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Where Do We Go From Here?

Chapter 7

That evening, Jamie rolled out his little bed and lay in it. He kept talking to Yahweh until he finally fell asleep. He had successfully spent his first night in the giant household. It was quite the rough night for Jamie because his body had accustomed to the warm air of the woods, so naturally, he shivered, tossed and turned under his now very thin blanket for the majority of the night.

The next morning, after only managing to scrape a few decent hours of sleep, Jamie arose bright and early, at around 4am, like he usually did back when he lived in the woods. Normally this was the time that Jamie would forage for food in the area, the time before the diurnal animals woke up and after the nocturnal animals went to sleep. However, Jamie was now completely out of the woods, both figuratively and literally, plus he had some food leftover.

Jamie stretched and yawned as his body woke itself up. Many of his muscles were stiff and sore from having been exposed to the intense cold of the storage room, so extra stretching was necessary.

“Yahweh… you there?” called Jamie into the air around him.

“Good morning Jamie”, answered Yahweh.

“The morning is NOT good, Yahweh! My whole body hurts”, grumbled Jamie as he massaged his thighs, trying to get some warmth to develop in them.

“Yes, it was rather frigid in here”, responded Yahweh, “Don’t worry though. I’m pretty sure that that will change later on today.”

“Why?”

“When the two giants leave, the wind that blows through the tunnels and makes everywhere cold will go off until they come back home to make it blow again”, explained the spirit.

“Okay”, said Jamie, even though he had no idea as to why two giants were able to control the winds that blew in their home. He would just have to learn about it later. Speaking of later, Jamie made a small mental list of the things he would need to set up his new home.

As a tiny stranger pondered on how he could make his surroundings in their storeroom more homey, Keren and Cory snored away until an alarm clock blared two hours later, at 6am. As the alarm sounded in her ears, Keren pulled the blanket over her head and made the most irritated face.

Cory blinked the tiredness out of his eyes. He was on the verge of getting up when he felt some blanket getting pulled away from him. Cory chuckled. His wife was being her usual Monday self and if he did not intervene, she was not going to get to work today.

“Keren, wake up! We need to get to work and bring home the bacon”, whispered Cory as he stretched to look upon his wife’s covered face.

Keren let out a cute fake cry and uncovered her dry-skinned, frowning morning face, hair scattered and all. She sat up, only to meet her husband’s tired-looking face, staring right at her.

“Don't look at me like that. I look like I just crawled out of a grave.”

“And I don't?”

Keren raised an eyebrow as she surveyed her husband from top to bottom. Messy brown hair, adorable bed marks, adorably goofy smile and a light scruffy beard. Conclusion – he did not look like he had just crawled out of a grave.

“Nope, you do not. Don't try to tell me otherwise”, stated Keren with an authoritarian look on her face.

Cory threw his head back in laughter. Trust Keren to prove her point at all time.

“Yes Madam, Your word is final.”

Soon after their little exchange, both Keren and Cory got out of bed, showered, dressed up and went to grab some breakfast. As they walked to the kitchen they passed the storage room, completely unaware of the tiny little person that was being rattled by the power of their footsteps.

Not long after they finished eating, Keren, aware of the terrifying cost of electricity and heating, turned off the air conditioning in the house and joined her husband in their car.

Jamie had had a bit of scare when the thunderous footsteps of the two giants vibrated his little safe space. Jamie knew that he would have to get used to it, since they walked past that place all the time. He had just finished gathering his bearings after the rumblings, when the voice of Yahweh sounded in his ears once again.

“Jamie, I think we can head out now”, announced Yahweh. He had felt the giants’ presence dissipate from the house, so now was a good time for Jamie to get a move on.

On hearing Yahweh’s voice, Jamie’s eyes widened in excitement. He had been itching to explore the gargantuan house ever since he had set foot in it. There were many day-to-day objects that Jamie still had absolutely no clue what they were used for. Looking around the house would allow him to educate himself more about how giants, and humans, lived. He grabbed his backpack, mounted it on his back and stood up.

“Ok Yahweh”, responded Jamie, “I guess I'm going to use the tunnels again?”

“Yes Jamie. Unless you want to use the big door over there.”

Jamie stepped out of his cardboard dwelling, looked over at the intimidatingly large door and shuddered in discomfort. Just imagining it opening gave Jamie the chills. Jamie was grateful for the very fact that it was locked.

“No thank you, Yahweh. I'm good with the cold, windy tunnels.”

“I guessed as much. Now come along, my son.”

Jamie obediently headed for the vent door, pulled it open and made his way back into the ventilation system. As he walked in, he noticed that there were droplets of water on the tunnel wall. The wind that normally blew through the tunnels was also gone. The air in the vent was still and cool.

