Tonight, like every night, people from Garden City Beach, and even from around the world, milled about the cove to gaze at the giants and soak in their blue auras. The two Shell Giants dwarfed Jeremiah, standing fifteen, maybe twenty feet tall. They didn't have skin, more like a collection of seashells and coral covering their entire bodies. He felt small, like a tiny mudminnow when near them. Some of the coral on the giants’ bodies looked like tree branches. Some parts were white, while others were orange and blue. Still other bits looked like plates of armor with swirls in them. He recognized the coral from his trips with his ma and brother to the nearby aquarium. Seaweed dripped from the Shell Giants’ rocky exterior. It was as if the giants had stepped out of the sea with bits and pieces of the ocean floor glued to them. When the moon hit them just right, their skin shone like the inside of an oyster. If you were able to get close to them, they smelled like a pool that had grown thick with algae. While tiki torches planted around the cove illuminated the evening darkness, the Shell Giants emanated a low, blue light that was visible from miles away. Townsfolk and tourists alike would spend hours bathing in it. Some even wore sunglasses in the middle of the night. Most visitors wore beach wear and bathing suits. Even a few streaked through the blue radiance in their birthday suits, but those people, usually college-age boys, were quickly rounded up by the guards or local police. Everyone wanted to enjoy the blue light on their skin, which felt like warm bath water. Jeremiah was more at peace, in a melancholy sort of way, in the light. It gave him the strength to withstand the jerks at school. In the light, he even missed his dad a little less. His ma told him stories about the Shell Giants. They had been caged for decades by the local authorities, ever since she was a kid. She said that the government held them captive for scientific research. Back then, she said that the blue light shone as bright as an explosion of fireworks, that it hurt to look directly into their brilliance. But over the years, their glow had dimmed, and a feeling of sadness mixed with tranquility overtook everyone who visited them. Jeremiah asked his ma where the Shell Giants had come from. She said that they arose from the ocean, but how they got there, and what they were, had been debated for years. Ms. Greta, the retired biology teacher who lived down the street, thought they were aliens who had plunged into the ocean. More than one preacher claimed they were angels fallen from heaven, now trapped here on earth. On this night, hundreds of people swarmed about the cove. College kids from the nearby university took selfies in front of the giants. An elderly Japanese couple stood as close to the cage as the armed guards would allow. A man in a wheelchair, surrounded by his family, stared at the Shell Giants from afar, a blue shadow blanketing their smiling faces. A crowd of townies lounged on rock formations drinking beer from cans. Jeremiah walked through the crowd, the sand taking on a navy hue at his feet as he inched his way up to the cage. Only a few feet away, he stood as close as any visitor could get without being dragged away. As he stared at the giants, Jeremiah squeaked and clucked, and his head twitched involuntarily, gifts from his Tourette’s. Normally, he’d be annoyed and embarrassed by his tics in public, but being so close to the giants, those feelings faded. He looked into the Shell Giant’s eyes, which brimmed with sadness. They lumbered from one side of the cage to the other, an enclosure not much larger than his school’s baseball field. Their moans mingled with the sound of waves crashing against the shore and with the laugher from the throng. The anger inside of Jeremiah dissipated the longer he stood there. Contentment mixed with a vague sense of loss flooded his being. His mind drifted back to the day his dad had passed. Mrs. Miller had pulled him out of class after third period. He remembered her face, gray and emotionless. She didn’t say why he was being removed from class. Jeremiah thought he was in trouble for stealing crayons from the art closet. He could still hear Mrs. Miller’s heels clacking down the hallway towards the principal’s office. His ma waited inside, tears streaming down her face, crying without noise. She told him that his dad had been in a bad car accident on his way to work, that he was no longer with them. Jeremiah went cold inside, as if a humongous freezer door had opened and blasted him with frigid air. He didn’t speak, didn’t shed a tear. Not until later that night, in bed, looking out his window, when he thought about how he and his dad would never shoot off another firework together. The sting of that day now dulled in the blue light. Jeremiah’s thoughts flowed to the bullies from school who couldn’t hurt him when he stood in the light, his skin reflecting the Shell Giants’ glow. As much as Jeremiah enjoyed being in their presence, the desire to release the giants gnawed