was slipping his colorful jeepney through Quezon city traffic with pop music blaring from the vehicle's stereo.

Freya was sitting sideways and Lana was standing in Roger's lap while leaning against him.

They pulled up in front of an older apartment building and parked the jeepney.

Exiting the jeepney, Juanito paused to lock it and waved at his very curious neighbors as he escorted a nine foot two inch tall girl with red-gold hair in two great braids into the apartment building.

They completely missed the six foot tall sunburnt white man carrying what looked like a doll.

Leading them into the sturdy old building, Juanito remarked, "My great grandfather built this place and it's still in the family despite how crazy life can get!"

Roger looked up at the ten foot high ceilings and remarked on them, Juanito grinned and replied, "Pre AC buildings will have high ceilings so the heat will rise. Our own apartments do have window rattler type AC units 'cos it does get hot during the summer!"

Stopping at a door with a small placard on it emblazoned with the name 'Gatus', Juanito opened the door and called out, "Nanay! Nag-uwi ako ng ilang bisita mula sa America."

Moments later, a round faced older Filipina stuck her head out of the kitchen and said, "Ano ang sinabi mo? "

She was momentarily distracted by the two small children peeking from behind her apron as Juanito repeated himself.

Switching to English the plump woman said, "What visitors from America?"

Juanito grinned and said, "These visitors from America!" as he beckoned for them to enter his family's home.

The woman smiled as Roger came in first with Lana cradled in his arms, looking for all the world like a doll.

Next was Freya who came in bent nearly double to clear the doorway then straightened up to her full height.

Smiling at Juanito's lola she said, "Hello, Ah'm pleased to meit yer, me nam's Freya."

The plump woman gaped and finally managed to say,"Saan ka nakakita ng higanteng babae?"

The two kids stood mouths agape as they saw Freya smiling at their lola sa tuhod, then Roger smiled and said, "We're stopped over at Basa airbase and Juanito's been a great host while driving us around Quezon city. I asked him to bring us here because I wanted to let you meet two people from the stories of olden days."

Lana smiled and waved at Juanito's lola, "Hello! My name is Lana, I came from Hawai'i."

Juanito's lola and his two kids stood stock still at the sight of tiny Lana waving at them.

The she found her voice.

"Isa ka sa mga mahiyain, yung kinuwento sa akin ng sarili kong lola noong bata pa ako!"

She staggered over to a chair and sat down heavily, then she began weeping and it was a couple of uncomfortable minutes before she spoke again, sighing she said, "My own lola told me about the shy ones, the little people of the Philippines. I always thought they were just fairy tales meant to be told to small children. Now in my own old age I find myself looking at one in the flesh and realizing they were real after all!"

She looked up at Freya, shook her head in disbelief and said, "Now I'm seeing a giantess and a shy one at the same time in my own home, of all places!"

Shaking her head she muttered, "Where are my manners?" then stood up and bustled into her kitchen while saying over her shoulder, "How do you like your coffee?"

They heard her clattering around in the kitchen and when Juanito offered to help, she shooed him out of her kitchen while muttering about "A woman's place is in the kitchen. Men are not allowed!"

She called out, "Have you eaten?"

Juanito began frantically waving his hands for attention and when Roger glanced over at him, he mouthed the words, 'Tell her yes, you've eaten!"

Roger cleared his throat and said quickly, "Yes, we ate before coming over. We're good!"

She stuck her head out of the kitchen and asked, "Are you sure you're not hungry?"

In her hand was a spatula, clearly she was grilling something despite their declaration of not being hungry.

Freya sniffed a couple of times and said, "Whit smells sae guid!"

Mrs. Gatus called out, "Panko breaded tilapia, would you like some?"

"Aye, Ah woods loch some, it soonds guid!"

She glanced over at Roger and said, "Whit?! Ah loch tilapia!"

Roger could only roll his eyes at her reply, the girl could eat some tilapia, much like she could eat anything else she liked.

A short time later they were seated at the Gatus family's dinner table admiring Mrs. Gatus' panko breaded tilapia and sauteed in butter and garlic asparagus spears.

Because of her height, Freya was seated on an Ottoman so she could sit at the table.

In addition to Roger and Freya, Juanito's wife Marcelina had come home at his insistence so she could meet their unanticipated guests.

She had come home muttering, "You made me close up shop early, this had better be good!"

When she saw his guests, she swayed on her feet and quickly sat down before she toppled over.

Moments later she exclaimed, "Where did you meet them again?"

