Pilgrim Problems
by Rich Larson
Kat got in one last eye roll from behind the safety of her sunglasses before she took them off and stowed them in her apron. "Sorry. Won't happen again."
"It's not even sunny," her supervisor said.
Kat rubbed her bleary eyes. "I'm kind of hungover a tiny bit."
"You're a Pilgrim. You can't be hungover." Her supervisor glared. "Why can't you be a little more like Nathaniel, huh?"
Kat shot a glance over at Nathaniel, perfect Nathaniel, who was solemnly showing a bunch of kids how to milk a cow. He had the usual mournful expression on his face and was doing his dumb British-sounding accent even though Kat was pretty sure the Pilgrims had been American.
"So I should sew my own costumes, too?" she asked. "Want me to pretend to not know how phones work and freak out when people take photos?"
"That would be authentic, yes." He shook his head. "God bye you, Katherine."
"God bye to you too," Kat said. "See? I'm trying."
Her supervisor ambled off, game face back in place, ready to cheerily welcome more families to the colony and ask them which ship they'd been on and whatnot.
Kat sauntered over to the cow. The kids had wandered off, leaving Nathaniel working the udders in silence. "Yo, Nathaniel."
Nathaniel blinked. "Good morrow, Kat. How be you?"
"I be all right," Kat said. "How do you do it, huh? How have you managed to put up with his no phones, no sunglasses schtick for three whole summers? I'm ready to quit already. It's so dumb."
"I concur."