at his insides. The first time he stared into a Shell Giant’s eyes, it was like falling into a deep well with no bottom. Jeremiah could feel the loneliness, the pain that the giants kept inside of them. Since then, he wanted to set them free and send them back to the ocean where they belonged. It wasn’t fair that they were caged and never allowed to leave. His ma told him that the government tried to move them to the New York City Zoo for further research once. The scientists wore protective gear and used sterilized equipment. But once the Shell Giants were less than a mile away from the cove, their light dimmed, and the shells and crustaceans that clung to their bodies started to fall off. So, the authorities nixed that idea and, over time, allowed the giants to become a tourist attraction of sorts. Later, when the sky had drunk its fill of darkness, and the orange of the torches mingled with the blue radiance washing over the cove, unease wormed its way through Jeremiah’s body. He knew his ma would kill him for staying out past dark, but he didn’t want to go home. He knew what awaited him at school the next day: getting pushed around and called names, the girls giggling and pointing at him for the awkward way he chirped and whistled in class. The Shell Giants’ light, now a pale shade of turquoise, was his favorite place in the world. Sure, he loved his ma and brother, but standing here in the cove felt like home. He shuffled back to his bike and rode away, the Shell Giants’ moans still ringing in his ears like the echo of a lullaby. He slowly opened the living room door. His ma and little brother, Danny, sat on the couch watching television and munching potato chips. Waves of guilt crashed inside Jeremiah; his intestines twisted in knots. The sun had long since dipped below the ocean’s horizon, and he knew his ma would be upset with him for staying out so late. “Sorry ma, lost track of time.” “Hey J, what’s up?” His little brother shouted. His ma lowered the television’s volume and twisted around to greet him. “Jeremiah G. You missed dinner, and you have a science quiz tomorrow. I know you love those giants and all, but you can’t live down there.” Her voice boomed for such a small woman, under five foot. Jeremiah was already taller than her. But the power in her words and the look in her eyes said everything Jeremiah needed to hear. Her angry tone disguised the soft underbelly of concern in her voice. He hung his head as he flung his backpack onto the kitchen table, landing with a thud. “Sorry. I’m not too hungry. I’ll get right to studying.” “Okay, J. I just worry is all.”“I know, Ma.” As his ma and brother went back to their show, Jeremiah got out his science book to read about the different parts of a cell and how it replicates. It took all his concentration not to think of the Shell Giants and how their oceanic skin shimmered in the moonlight. A ball of worry rolled around in his stomach. He dreaded the thought of another school day. He imagined himself lying in the sandy cove, the ocean water cool on his back, falling asleep in the giants’ blue light, a light that would take him under and away. |
A ball of worry rolled around in his stomach.
He dreaded the thought of another school day.
He imagined himself lying in the sandy cove, the ocean water cool on his back, falling asleep in the giants’ blue light, a light that would take him under and away. | The gray building rose before Jeremiah as he peddled up the sidewalk. The kids from his middle school meandered about in the warm morning. With each rotation of his wheels, the invisible hand clenching his stomach grew tighter. He thought he might throw up the scrambled eggs he had shoveled in that morning. Reluctantly, he hopped onto the sidewalk and placed his bike into the bike rack. Already Brock Meester and his friends were crowding around him, their hulking bodies blocking the sun. It took all of Jeremiah’s concentration not to make any weird sounds or movements with Brock looming over him. “So, what’s the faggot got in his bag this time?” Brock laughed as he yanked at the backpack Jeremiah had slung over his shoulder. A light rain started to fall. “Got any more fireworks, sissy?” Brock pulled at the zipper, opening it halfway, the backpack twisting on Jeremiah’s back. Jeremiah’s ham and cheese sandwich, in its plastic bag, spilled onto the wet ground. “Get out of here Brock, go screw your mom like you do every night,” Jeremiah said, his face reddening. He knew the insult was dumb, babyish. Brock and his friends often derided Jeremiah’s love of fireworks. Jeremiah loved the sound, the reverberations you felt when you stood close to roman candles, the sky exploding with fire. One of his earliest memories was of he and his dad laying a blanket on the beach and watching the sky burn with color. He missed the father he had barely known, just a handful of fuzzy memories before the age of seven. Jeremiah did have a box of black snake fireworks—the oversized kind—that Brock threw to the ground and crushed under his size 10 tennis shoe. Mercifully, the bell rang, sending Brock and his crew laughing as they entered the building, leaving Jeremiah to clean up the mess as the rain came down hard now, like liquid nails. The darkened clouds made the gray school resemble, to Jeremiah at least, a silent beast awaiting its prey. Jeremiah threw his soggy lunch and smashed fireworks into his bag and walked into the waiting maw of the school. |
