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The first thing you need to know about this town is that it has been there for centuries. The people were old, older than the town, but generations had lived and died there.
The second thing you needed to know was that this town had been built on a giant’s arm.
It’s unclear if the people who settled the town knew about the sleeping giant, or even got permission to build the town, but the fact remains that everyone knows this town was built on a giant.
And that could cause some problems sometimes.
Every year or so the giant would finish inhaling or exhaling, and people would find a hill steeper, a house straining at the seams, the wind blowing slightly stronger, among other things.
People adapted. Houses were built better, a trolley system was installed, and power lines and sewer systems moved above the ground with maintenance crews responsible for monitoring the stretch and strain.
Now, because the town was built on the arm, the movement wasn’t so bad, in fact, there were other towns that had it worse. Some folks had settled along the giant’s back, or on the arm with the nose facing towards it, and so had to deal with much worse issues caused by the giant breathing.
But that wasn’t a problem for the residents of the left arm.
They were actually good friends with the left and right leg settlements, as they had similar conditions to them, as well as access to some resources that the people of the left arm couldn’t get, as they were too high up. The people of the right and left leg relied on settlements on the feet to traverse the dangerous earth below.
Most people who ventured to the earth found nothing important outside of base materials, like stone, iron, and other metals.
One day, a father and son were found and brought back to the small village on the big toe of the left foot, and we asked about their travels.
They told the people who had welcomed them about their escape from the boy’s grandmother, the father’s mother, after she had become so controlling she started stealing the father’s money and ruling the house with an iron fist.
Needless to say, the father had ventured out to seek his own fortune, and to regain some control of his life, bringing his son along with him, only an infant at the time.
After exploring some of the left foot and leg, the father and son duo made their way to the village along the edge of the left arm. The arm was very long, and thus could support many different villages and climates throughout it. Most notable of the left arm was the bend at the elbow, creating a space that acted as a secluded area on the ground below the giant. This site was used as a spot to test the courage of all men and women who wanted to prove their loyalty and commitment to the people of the left arm.
Some had perished in their adventures, though whether it was the beasts, the lack of food or water, or any other reason was mostly unknown, and thus ignored.
In the center of the space between the giant’s head and the left arm, there had formed a lake, a rather large one to the inhabitants of the left arm, but comparatively small from other lakes the father and son had seen.
“Dad,” asked the son, “Could we go swim in the lake sometime?”
“I don’t know, ask me later after we get settled,” the father replied, and continued walking with his son.
The son was balancing along a small section of raised sidewalk connected vertically to the flat portion, rather like a balance beam. The pair were walking down a section of paths built along the arm’s edge, right before it began sloping downward, with fencing along the outward edge to prevent people from rolling off to their demise.
Holding his father’s hand in one of his own, and holding out his other arm in a straight line in order to balance, the son begins looking at the giant’s head, the back of which is visible from where they are standing.
“Dad,” the son continues and waits for his father to hum in acknowledgement. “What happens if the giant wakes up?”
The father stops walking for a moment.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think we should worry. The giant’s been here for generations, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” He says smiling.
The son considers this for a moment before speaking up.
“How do you know for sure? I never know when I’ll wake up from a nap. The giant could just get up and walk away for under us,”
“I’m sure that won’t happen. The people who’ve been here haven’t woken up the giant,”
“Yes…but that doesn’t mean they can’t. And what if the giant is mad that we’re living on them?”
“I…I don’t know. Why’re you asking me this anyway?”
“Because you’re an adult. You’re in charge of everything,” The son looks up at his father with big eyes.
The father considers his son once again. “I guess I am, but I don’t really know what you think about. I haven’t been a child for a very long time. Could you tell me about what worries you?”
The son smiles widely. “I’m glad you’re my dad,” He says, “I think a lot of parents don’t listen to their kids. They just like being in charge,” The son kicks a rock over the sidewalk and watches it skitter over the numerous cracks.
“I can see that, but I need to take care of you. Part of my job as a parent is being able to support your needs, not just my own,” The father replies, holding onto his son’s hand as they continue to walk.
“I think a lot of them have forgotten how to do their jobs,”
“Yeah…I think they have. Maybe we should fix it,”