Juanito replied,"Yesterday I got a call to bring my jeepney to Basa air base to pick up a passenger and there they were. The tallest and the smallest girls I've ever seen. Roger called me this morning and asked if I was busy and well, here we are all seated at our family dining table, and about to eat my lola's cooking!"

Marcelina glanced at Roger and asked, "How long are you staying here?"

He replied, "Not long, a couple of more days maybe. We're staying at the Aquino's house as we brought her granddaughter here with us."

Marcelina's eyes widened and she said, "The Aquinos who live up on the hill above Quezon city?"

"Y,yes? I guess so, the house is up on a hill overlooking the city and has a big old mango tree in the back yard."

She squinted at him and said, "Yet you're here in our home eating with us when you could be at their house, eating with them?"

Roger shrugged and replied,"I wanted Freya to meet some of the more average Pinoy people, and what better way to meet a few of them than by hooking up with a jeepney driver and his family."

Marcelina rolled her eyes and said, "We're not quite the average Pinoy family here. We own this old building, even if it's a bit run down. It's still ours, and that's more than a lot of Filipinos have."

Roger smiled at her remarks and said, "Let's just say the atmosphere here is a lot less 'stuffy'. Christina is a sweetie and her parents are nice people, otherwise Freya wouldn't hang around with her or them. Her grandmother and some of her other relatives? Well, that's another story."

Gesturing at Lana who was talking to Juanito's young daughter, Roger commented, "There's a reason why Lana didn't want to go with us when we went to the Aquino house, she has quite the instinct for survival and will pull a disappearing act in a heartbeat."

Marcelina smiled and said coyly, "What is it you Americans say? 'She smelled a rat'?"

"Something like that."

They had finished eating and Freya was in the kitchen with Juanito's lola asking her about her recipes.

The sight of the towering young giantess looming over Juanito's diminutive grandmother brought a smile to Roger's face as he enjoyed a cold San Miguel lager with Juanito.

He commented, "Seeing Freya talking to your grandmother reminds me of when she used to visit with Lorna's grandmother, the two were the best of friends despite their age and cultural differences. The girl has a way of drawing people to her and she is especially good at talking to her friends parents, she'll have your lola telling her all kinds of things before she's through."

Marcelina chuckled and pointed out Lana who was helping her children build a construct out of Lego blocks, "Our kids will be talking about today for the rest of their lives, the day a giantess and a shy one came to visit them."

She sighed and remarked, "Sadly, no one will believe them, they'll just think they were making up a story to impress people."

Smiling, she quipped, "At least we got some pictures of their visit to remember them by!"

Juanito brought his colorful jeepney to a halt in front of the Aquino house and said, "Welp, we're here!"

He grinned and said, "My lola will be talking about today for years to come, you guys really made her day!"

Smiling at Freya he said, "You really made my lola happy by showing such interest in her cooking, thank you!"

Freya smiled at him, "Ah enjoyed meitin' yer granny an' Ah wull enjoy eatin' her cookin' while we fly."

Roger chuckled and remarked, "The girls will wonder where we got that pot of food from that we stashed in Moby Dick on the way here, needing to drop off Lana was the perfect excuse for stopping by the air base."

Exiting the jeepney, Roger took out his wallet and fished out some colorful bills, Filipino pesos made for pretty money, unlike the relatively boring American currency.

Handing the bills to Juanito, Roger thanked him for their enjoyable day and Juanito grinned while saying, "I should be thanking you! You gave my family an amazing experience simply by showing up like you did. We certainly won't forget you and I know my lola won't!"

Roger chuckled at the memory of seeing Freya giving Juanito's lola one of her quite memorable hugs and seeing the tiny woman's face all smiles afterward.

After Juanito left, Freya said to Roger, "Ah suppose we hae tae gae back in noo?"

Roger could only smile at her and reply, "We do have to fetch your friends from the dragon's lair before we leave."

Rolling her bright blue eyes, Freya took his hand and they entered the Aquino house.

Hardly had they closed the front door behind themselves when they heard voices being raised in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines.

Christina was arguing with her grandmother about something and most of the household was staying out of it.

Lorna appeared and grabbed the two of them before dragging them outside to the back patio.

Lorna looked frazzled and she hissed, "We gotta get out of here, they've been arguing for hours and because its all been in Tagalog, I've missed most of it. So much drama, sheesh!"

A moment later she asked, "And where have you two been?"

"Hangin' oot wi' a jeepney driver an' his lola?" replied Freya.

"You're lucky you weren't here when it all started. Christina's grandmother decided she wanted her to stay here with her so she could marry some rich guy her granny knew and Christina wasn't having it and the fight was on!"

Roger sighed and muttered, "I guess I'm gonna have to be the bad guy here..."

