"The Giant Man"

[jeffrey-dallas]

With all of the reading that I do, I've found a couple of professional stories involving SW and GTS themes. Enjoy please and thank you!



"THE GIANT MAN"
Written: July 1991
A short (no pun intended) story in 4 parts
Rates PG or so
Some comments from the writer William F. Nolan:

“As a youngster, I used to collect Big-Little Books. They were fat, undersized volumes, measuring 3 ½” by 4 ½”, with stiff cardboard covers. Half large-type text, half illustrations on facing pages. Designed for kids. One of my favorites was Tiny Tim and the Mechanical Men, about a little boy who was able to climb inside the head of a giant robot.

“Giants have always intrigued me, from Jack and the Beanstalk to the Jolly Green Giant (Ho, Ho, Ho!), but I’d never written about one. Not until the summer of 1991, when I got the idea for 'The Giant Man.'

“Let’s face it. He may not really exist in my story. He’s probably a metaphor for New York, a huge city that… (edited here for possible spoilers). I didn’t write about him with this in mind, but when I’d finished I was quick to recognize the symbolism.

“However you wish to interpret it, 'The Giant Man' was a lot of fun to write. And, I hope, to read.”

(Illustrations from Tales From William F. Nolan's Dark Universe issue #3. Cover art by Mike Dorman @2011)

[jeffrey-dallas]

(Part 1)

The roof door was jammed.

The super always unlocked it in the mornings for her. She enjoyed sitting out there on the roof with a cup of hot breakfast coffee looking over the vast New York skyline. This had become a fixed morning habit, a moment of calm before the rush of work each day. Besides, it was Indian summer, and the weather was really nice for sitting.

So she knew the door wasn’t locked; something on the roof was blocking it.

She put a shoulder against the door and pushed, using her full strength, but it wouldn’t open more than an inch or two. Not far enough for her to see what was out there.

Pulling the door closed, she went down the inside steps and crossed to the other side of the building. There was a dirt-smudged skylight that opened onto the roof. She found a ladder, climbed up, and peered out through the clouded glass.

What she saw greatly surprised her.

“There’s a giant man on the roof,” she told the building manager. “He appears to be sleeping, but he could be dead. No way of knowing.”

“I’ll go up and have a look,” said the manager. “Is he a tenant?”

“No, no. He’s much too large to fit into any of these apartments.”

“How big is he?”

“Huge. He takes up the whole roof. He’s lying in a fetal position.”

The manager blinked at her.

“You’ll have to go up by way of the fire escape,” she told him. “The roof door is blocked. He’s resting his upper thigh against it.”

“Okay,” said the manager.

She waited patiently in the hall until he returned.

“Did you see him?”

The manager shook his head. “Nobody up there. And the roof door opens just fine. Used it myself.”

“Thank you for checking,” she said.



(Illustrations from Tales From William F. Nolan's Dark Universe issue #3. Story art by Sergio Medina @2011)

[jeffrey-dallas]

(Part 2)

At her desk in the office she couldn’t stop thinking about the giant man. It affected her work. She kept getting her file numbers mixed up.

She always ate lunch in Central Park which was only six blocks from her office building. And she always sat in the same place, on a green wooden bench deep inside the park, away from the crowds. She didn’t mind the long walk in order to gain the solitude she required for her lunch. And she always ate alone.

She had just bitten into her chicken sandwich when she saw him. The giant man. Stretched out comfortably behind a large stand of trees and rocks. Seeing him there in the park took away her appetite.

She discarded her uneaten lunch in a trash bin and walked to the top of the rocks for a better look at him.

He was definitely sleeping. Not dead, sleeping. She watched his immense chest rise and fall with his steady breathing. She stared at him, fascinated, for several minutes. Amazing!

Then she sought out one of the park’s mounted police. It took her a while to find him, and she was out of breath.

“Just behind those rocks over there,” she said, pointing. “There’s a giant man. You’d better go see.”

“He try to molest you?” the policeman asked, looking down calmly from his dappled horse.

“Oh, no. Nothing like that.” She smiled. “It’s just that he doesn’t belong here.”

“It’s a public park,” the policeman said. “What’s he doing?”

“Sleeping,” she said.

The officer chuckled. “Then why should I go over there and wake the guy?”

“Because he’s a giant,” she said earnestly. “He could harm someone, a man that size.”

“Just how big is he?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I’m not very good at estimating height, but he must be at least a hundred feet tall. Maybe twice that.”

“I see what you mean,” the officer said with a grin on his face. “That’s big, all right.”

“Please, if you doubt my word, go over and see for yourself.”

“You stay here and I’ll be back in a jiffy,” he said, riding off toward the rocks.

She waited on another wooden green bench, one she’d never sat on before, until the officer trotted back to her on his horse.

