Giants Among Us, Giants Within Us
(Wilma and the Giant)
The tiny green body stilled as the sound of heavy footsteps proceeded the giant into the study. If I stay perfectly still, maybe I won’t be seen, Wilma thought. She watched as the giant crossed the room and pulled out a chair in front of the large, brown, desk. Piles of paper surrounded a huge plastic box in the center of the desk.
From her perch on the bookcase, she tried to get a closer look at what the giant was doing. With the push of a button a glow appeared from the front of the box. Letters appeared like magic and were marching in a straight row across an upright page.
Wilma was entranced. She inched forward. Wow, she thought, the letters were forming into words. She inched closer and closer.
Suddenly the giant arose from the chair and moved towards the bookshelf. A large hand reached out towards Wilma and she froze in place. The hand brushed passed her.
She turned to watch as the giant took a book from the shelf. It was the blue dictionary, filled with thousands of interesting words. Wilma had just finished reading that very book the night before. She was intrigued and wondered what the giant planned to do with dictionary. Reading was the only thing that thrilled Wilma to the center of her heart.
Without a second thought Wilma reached out with her sticky tentacles and latched herself to the edge of the book. A breeze whistled by her ears as she was quickly transported along with the book to the desk. If this is what flying is like, I could get used to it, she thought.
The giant placed the book on the desk with a loud thump, which rolled Wilma off into a heap. She twisted her tiny body around several times until she could get her short stubby legs under her. She had six legs to be exact.
Wilma inched closer to the strange plastic box and began to read the words on the upright page. The flint hills were green with the recent rain. The small pond on the side of the hill overflowed its dam. Numerous animal tracks led to and away from the water’s edge. Tonka was only interested in one set of tracks, the rabid wolf’s. Once a beautiful graceful animal, now the wolf was one wet, matted, berserk, killing machine.
Oh wow, this giant is a storywriter. Those buttons must work like a typewriter to make letters on the screen. How lucky can a bookworm be? I’ll have fresh new stories to read any time I want to.
Wilma turned towards the giant with a new feeling of admiration. Her green body began to glow with anticipation. Suddenly a shadow crossed over her head. Boom! The weight of the book was excruciating.
Wilma realized she was in grave danger. The dictionary had forced her tiny body tight against the lettered keys. Her only hope for life was if the book was moved immediately or if she could some how communicate with the giant. She glanced around hoping to find some object she could use.
Near her back feet she could feel a cold metal rod. She grabbed the rod and moved it up to eye level and realized it was a paperclip. Using the paperclip she typed out the letters S-O-S. Again she typed S-O-S.
Suddenly she found herself cradled in the palm of the giant’s hand. She felt safe and protected. From that moment on the writer and the bookworm were destined to be friends for life.