Chapter 3 – Processing Time 

Ben stopped by his car and quickly retrieved his phone.  Taking a minute, he looked in the mirror to make sure he didn’t look as pale as he felt. 

As he sat in his car regaining his composure, he opened the search browser on his phone and looked up “Sterling International.”  He doesn’t ever remember visiting their webpage or seeing who they were.  He simply recalls them from the court room. They had attended telephonically and over video chat so he had no inclination that there was anything different about them. 

He scrolled through their web page until he saw a link for “Up and coming developments!”  He scrolled through and expected to see a photo of their town.  He got to the bottom where in bold blue it said “Sterling International LLC ©. “ 

That was it.  No mention of the town or anything to state they had begun working out here.  He began to scroll up, looking to see what else they were working on, when he heard a call from the other dwelling, “Ben, were you coming?” Malinda was peeking out through a window facing the construction trailer.  

“Yes, sorry!” Ben had found his voice to say back.  He closed his phone and put his mini-investigation on hold. 

He hurried over to the dwelling.  Not quite sure why he felt the need to hustle, but having heard the simple force Malinda was able to call over to him, he did somehow didn’t want to disappoint her.  

He rounded the front of the building and noticed this was much more personal than the trailer just a few hundred yards away.  There was a flower bed on both sides of the door.  There was a large covered area on the far end with a lounge chair and some privacy screens.  He stopped a moment seeing the largest sedan he had ever witnessed.  If he hadn’t bumped into Malinda first this would have been even more shocking than the construction equipment. The makeshift patio and the oversized bench rounded out what was a nice but enormous entry to her trailer. 

Ben before approaching the door, checks to make sure his shirt wasn’t ruffled and took a moment to compose himself.  As he reached out to knock on the door, Malinda was already opening it and greeting him with a slight smile. 

“Welcome to my traveling home” she stated.  Malinda being the front runner for Sterling International, it was important she would be able to bring a suitable place to live at during her time on site. 

Been took a moment to take the place in.  It was as tall as the construction trailer but twice as long.  He noted the large appliances in the compact kitchen area.  The side he entered in on was a rough doormat for cleaning shoes as you enter.  Dirt was sprinkled around the mat likely from her time out in the construction area.  What really struck him though was the size of the chairs and desk he saw to his right.  It wasn’t an impressive desk in its looks, but rather the sheer size.  The seats for the chairs were chest high and even with the supports along the side would be a challenge to get up on, gracefully.  The desk was a solid piece of treated wood with 4 legs supporting the corners.  It left space underneath and in a compact living space was required.  This drew Ben’s attention to the boxes strewn under and around the desk.  He could see the Sterling logo on the boxes.  As Malinda had moved behind the desk during Ben’s scan of the room, she addressed him more formally. 

“Councilman, would you like to have a seat?  I can also offer you a beverage if you would like.” Malinda asked motioning to a smaller fridge behind her. 

“No thanks on the Drink, but I do have a few questions about everything going on over here.” he replied. 

As he walked around to sit in the chair Ben began to put his leg up on the support to hoist himself up. 

“Oh, how unthoughtful of me.” Malinda exclaimed.  Ben halted his attempt to get up on the chair and watched as Malinda went over to the corner and retrieved what looked like small stool.  “If you would give me just a moment” she asked, motioning for Ben to move around behind her. 

As Ben passed behind Malinda, he again felt an intoxicating amount of inadequacy.  Here is a woman he barely reaches the hemline on, getting a former basketball star, a leg up to sit in a chair. As Malinda leaned over to secure the stool Ben appreciated the way her legs flexed supporting her less orthodox position of fastening something on the chair.  He noticed the briefest hint of pink coming from under her skirt, a sharp contrast to the dark blue.  That was the tipping point. Ben suddenly realized he was feeling woozy.  Right here, in front of him, was a real live Giantess.  Her outfit was revealing, her very essence filled the room like a heavy smog.  Combining that with the sweet aroma of sun kissed skin and feminine skin care items, Ben lost his footing and fainted right in the middle of her living room. 

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“Ben! Ben!” Think fast! 

A ball came screaming at Ben, but with great reflexes he caught it and instinctively began to dribble. While he wasn’t exactly sure where he was he knew what he was doing.  He was dribbling the ball up the court, fans roaring in the stands and he heard “20 seconds left Ben, you got one shot!”   

Through a haze been could see his teammates.  While he couldn’t make out who was who the familiar team colors of their jerseys indicated they were with him. Ben began to call out a play as the offense took its positions. 

Ben could feel a rush of adrenaline as he knew this was their last chance to score.  He faked to his left and passed to a boy on the right.  He caught it and Ben proceeded to quickly dive around his defender and the ball came back with precision.  

“5........ 4.......” Ben heard a distorted and seemingly fading countdown from the crowd. 

*wumpf.... wumpf* The basketball echoed as he dribbled after the pass and began to go for the game winning layup. 

As he stretched his hand up, fully turning around to the hoop, she was there.  Malinda, in an opposing team's jersey had both hands up ready to make a stop on his last second attempt to the wind the game. Ben felt as if he was floating towards the basket when an arm, which may have been a sledgehammer, crushed him to the ground.  The crowd silenced.  Ben looked up through concussed eyes and saw the other team celebrating with Malinda. Malinda however never took her eyes off of him.  Everything else began to fade away he watched as Malinda turned and walked away. 

“What the hell was that?” Ben said sitting up groggily on the largest bed he had ever seen.