In the Belly of the Giant

Part 5

Mr. Henderson checked his watch. It was almost lunchtime, but his stomach was hurting too much for him to eat anything. He could feel nascent pressure increasing in his head from the onset of another migraine. He sighed and popped a few over-the-counter painkillers in his mouth, swallowing the pills down with a drink of water. He needed to see a doctor.

His appointment that he scheduled for the day was coming up soon, so he might as well leave. Perhaps the doctor would see him early. He stood up out of his chair with a soft groan and loosened his tie. His hand inevitably moved back down over his burning gut, and he grimaced. Something was definitely, physically, wrong with his insides. He could no longer deny it when he was losing weight from not eating and feeling weak and nauseous. Like many men, he avoided the doctor unless he really needed to go.

Mr. Henderson informed the vice principal he was leaving early as he left his office. The bell rang for lunch and students swarmed the halls. The tall giant moved slowly, scanning the area around his feet as he walked for any stray humans. He towered over all the teenage students, giants and humans alike, and he had to be especially careful where he placed his feet far below. Several students greeted him or waved, and he responded with a weak smile and flick of his hand. Eventually he made it out of the cramped building, to the open space outside, and exhaled in relief.

The hospital was a short walk away, but Mr. Henderson wasn't feeling the most hearty, so it took him longer to reach the building than he expected. He was sweating slightly, with labored breathing, by the time he finally checked in for his appointment. He sat down in the waiting area, gripping his abdomen with an uncomfortable expression, before the nurse called him in. He hauled himself to his feet and followed the nurse into the examination room, settling his huge bulk into a spare chair next to the exam table.

"How are you feeling today, Mr. Henderson? It says here on your chart you're suffering stomach pain and migraines?" a tiny voice squeaked from the table.

The giant looked down in surprise to see a diminutive, dark-skinned man in a white coat near his elbow. "Oh, my doctor's a human?"

"Yes, I'm Dr. Rajak. And this is my lovely assistant, Nurse Rajak. Also my wife." Mr. Henderson was now even more nonplussed, but had the self-control to keep his face neutral. "Considering the symptoms you reported when you made your appointment, we suspect you might have a stomach ulcer, which is why I was referred to your case."

"Stomach ulcer... that would explain the pain and queasiness. But I'm still failing to understand, what you mean about why you were referred?" the giant questioned.

"Normally in these situations, we would perform a gastroscopy to confirm the presence of an ulcer in your stomach lining, then prescribe antibiotics, if it's a bacterial infection, or PPIs, proton pump inhibitors that reduce the acid in your stomach. However, there's a revolutionary new treatment that has recently become available, that repairs and protects the damaged area, facilitating much faster healing. It's a medicine with a consistency almost like glue or putty, that must be manually applied directly to the affected area, so you can't simply ingest it," the human doctor expounded in a lengthy lecture.

Mr. Henderson processed all this information with mild bafflement. "Wait, so you're telling me..." He looked down at the bite-sized doctor, puzzling over the mystery, and suddenly connected the dots. The giant blanched. His empty, aching stomach protested with a sickening heave. "No..."

"You understand now, yes?" Dr. Rajak asked calmly. He had performed this procedure several times before, and thus was unruffled by the thought.

"You're going to... go inside me?" Mr. Henderson choked. He could scarcely believe what the doctor was suggesting, especially with how perfectly pacific he was about the whole thing. The doctor affirmed his suspicions with a curt movement of his head. Mr. Henderson felt like he was going to be sick, and not just because of the ulcer. He couldn't imagine swallowing a living person, having a human engulfed inside his mouth, sliding down his esophagus to splash down into the acid in his belly. He wasn't a bloodthirsty savage. He didn't crave human meat. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He was a gentle giant. The concept was horrific.