“Woah, Yahweh look at that”, exclaimed Jamie, pointing to the dripping vent walls, “The walls are all wet and there is no more breeze. You were right! The giants turned off the wind.”

“Indeed, they did. So you can keep going without the fear of getting cold again.”

Jamie gave a sweet little nod of approval and then he realized something. The water formed little puddles in the tunnel. The puddles were nowhere near big enough to Jamie to get some bath water from, but they were just the right size for Jamie to get hold of some drinking water. There would be bits of dust in it, but Jamie had drank worse water from nastier places in the past.

“Yahweh, I think I have an idea”, yelled Jamie.

“I know. You were muttering your thoughts out loud. It is a very good idea my boy.”

Jamie blushed at his unaware actions, but he was glad that Yahweh approved and had not taken it as a silly idea. He pulled off his backpack and placed it on a section of the vent floor where there was little water. He then pulled out his water bottle and took off the bottle cover that also served as a small cup. He ran the cup across the puddles, gathering little streams of water and pouring them into the bottle itself. Once finished, he fastened the bottle cover back onto the bottle mouth and placed it right into his bag.

“Good job Jamie. Now, onward. We have a lot of looking around to do”, said Yahweh, “What exactly do you want to get today?”

Jamie recalled the small mental list that he had made earlier. The first thing that came to mind was that he needed a small box of some sort and by small, he meant something that was about his height in length. He was also going to need some soft material and possibly a napkin.

“Well… I need a box, one that is the same size as me. I also need something soft and fluffy. A napkin would be useful too”, answered Jamie.

“What do you want to use all of that for?” asked Yahweh, even though he already knew what Jamie was thinking.

“I want to make a bed for myself. My sleeping mat is soft but it’s too small for me now that I’m older and bigger.”

“I understand, Jamie. I take it that the “something soft” that you are referring to is what you hope to use as a pillow.”

“You betcha!”

“Hmm, might I suggest cotton wool?”

“Uhh, what exactly is cotton wool, Yahweh?”

“Can you remember when you and your mother used to make arts and crafts together?”

“Yeah, I do actually”, answered Jamie, a half-smile appearing on his face. Even though he still did not understand why his mother just vanished and left him stranded, he still cherished the memories of her that he had from his childhood.

“Well can you remember those little snowmen you two made with some soft, white balls?”

“Oh yeah! Those were super cute.”

“Well, those little balls were bundles of cotton wool. Now imagine those same balls, just giant-sized.”

“Great idea, Yahweh. Those would make perfect pillows”, exclaimed Jamie as he imagined, laying his head down and sleeping peacefully with a giant cotton wool as his pillow. “Where could I find them though? Mummy never told me where she used to keep them. She said something about them being important for her use.”

“You normally find things like those in the bathroom, Jamie”, said Yahweh.

“Awesome! Let’s try to find their bathroom”, concluded Jamie.

Following his new discovery, Jamie began his escapade through the vents once again. Now Jamie did not have a map of any sort to this labyrinth of vents and he had absolutely no desire to get lost while searching for the bathroom. He had been traumatized once here, he did not need a repeat of it.

“What can I do to help myself find my way back home?” wondered Jamie as he stroked the brown stubble on his face. “It’s not like I can leave bread crumbs the way Hansel and Gretel did.”

“Do not worry about that Jamie”, interrupted Yahweh, “Since you are taking charge of finding where the bathroom is, I will take charge of the journey back home. We are a team after all.”

“Yeah, we’re the super awesome dream team! I wish I could high five you right now!”

If Yahweh had a physical form, he would be smiling. Jamie was an adult in body, but a true, joyful child at heart and in mind. Yahweh felt like it was truly a shame that he could not have any physical interaction with him. However, that did not mean that He could not satisfy the boy’s current desire.

“How about an air high five?” suggested Yahweh.

Yahweh’s odd suggestion caused Jamie to laugh hysterically. He imagined himself jumping and trying to high-five the air.

“Come on Yahweh, I would look super silly if I did that”, Jamie pointed out.

“Jamie, who would notice that you looked silly? No one can see you.”

“You can!”

“Young man, I am the one you are going to be high-fiving!”

Jamie took in Yahweh’s last statement and giggled. What he had said was true. There was nobody around to laugh at him, in fact there had not been anyone around to laugh at him about anything for the past ten years. Jamie concluded that his fear of embarrassment was probably due to the fact that he had finally experienced the presence of other people after such a long period of time.

“Okay Yahweh! I’ll air high-five you!”

“Wonderful. We will do it in 3, 2, 1!”

Immediately he heard the cue, Jamie jumped in the air with his right palm up, smacked the air and let himself fall. That was more fun than Jamie had expected it to be.

“That was nice”, whispered Yahweh, “Now let us go and find that bathroom.”