The droning of Mrs. McAffey’s lecture on how to calculate the radius and diameter of a circle caused most of Jeremiah’s classmates to droop their eyes or stare out the window. The only other sounds that could be heard were the ticking of the clock and Jeremiah’s intermittent squeaks and uncontrollable sniffling. As the school day neared its end, he could tell his medication was wearing off. While Jeremiah did well in school and enjoyed his classes, especially math, his thoughts were miles away this afternoon. He often wondered what the Shell Giants did all day, what they thought about living in a cage. It didn’t seem like they ever got hungry. He never saw any of the armed guards or anyone else from the town feed them. If they did eat, what would they eat? Would they eat fish? Jeremiah tried to push thoughts about the Shell Giants out of his mind, but it was no use. In their light, his sadness faded. For a short period of time, he felt whole, not cracked and splintered like his ma’s favorite coffee mug, the one he dropped last year. The school bell rang, jolting Jeremiah and his classmates back to reality. His chirping grew louder and more agitated as he thought about Brock and his friends. He’d have to pass on his way home, but Jeremiah was thankful for the bell and the loud chatter of his classmates for swallowing his involuntary noises. Jeremiah tossed his books into his bag and moved among the kids who jostled past without apology. Pumping his arms, he headed out the doors and marched down the sidewalk. The stench of the idling buses’ exhaust made Jeremiah cough, their low growl echoing in his ears. He felt like he had a dozen jackrabbits living in his stomach. His head swiveled back and forth, looking for Brock and his crew. Sure enough, they plodded along just a few feet behind him, cackling at some joke Brock just told. For a split second, Jeremiah caught Brock’s glance. Before the bigger boy could chase after him though, he jumped on his bike and pedaled hard down the street, away from bullies and teachers and back toward home. Hopefully, later, he would have another visit with the Shell Giants. The silence inside his two-story home weighed on Jeremiah like an anchor hung from his neck. Probably another night at the hospital for his ma. A hand-written note lay on the dining room table: Hi hon, Sue called in sick so I have to work a double shift. I’ll be home after 11. Dinner’s in the fridge, made tacos, your favorite. Danny already ate. Hope you had a good day. I hate not being here when you get off the bus. Finish your homework, and you can stay up to wait for me if you like. Tomorrow’s Friday. Let’s do something fun this weekend, all together. Danny picked last time, so it’s your pick. Love, Ma xoxoxo His little brother Danny, the brainiac of the family, scrawled on a math worksheet, multiplying fractions. A half-eaten taco lay on the table with its contents spilling out everywhere. Jeremiah felt an urge to cry but didn’t want Danny to see him being babyish. Jeremiah wasn’t sure why he missed his ma so much. What he really wanted was for his dad to be here, to help him set up some bottle rockets and see how high they could go. Jeremiah yipped in the quiet room, but his brother was used to Jeremiah’s sounds; he didn’t even stop writing. After a few moments, the scratching of his brother’s pencil stopped, and Danny looked up with his face framed by thick, black glasses. It was Danny’s idea to get those glasses. He thought he looked cool, like Clark Kent. “Hey J, what’s up? Ma’s got dinner in the fridge.” “Yeah, I read the note. Not hungry yet.” “Okay. Hey J, after my homework, and your homework, want to go outside and fire off some rockets? Maybe even break out some of your sparklers? I love those.” Jeremiah went to the fridge and opened it up, staring at a gallon of milk, the tacos on a plate with plastic wrap over them, and an assortment of condiments. Everything looked bland to him, as if they were made of cardboard. He shut the door. “No way. Ma would kill me if you got hurt.” “Ah, come on, you showed me before. You promised.” “I said no, and if you ask again, I’m gonna send your math homework up on a missile, and you’ll flunk out.” “Shut up J, get out of here,” Danny said, as he instinctively covered his papers with his arms. Jeremiah wasn’t going to do anything to Danny’s homework. He just didn’t feel right. He wasn’t hungry and didn’t feel like doing his homework, not even like talking to Danny any longer. He ran upstairs, put on his headphones and started to drown his thoughts in a sea of country music. Before flopping on his bed, he peered through his window blinds. At the angle his