Wonderkind

She shook her head stubbornly.

“No. I’ve got it,” she said, heading towards one of the rows.

 

She took her position behind one of the mills, beginning to push it.

“Look! I’m fine.”

 

“I’ll do that later,” she told him, leaning her back against the machine to push it forward. “I gotta get this done before sundown.”

 

She glared at him defiantly.

“I can do this, Z,” she replied. “I’ve been doing it for years. I’m fine.”

 

“Because it’s a lot of work,” she replied, getting it to the end and going on to the next one. “And if I make you do too much work, you’re going to leave.” This last part was said with a joking tone, but he would hear the anxiety creep into her voice as she spoke.

 

She frowned at him.

“I don’t think you’re actually going to leave.”

 

“Because it’s hard work and it’s your first day,” she replied sternly.

 

She faltered, pausing in her pushing to look at him hesitantly.

“But...”

 

She watched him, her brow furrowing nervously before she came over to him.

“You’re much too beautiful to be working in the fields,” she said quietly.

 

“Unoriginal, Z,” she replied playfully, shaking her head.