Description

Where Do We Go From Here?

Chapter 7

That evening, Jamie rolled out his little bed and lay in it. He kept talking to Yahweh until he finally fell asleep. He had successfully spent his first night in the giant household. It was quite the rough night for Jamie because his body had accustomed to the warm air of the woods, so naturally, he shivered, tossed and turned under his now very thin blanket for the majority of the night.

The next morning, after only managing to scrape a few decent hours of sleep, Jamie arose bright and early, at around 4am, like he usually did back when he lived in the woods. Normally this was the time that Jamie would forage for food in the area, the time before the diurnal animals woke up and after the nocturnal animals went to sleep. However, Jamie was now completely out of the woods, both figuratively and literally, plus he had some food leftover.

Jamie stretched and yawned as his body woke itself up. Many of his muscles were stiff and sore from having been exposed to the intense cold of the storage room, so extra stretching was necessary.

“Yahweh… you there?” called Jamie into the air around him.

“Good morning Jamie”, answered Yahweh.

“The morning is NOT good, Yahweh! My whole body hurts”, grumbled Jamie as he massaged his thighs, trying to get some warmth to develop in them.

“Yes, it was rather frigid in here”, responded Yahweh, “Don’t worry though. I’m pretty sure that that will change later on today.”

“Why?”

“When the two giants leave, the wind that blows through the tunnels and makes everywhere cold will go off until they come back home to make it blow again”, explained the spirit.

“Okay”, said Jamie, even though he had no idea as to why two giants were able to control the winds that blew in their home. He would just have to learn about it later. Speaking of later, Jamie made a small mental list of the things he would need to set up his new home.

As a tiny stranger pondered on how he could make his surroundings in their storeroom more homey, Keren and Cory snored away until an alarm clock blared two hours later, at 6am. As the alarm sounded in her ears, Keren pulled the blanket over her head and made the most irritated face.

Cory blinked the tiredness out of his eyes. He was on the verge of getting up when he felt some blanket getting pulled away from him. Cory chuckled. His wife was being her usual Monday self and if he did not intervene, she was not going to get to work today.

“Keren, wake up! We need to get to work and bring home the bacon”, whispered Cory as he stretched to look upon his wife’s covered face.

Keren let out a cute fake cry and uncovered her dry-skinned, frowning morning face, hair scattered and all. She sat up, only to meet her husband’s tired-looking face, staring right at her.

“Don't look at me like that. I look like I just crawled out of a grave.”

“And I don't?”

Keren raised an eyebrow as she surveyed her husband from top to bottom. Messy brown hair, adorable bed marks, adorably goofy smile and a light scruffy beard. Conclusion – he did not look like he had just crawled out of a grave.

“Nope, you do not. Don't try to tell me otherwise”, stated Keren with an authoritarian look on her face.

Cory threw his head back in laughter. Trust Keren to prove her point at all time.

“Yes Madam, Your word is final.”

Soon after their little exchange, both Keren and Cory got out of bed, showered, dressed up and went to grab some breakfast. As they walked to the kitchen they passed the storage room, completely unaware of the tiny little person that was being rattled by the power of their footsteps.

Not long after they finished eating, Keren, aware of the terrifying cost of electricity and heating, turned off the air conditioning in the house and joined her husband in their car.

Jamie had had a bit of scare when the thunderous footsteps of the two giants vibrated his little safe space. Jamie knew that he would have to get used to it, since they walked past that place all the time. He had just finished gathering his bearings after the rumblings, when the voice of Yahweh sounded in his ears once again.

“Jamie, I think we can head out now”, announced Yahweh. He had felt the giants’ presence dissipate from the house, so now was a good time for Jamie to get a move on.

On hearing Yahweh’s voice, Jamie’s eyes widened in excitement. He had been itching to explore the gargantuan house ever since he had set foot in it. There were many day-to-day objects that Jamie still had absolutely no clue what they were used for. Looking around the house would allow him to educate himself more about how giants, and humans, lived. He grabbed his backpack, mounted it on his back and stood up.

“Ok Yahweh”, responded Jamie, “I guess I'm going to use the tunnels again?”

“Yes Jamie. Unless you want to use the big door over there.”

Jamie stepped out of his cardboard dwelling, looked over at the intimidatingly large door and shuddered in discomfort. Just imagining it opening gave Jamie the chills. Jamie was grateful for the very fact that it was locked.

“No thank you, Yahweh. I'm good with the cold, windy tunnels.”

“I guessed as much. Now come along, my son.”

Jamie obediently headed for the vent door, pulled it open and made his way back into the ventilation system. As he walked in, he noticed that there were droplets of water on the tunnel wall. The wind that normally blew through the tunnels was also gone. The air in the vent was still and cool.

