MEETING THE GIANT – EXCERPT FROM A WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Arthur Peckham describes meeting the giant for the first time in an excerpt from THE GIANT: A Once Upon A Time Tale Of California And Nevada.
I met the giant in Pasadena. I was playing Prince Charming in the musical ‘Into The Woods’ by Stephen Sondheim. Remember that one? I was The Wolf, too. Dual role. The giant was watching me do that and came back after to invite the whole cast to eat Chinese food with him. He said he’d come on a mission of peace. Said he was a cousin of the lady giant we’d killed in the play and was inviting us to break bread with him to show that giants and little people could live together in peace. It was the first time I saw the grins. The grins happened to people’s faces when they saw the giant. I wore one, too. Hey, it’s what you do. Struck dumb grins and nervous laughter. He was beyond huge. On TV he looked big enough running up and down the court towering over seven footers, leaping and slamming his famous jackknife dunks. Being in the same room with him faded everything else to a blur. He was there, crisp and clear, a massive titan, filling a lot of space. He wore a loose shiny green silk blouse which swam with each gesture of those hands, those pinch-your-head-off-with-thumb-and-forefinger-if-I-wanted-to hands. I can tell you there are certain slender women who could wear his wedding ring as a bracelet. That ring, silver, turquoise and diamonds, glittered at me. I followed it with my eyes, and it rested gently on the shoulder of her. Black ringlets of hair and eyes a blue which made drab the ring shot a bolt of lightning up my spine. She looked straight at me. I adjusted my grin to a smile and accepted her complimentary review of my performance. She was Sylvie, wife of the giant called, of course you know, Norton Horton. She was tiny, a toy princess.
