Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

"Look out below!" a booming voice echoed above Tony and all the others that were gathered by the border of the Sixth and Second Kingdom.

"Hey, I heard that!" Tony said. But he didn't hear himself. "Testing, testing, one, two, three..." he said again. Still nothing. What the hell, he thought to himself.

I HEARD IT TOO, TONY, the princess wrote on her slate.

WHO SAID THAT? Tony asked. The princess shrugged.

"Hello! Can you little people hear me?" the voice boomed again. It was definitely coming from very high up. "Oh, am I still invisible? I always forget. This should help."

A huge giant suddenly came into form right in front of their eyes. The huge oversized man was standing over a mile high practically. He was bending down, slightly squinting down at Tony and the villagers. "I said Hello! I can hear myself so I know you can hear me!" the giant said, his breath blowing at the villagers.

ARE GIANTS DANGEROUS? Tony wrote on his slate and asked Princess Wendy.

NOT REALLY. THEY ARE JUST CLUMSY, Wendy wrote back.

Tony began jumping up and down then. He waved his hands in the air to get the giant's attention. The giant leaned down further and picked Tony up by his shirt and squinted at him. He said something, obviously, but nothing was heard. The giant frowned and stood up straighter with Tony still in his grasp. "Now you should hear me," the giant said to Tony.

"I can hear you," Tony said and was surprised when he heard himself. He clapped his hands in front of him and he could hear it. "Hello, hello?" he tested again.

"It is the height, Little Man. We are high enough that whatever the spell we are under can't reach us," the giant explained. Tony looked down at the others to see if they could hear the giant explain.

"Can you hear me?" he yelled down as loud as he could to the others. Most of them wrote big YESes on their slates and held them up so Tony could see them. "Errr... do you know what is going on, uh... Mr. Giant, sir?" Tony finally asked the giant directly.

"Little Man, I am just as lost as you are. Call me Udo anyhow. I just know I can hear myself when I stand up straight. But when I lie down or sit down I can't hear anything. Not even a squirrel's fart!" the giant bellowed. "I tried to go back to my home by Bean Town in the Third Kingdom but I can't get past the border. There is an invisible wall there."

"Yes, we know. I thought you were supposed to be invisible too," Tony wondered.

"I am only invisible if I turn my belt buckle on. Being invisible helps a lot because it keeps me from stepping on things that I shouldn't be stepping on. I go right through them. But when I am visible, I will make large impressions everywhere."

That explained why nothing was destroyed around here when there were large giants roaming the land, Tony thought. "Do you suppose you can help us out here, uh, Udo?" Tony asked. "Some of us have urgent matters that need taken care of. We need to really find a way out of this kingdom."

"I don't suppose you know how to find a way out, do you? Cuz I sure as hell don't. I stomped and I kicked. But that wall is still there," Udo, the giant, replied.

All the villagers and Princess Wendy could hear the conversation far above them. Wendy desperately wanted to say something and also be heard. She started throwing rocks at the the giant to get his attention. Udo looked down and peered at the princess.

"What do you want, Little Girl?" he boomed.

Wendy waved her hands in the air and jumped up and down. Udo quickly picked her up and put her in his hand next to Tony.

"Hi," she said, testing the sound quality. "Oh, I can hear myself! This is wonderful. Antony, have you figured out a way for us to get out of here?"

The giant started moving and they had to hold on to the giant's fingers to keep from falling off. Udo headed off some distance away where there were some very tall trees growing.

"Hey Udo! Where are you taking us?" Tony yelled out. He was quickly losing sight of the other villagers and the guards on the ground.

"I'm just taking you over there to those trees. I need to go errrr... relieve myself. I didn't think you'd want to witness that. So I'm going to set you up in some trees to talk," Udo said and gently set down Wendy and Tony onto a high tree branch. They quickly held fast to the trunk and sat down.

"All right, we won't go anywhere. Try not to errr... take too long," Tony called out as the giant slowly started walking off into the distance and suddenly disappeared.

"Wait a second, Antony. We're stuck up here in this tree," Princess Wendy said.

"Well, yeah, I kind of noticed that."

"Antony, what if the giant doesn't come back?"

"Of course he will!" Tony said assuringly. But he started looking around just to reassure himself. "I hope so at least."

"Tony, I think I should tell you something," Wendy whispered hesitantly.

"What, princess?" Tony said impatiently.

"Giants have the worst memories!"