"What do you mean?" asked Lorna.

"It means I gotta step in and assert my authority here. I'm responsible for you two and that means if anything bad happens, it's my ass that's in a sling and that, my young friend is why I've butted in when you two were around any eligible young or not so young, men."

Roger glanced at Lorna and said, "Get your things and her things together, but be discreet about it."

With that he walked into a shit storm.

He could hear them yelling at each other before he opened the door, grasping the door handle he turned the handle and entered the fray.

"I am, your, grandmother! That makes me the head of this family and I say you're staying here!" Cried Christina's lola, the formidable Mrs. Aquino, she never did bother giving her first name, thus keeping things formal.

Christina's face was flushed with anger and streaked with her tears of frustration as she all but shouted in reply, "And I, am not, staying to marry anyone! Why can't you understand that?"

She finally cried, "Now I remember the reason why my dad left, he couldn't take your bullshit anymore!"

Mrs. Aquino's face turned a dark red, her eyes narrowed and she went to slap her granddaughter when Roger stepped in and said, "Okay! That's enough!" as he grabbed her arm to prevent her swinging at Christina.

"Let go of me!" she cried in vain, Roger was not about to to let her hit Christina.

He growled, "I'll let you go after you've calmed down!"

Sagging in her frustration Mrs. Aquino cried, "I want her to stay here so she can marry someone I know! Not some guy she thinks she's fallen in love with!"

Roger said quietly, "Christina's old enough to make her own choices in her life. This isn't the old days when arranged marriages were more common. This might've worked for you but it won't work for her."

Mrs. Aquino looked up at him, her face streaked with tears, "Why are you here? Why are you interfering? Who made you the interloper?!"

Roger smiled crookedly and replied cooly, "Ever since I got a power of attorney for the duration of this trip, signed by Christina's and Lorna's parents, it has been my duty to keep these ladies in the same condition I found them in, and that's up to and including, their purity!"

"Get out!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, get out. Get out of my house, and take her with you, I don't have a granddaughter any more!" She hissed through gritted teeth.

Behind him Roger heard the door crack open and he glanced back to see Lorna giving him a thumb's up signal.

Letting go of Mrs. Aquino, he stepped back, took Christina by the hand and left the room.

As he closed the door, he heard Mrs Aquino's cry of anguish at her granddaughter's defiance and the sound of her sagging onto a couch to cry.

Turning around they saw Lorna standing there with two overnight bags, she smiled slightly and held one out for Christina to take while saying, "I think I got all your things, here!"

Christina let go of Roger's hand, took her bag and said thickly, "Let's get out of here!"

Exiting the Aquino house with their things, they saw Juanito's colorful jeepney parked out front with Freya talking to Juanito.

She grinned and said, "Ah figgered we'd be needin' a ride tae th' airbase!"

Christina smiled through her tears and said, "Thanks Freya, I owe you one!"

They quickly boarded the brightly painted jeepney and left before Mrs. Aquino could find some way to interfere.

The drive to the airbase was a somber one, even Juanito refrained from blasting his pop music in keeping with the mood.

After getting admitted to the airbase and delivered to their airplane, Roger gave Juanito a money clip full of unspent Peso notes and said, "For services rendered!"

Juanito grinned and said, "Are you sure?"

Roger grinned and replied, "Yes, I'm sure, now scram before I change my mind!"

"Consider me scrammed!" replied Juanito as he quickly hopped into his colorful jeepney and with pop music blasting, he drove out of their lives.

Opening up the bulky sea plane, they ran though the preflight check list while the girls made themselves at home and discovered the pot of food Juanito's lola had made for Roger, Freya and Lana.

Christina began crying when she saw that and through her tears she sobbed, "Why couldn't my lola be like her?"

She looked at Lorna and said, "I'm so sorry for the way my grandmother behaved, I've never been so embarrassed in my life!"

Lorna smiled and replied gently, "And I'm sorry too, I was so embarrassed for you and there wasn't a thing I could say or do."

A moment later and the deep throated coughing of a big radial aircraft engine starting up interrupted any further conversation.

Before long the second engine stirred and added its own sound to the racket.

Buckling in, they sat in silence, alone in their thoughts while the big plane went through the preflight routine of taxiing along a service road behind a ground guide jeep with its flashing blue strobe light.

Then the pregnant pause as the engines were brought up to take off speed and held there followed by the surge of acceleration and the bumping and rattling of take off before the sudden smoothness as the plane left the runway and began climbing into the Philippine sky.

Their next destination, Hahajima Island, somewhere to the north west of the Philippines and several hours flight time away.

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