“Woah, Yahweh look at that”, exclaimed Jamie, pointing to the dripping vent walls, “The walls are all wet and there is no more breeze. You were right! The giants turned off the wind.”

“Indeed, they did. So you can keep going without the fear of getting cold again.”

Jamie gave a sweet little nod of approval and then he realized something. The water formed little puddles in the tunnel. The puddles were nowhere near big enough to Jamie to get some bath water from, but they were just the right size for Jamie to get hold of some drinking water. There would be bits of dust in it, but Jamie had drank worse water from nastier places in the past.

“Yahweh, I think I have an idea”, yelled Jamie.

“I know. You were muttering your thoughts out loud. It is a very good idea my boy.”

Jamie blushed at his unaware actions, but he was glad that Yahweh approved and had not taken it as a silly idea. He pulled off his backpack and placed it on a section of the vent floor where there was little water. He then pulled out his water bottle and took off the bottle cover that also served as a small cup. He ran the cup across the puddles, gathering little streams of water and pouring them into the bottle itself. Once finished, he fastened the bottle cover back onto the bottle mouth and placed it right into his bag.

“Good job Jamie. Now, onward. We have a lot of looking around to do”, said Yahweh, “What exactly do you want to get today?”

Jamie recalled the small mental list that he had made earlier. The first thing that came to mind was that he needed a small box of some sort and by small, he meant something that was about his height in length. He was also going to need some soft material and possibly a napkin.

“Well… I need a box, one that is the same size as me. I also need something soft and fluffy. A napkin would be useful too”, answered Jamie.

“What do you want to use all of that for?” asked Yahweh, even though he already knew what Jamie was thinking.

“I want to make a bed for myself. My sleeping mat is soft but it’s too small for me now that I’m older and bigger.”

“I understand, Jamie. I take it that the “something soft” that you are referring to is what you hope to use as a pillow.”

“You betcha!”

“Hmm, might I suggest cotton wool?”

“Uhh, what exactly is cotton wool, Yahweh?”

“Can you remember when you and your mother used to make arts and crafts together?”

“Yeah, I do actually”, answered Jamie, a half-smile appearing on his face. Even though he still did not understand why his mother just vanished and left him stranded, he still cherished the memories of her that he had from his childhood.

“Well can you remember those little snowmen you two made with some soft, white balls?”

“Oh yeah! Those were super cute.”

“Well, those little balls were bundles of cotton wool. Now imagine those same balls, just giant-sized.”

“Great idea, Yahweh. Those would make perfect pillows”, exclaimed Jamie as he imagined, laying his head down and sleeping peacefully with a giant cotton wool as his pillow. “Where could I find them though? Mummy never told me where she used to keep them. She said something about them being important for her use.”

“You normally find things like those in the bathroom, Jamie”, said Yahweh.

“Awesome! Let’s try to find their bathroom”, concluded Jamie.

Following his new discovery, Jamie began his escapade through the vents once again. Now Jamie did not have a map of any sort to this labyrinth of vents and he had absolutely no desire to get lost while searching for the bathroom. He had been traumatized once here, he did not need a repeat of it.

“What can I do to help myself find my way back home?” wondered Jamie as he stroked the brown stubble on his face. “It’s not like I can leave bread crumbs the way Hansel and Gretel did.”

“Do not worry about that Jamie”, interrupted Yahweh, “Since you are taking charge of finding where the bathroom is, I will take charge of the journey back home. We are a team after all.”

“Yeah, we’re the super awesome dream team! I wish I could high five you right now!”

If Yahweh had a physical form, he would be smiling. Jamie was an adult in body, but a true, joyful child at heart and in mind. Yahweh felt like it was truly a shame that he could not have any physical interaction with him. However, that did not mean that He could not satisfy the boy’s current desire.

“How about an air high five?” suggested Yahweh.

Yahweh’s odd suggestion caused Jamie to laugh hysterically. He imagined himself jumping and trying to high-five the air.

“Come on Yahweh, I would look super silly if I did that”, Jamie pointed out.

“Jamie, who would notice that you looked silly? No one can see you.”

“You can!”

“Young man, I am the one you are going to be high-fiving!”

Jamie took in Yahweh’s last statement and giggled. What he had said was true. There was nobody around to laugh at him, in fact there had not been anyone around to laugh at him about anything for the past ten years. Jamie concluded that his fear of embarrassment was probably due to the fact that he had finally experienced the presence of other people after such a long period of time.

“Okay Yahweh! I’ll air high-five you!”

“Wonderful. We will do it in 3, 2, 1!”

Immediately he heard the cue, Jamie jumped in the air with his right palm up, smacked the air and let himself fall. That was more fun than Jamie had expected it to be.

“That was nice”, whispered Yahweh, “Now let us go and find that bathroom.”