“Well?”

“Nobody there,” he said. “Checked the whole area. No giants.”

“He was on the roof of my apartment building early this morning,” she said. “I’m sure it was the same man. And now he shows up here in the park.”

“Maybe he’s following you.”

“Perhaps,” she said. Then she smiled up at the officer. “Thank you for checking on him.”

“Hey,” he shrugged. “That’s my job, ma’am.”

She left Central Park and returned to work.



(Illustrations from Tales From William F. Nolan's Dark Universe issue #3. Story art by Sergio Medina @2011)

[jeffrey-dallas]

(Part 3)

After dark, when the pace of the city had slowed, she enjoyed sitting beside the Hudson River, watching the reflections of all the lights on the water. Often, as she did on this night, she would bring along a thermos of hot chocolate and a small sack of vanilla cookies, sipping contentedly from the thermos cup while she nibbled a cookie.

New York was a magic city. Anything could happen here. That’s what her mother used to say back in Iowa, but she’d given it a negative connotation. “You be real careful, honey. Anything can happen to you in New York.”

But her mother’s warning meant nothing to her and she never worried about living in New York. She felt that the things that happened here weren’t threatening, just magical.

Like the giant man.

She’d been thinking about him all afternoon. Imagine! A man of that size in her life. It was difficult to think of anything else. His unexpected appearance that morning on the roof had altered all her habits, making every hour fresh and new.

Then she saw him again.

In the water. Floating on his back – only this time in tight white swim trunks. (He’d worn pressed navy slacks and a pale blue open-neck knitted shirt earlier.) He had his arms extended out into the water and she could see that his eyes were closed. Asleep again? Or just floating out there in the Hudson, resting his eyes, relaxed and easy?

She capped the thermos of hot chocolate, dusted cookie crumbs from her skirt, and walked two blocks to Tony’s Place, a small Italian restaurant where she sometimes ate dinner.

“There’s a giant man floating in the Hudson River,” she told the owner. (The original owner, Tony, was long gone.)

“Dead body, call the cops,” said the owner. He was running a total from a stack of checks at the cash register, one of the old-fashioned kind. The whole restaurant was old-fashioned and charming.

“He’s not dead,” she told the owner. “I’m certain of that.”

“A giant you say?”

“Hundred fifty, two hundred feet tall.”

The owner sighed. “Right out of a fairy tale, he is.” He swung toward her. “So what you want me to do?”

“Call the river patrol. Have them check on him. He could be a hazard to small boats out there.”

“Lady, can’t you see I’m busy. You do it.”

She picked up the phone and dialed 911.

Within five minutes, a patrol car pulled to the curb in front of Tony’s. She explained about the giant.

“Just get in the car, ma’am,” the officer who was driving said. “Show us where this guy is.”

When they reached the river, he was gone.

The water was quiet, reflecting the city lights.



(Illustrations from Tales From William F. Nolan's Dark Universe issue #3. Story art by Sergio Medina @2011)

[jeffrey-dallas]

(And now the conclusion...)

(Part 4)

She went to a movie to get her mind off the giant man. The film was an action-detective thriller with an incredible amount of violence in it.

She left before the end, walking home. The weather was superb.

When she turned the corner into the block she found the giant man sitting in the street directly in front of her apartment building.

He was fully dressed in a nicely-cut charcoal gray business suit.

And he was wide awake, taking up most of the street, curb-to-curb.

“I waited for you,” he said. “Hope you don’t mind.” Naturally, he had a booming voice.

She looked up at him. His eyes were blue and serene. Immense, intelligent eyes.

“You… you’ve been following me,” she said. “All day. In the park… at the river… now here.”

“That’s true,” he said.

“I don’t believe in giants,” she told him. “They don’t exist.”

“I exist,” he said simply.

“Where do you come from?”

“Does it matter? I’m here.” He smiled. His massive white teeth were slabs of gleaming marble.

She sat down on the curb next to him. Like a mouse beside an elephant. She felt numb, dizzy. She looked up at him. The halo from the street lights made his face glow.

Then he said, his voice a soft rumble: “I love you… and I know that you love me.”

She blinked, feeling weak. Her heart beat rapidly. “Do I?” she said.

She reached out to touch his right thumb. The flesh was warm, yielding.

“You’re all alone here in New York,” he told her. “This is a big, cold city. You need me.”

“It’s impossible,” she said, shaking her head. “Even if I am… attracted to you… our sizes… we can never get together.”

“Sure we can,” he said, popping her into his mouth and swallowing her. “There,” he said, patting his stomach. “Now we’re together.”



(Illustrations from Tales From William F. Nolan's Dark Universe issue #3. Story art by Sergio Medina @2011)