bedroom faced, he could see a hint of blue on the horizon from the direction of the cove. How many nights had he climbed on the roof, wishing that he could release the Shell Giants and swim with them to the middle of the ocean, leaving his troubles, maybe even his Tourette’s behind. A thousand spiders crawled through Jeremiah’s veins as the image of Brock and his idiot friends popped into his head. Maybe he would call in sick tomorrow, something he did way too often. He stared out his window, the sun falling, dragging its light behind the horizon. Jeremiah imagined another night of townies and tourists laughing and dancing while the Shell Giants moaned in sadness. And he didn’t want to think about spending another day at school with the bullies and the kids who avoided him during lunch. Right then, he made up his mind. Tonight had to be the night. No matter what. He dove under his bed and brought out a large cardboard box. He stuffed his bag full of supplies and then stopped by the garage for more. He wouldn’t waste another lonely night thumbing through his comic books or watching TV. Tonight, he’d fight the fear that ate away at him every day of his life. He would set the Shell Giants free. The wind roared in his ears as he pedaled hard through the streets of town. He raced past the tourist trap gift shops that sported beach towels and pink t-shirts with images of the Shell Giants emblazoned on them. Rounding a corner, Jeremiah flew past the “Giant Eats” diner, which boasted a hastily painted statue of one of the Shell Giants out front. It looked more like a statue of Cookie Monster painted gray. Jeremiah’s backpack weighed a ton, making it more difficult to speed down the street. A tingle of anticipation and even a drop or two of fear blossomed inside of him. The sky purpled like a blood stain drying on cotton, and the scent of saltwater hung heavy in the air. He parked about a quarter mile away from his usual spot, the bike rack beside the walkway. He couldn’t afford to be stopped by any roving cops. He only had one shot. Once the night had fully claimed the sky, Jeremiah climbed a rock formation and hid behind a cluster of bushes that dotted the hillside. He knew someone would spot him eventually, so he had to act fast. He glanced at the people milling about below, taking what they could from the Shell Giants’ gift. Jeremiah dumped out the contents of his bag and went to work, stifling his yelps and involuntary coughs as best he could. | He wouldn’t waste another lonely night thumbing through his comic books or watching TV. Tonight, he’d fight the fear that ate away at him every day of his life. He would set the Shell Giants free. |
Soon the sky was ablaze. Green, blue, and red explosions sparked across the darkness. Gasps from the crowd mingled with the whistles and bangs from the fireworks. This was Jeremiah’s cue. He raced down the rock formation, sliding to the ground, then walked quickly through the crowd as they turned towards the beautiful explosions in the night. He had used slow burning fuses like his dad taught him. It was one of the few lessons that had stuck. He wore his backpack, but the contents were much lighter. Jeremiah remained invisible to the gawking tourists as he passed them by. The guards ignored him as they trekked up the hill to find the culprit who had disrupted their evening. Jeremiah jumped over the chest-high barricade and now stood closer to the Shell Giants than he ever had in his life. The blue light on his skin had a weight to it. He slipped a crowbar from his backpack and tried to break the padlock by sliding the crowbar between the chains and pulling with all his might. The scent of gunpowder hung heavy in the air. Shouts from nearby guards sent electricity through Jeremiah’s system. He pulled with all his strength, letting out his rage, his sadness, his loneliness, but still the chains held. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught both Shell Giants standing motionless. They had ceased moaning and stared at Jeremiah with sad, quizzical eyes. A guard barreled down the hill, pushing past the tourists who had now turned back towards the cage, staring at Jeremiah. The squat guard leapt over the barricade, tripping but then gaining his balance. One last pull on the crowbar and still the chains did not break. As the guard reached for Jeremiah, he twisted, dropping both the crowbar and his backpack. He slid his slender frame between the bars. Before the guard could stop him, he found himself standing no more than two feet from the Shell Giants, creatures who smelled of rotting seaweed. Jeremiah could hear a murmur ripple through the crowd as police sirens wailed in the distance. Even the guards froze for a moment, unsure of their next move. Jeremiah looked up into the eyes of the closest Shell Giant, who peered down on him, its eyes radiating with the same blue that covered Garden City Beach. A warmth spread over his body as a wave of light cascaded across his skin. The light caused a chasm to open inside of Jeremiah, an exquisite longing