Serendipity Market by Penny Blubaugh Page B

The giant gave them to me. Absolutely. Certainly. He said—’
    â€œThere was a roar from over our heads. My grip on Jack’s arm slipped, he tried to run, Christobel tangled through his feet, and he skidded into a pile of beans.
    â€œâ€˜He STOLE!’ roared the voice above our heads. ‘Snuck into my house and STOLE, he did.’
    â€œJack cowered in his pile of beans. ‘I never did.’ But his voice was a whisper, and he shivered in the hot sun.
    â€œFine. I believed in giants. And I believed this particular giant much more than I believed Jack. I didn’t think I could do anything about Jack’s transgressions, but I asked anyway. ‘Do you still have what you took?’
    â€œâ€˜You believe him?’
    â€œI looked at Jack with contempt. ‘Yes, Jack. Of course I do. How else could you have come to have his beans? But you must have taken something else. Idoubt even a giant would be this upset about beans.’
    â€œMy mother, having joined us, said, ‘Oh, Jack. Your poor, poor mother. To have raised a thief for a son.’
    â€œI raised my voice. ‘What did he take, Giant?’
    â€œâ€˜He took my golden goose, my Jezebel. If I could only get my Jezebel home, I’d forgive and forget.’
    â€œâ€˜Jack?’
    â€œBut he was gone.
    â€œMy legs are long and I move quickly. I had Jack down on the ground before he’d gone a quarter of a league down the road.
    â€œâ€˜Jezebel?’ I asked.
    â€œJack was as surly as a bad child when he said, ‘At my house.’
    â€œâ€˜Not for long,’ I said.
    â€œWe were back soon enough, standing at the base of the tallest stalk. It was already beginning to shrivel.
    â€œâ€˜Giant,’ I called, ‘your Jezebel is here.’ And as Ilooked at the goose and the dying beanstalks, I said, ‘But I have no idea of how to return her.’ I turned to Jack and said, ‘How did you get this goose in the first place?’
    â€œâ€˜Climbed.’ And Jack sneered at me.
    â€œâ€˜When you gave me these beans, you didn’t think I’d climb up myself? Find the giant and take what was his, like you did?’
    â€œJack snorted a laugh. ‘You? Never. You’re too honest.’
    â€œâ€˜Honest is as honest does,’ my mother said. Jack shrugged and yawned.
    â€œI shook my head in disgust, then looked up the shriveling stalk in front of me. I still couldn’t see the top. But I could see that the leaf stems, if followed properly, would form steps, almost like a ladder.
    â€œI turned back to Jack, scanned him from head to toe. I blinked several times to make sure he was really what I was seeing. It was still Lazy Jack, and I wasimpressed in spite of myself. ‘You climbed something like that ?’ I asked.
    â€œJack straightened his shoulders, and now he grinned, looking quite cocky. ‘Of course I did. Where do you think I got the beans in the first place?’ He gave a little shrug, still grinning. ‘Nothing to it.’
    â€œI stared at the stalk again, pictured climbing up one-handed, and swallowed hard. ‘Should I?’ I asked. I have never liked high places. I even got scared in the loft of our barn.
    â€œMy mother didn’t hesitate. ‘Of course you should, John. You must. Poor things. They need to be together.’ And she gave Jezebel a little pat.
    â€œâ€˜Umm. You wouldn’t want to return her, Mother, would you?’
    â€œâ€˜Oh, John. At my age?’
    â€œI gulped and glared at Jack, who had put me in this miserable position. I wouldn’t trust him to do it, even if he volunteered. I sighed, then yelled, ‘Wellthen, here we come!’ I put my shaking left foot on a stem and grabbed the stalk with my damp right hand. To Jezebel, the goose nestled in my left arm, I said, ‘Do not move,’ and I started up.
    â€œThe stalk that had been so alive yesterday, so supple in