colliding with euphoria. His tics stopped, and his body ceased to twitch as if calm ocean waves flowed through him. The nearest Shell Giant took a step towards Jeremiah. The guards shouted, trying to squeeze through the narrow bars themselves, pulling at the steel to widen the gap just enough to get inside. That was futile. Several guards ran to a police trailer that probably held the keys to the cage. The Shell Giant extended its arm and opened its palm. Moans emanated from both giants, softly at first, barely audible in the shouting from the crowd and the guards. Jeremiah raised his hand—hesitating for only a second—before laying his palm onto the Shell Giant’s palm, which felt like algae-coated rocks. Jeremiah had to squint as the Giant’s light intensified, temporarily blinding the guards, the crowd, and the police officers who had just arrived. The Shell Giant who had extended his palm to Jeremiah began to convulse as coral, shells, and barnacles began to fall away from its limbs and chest. The seaweed that covered the giant slipped from its shoulders. The blue light penetrated and suffused Jeremiah, who felt like he was caught in the middle of a sun being born and could feel the energy pulsing through his body. There was no pain. Instead, Jeremiah felt a flash inside him like the brightest sparkler imaginable. The Shell Giant that had touched him shed its oceanic armor, and it did not seem like a giant any longer. It was half its original size, and its skin resembled the shiny gray of a seal. Sadness no longer emanated from its eyes, but those orbs burned with renewed brightness. It let out a loud, sustained moan that became a roar. What remained of the Shell Giant compressed and flexed and slid between the bars and out of the cage. The onlookers, and even the guards, parted as the shrunken creature trudged down the cove and into the ocean’s inviting waters. The now unarmored Shell Giant did not stop until submerged. The second Shell Giant continued to stand beside Jeremiah, still coated with remnants of the sea, moaning so loudly that the sound echoed throughout the cove. Jeremiah felt his right arm grow heavy as if encased in ice. His whole body glowed, radiating a blue light while a grayness crept into his skin. His right hand, the one that had touched the Shell Giant, was now covered in shells, crustaceans, and coral. Jeremiah felt his body expand, which reminded him of how the universe expanded after the “Big Bang,” like he was taught in Mr. Hardy’s science class. Bits and pieces of shell rapidly formed on Jeremiah’s face and chest. The smell of salt burned his nostrils. With all that was happening, he should have been frightened out of his mind, but he wasn’t. In fact, he felt calmer than he ever had in his life. He finally understood the Shell Giants. He could sense that there were not just two such creatures in the world, but hundreds, thousands who lived at the bottom of the sea. Every so often, they emerged to share their gifts with the human world. Jeremiah could see these encounters in his mind’s eye. Sometimes a Shell Giant would appear to a lone fisherman at sea, visit island folk in the far ocean reaches, or come ashore on the inhabited continents of men. The last time had been long ago in human years. When they did appear, the giants were often treated like oddities or aliens, like here in Jeremiah’s hometown. Humans loved to take something beautiful and majestic and capture it, put it behind glass or imprison it, turning the thing of beauty into a possession. That was just human nature, but something the Shell Giants understood. The sadness, the desire, the longing from each visitor at the beach rippled through Jeremiah’s being. But Jeremiah’s soul was now a deep well, an abyss that could hold the world’s pain. Jeremiah knew that the Shell Giants’ inner wells had finally filled up over the years, overflowing with all the suffering the tourists and the townsfolk had brought to them. Light exploded from Jeremiah’s body, which grew taller by the minute, his legs, torso, and arms expanding in size, his clothes ripping away, exposing coral-encrusted skin. Jeremiah grew even larger than the second Shell Giant with his head grazing the top of the cage. A neon blue wave blazed across the night, which lit up the sky as if it were midday. Jeremiah played back his life on fast forward, thinking of his dad who taught him to control the fireworks they both loved, and how to send them into the sky night after night. Jeremiah thought about his ma who was probably still at work and would be worried when she found out what had happened to him. He knew that she’d miss him and would weep for her son that she had lost to this strange and wonderful transformation. He worried that his little brother would have to live life as an only child. But deep in Jeremiah’s being, he knew that it would be okay, that he had more than enough space in his heart to drown their sorrow and the rest of the world’s too, now and into the far reaches of time. |  |
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