Earth Legend by Florence Witkop

ducked, laughing harder, as I stuck out my
tongue at him.
    It was a good visit until Gerald ruined the
mood. "Cullen Vail was here a bit ago, asking about you."
    "Me?" A headache started pounding the back of
my neck. "What did he want?"
    Gerald leered. "I think he likes you."
    "Not a chance." I relaxed slightly.
    Gerald looked me up and down. "Who'd have
thought our illustrious, slightly pompous head of Security would
fall for a lowly farmer?"
    Someone else broke in. "He didn't fall for a
farmer. Remember what he said? Our Elle isn't just any farmer.
She's got degrees. She's special. She knows more about growing food
than all of us lowly dirt farmers put together."
    The man with the blueberries spoke again.
"Now I know I'm going to ask Elle to check out my berries. No
wonder she brings in the best crops. She's an expert."
    I puffed out my cheeks to hide my discomfort.
"He had no right to tell you that."
    Gerald waved a charitable hand. "Don't worry,
Elle. We promise not to hold all those degrees against you as long
as you continue to bring in great crops and teach us your secrets."
He leaned against the wall and crossed one leg over the other. "You
see, Elle, there's a little competition going on that you might not
know about. But you're a part of it, like it or not. New Rochelle
isn't the best producer on the Destiny yet but, with you around, it
might be very soon. The other villages aren't bringing in crops
like they did and we are getting better thanks to your cherries and
apples. As soon as you teach us what you know, New Rochelle will be
on the map and everyone else can eat our dust."
    There were a few 'hear, hears' and then
everyone decided it was time to return to what little work there
was for them so I wandered away, comforted by the knowledge that at
least one small group of people on the Destiny wanted me. As I
rounded the corner of the building, I wondered what they'd say if
they knew the truth about me. The real truth.
    My attention was caught by an individual in a
uniform talking to someone. Cullen Vail was in town and he was
asking questions about me. It hadn't been two weeks since his last
visit. He wasn't on schedule, so why was he here? The headache
turned into a pounding, scary pain through my whole body.
    I hid behind the building while I debated
whether to continue towards the grocery store to pick up some sweet
peppers or head back to my apartment and hide. But when I peeked
around the corner again he was gone so I cautiously headed down the
single street that was the village of New Rochelle towards the
village square.
    I decided he must be headed for his Harley to
run some official errand or other. He'd most likely stopped in New
Rochelle because it was on his way to somewhere else and that was
how he'd ended up talking to the farmers. No other reason. He
hadn't come because of me. About me. I was safe, the hurting began
to subside.
    A middle-aged lady in the grocery store
stopped me in the cereal aisle. "Cullen Vail was here."
    "Oh?" I pretended surprise.
    "He asked about you."
    "Me?" My voice squeaked. This wasn't good.
Maybe he wasn't just passing through. But it wasn't necessarily bad
either. I frantically told myself that there were a thousand
reasons for him being in town that had nothing to do with me. But I
couldn't dismiss the fact that he'd asked about me. "Was he looking
for me?'
    "No. He was just curious." She grabbed a box
of cereal. "He tried to hide it, though." She gave me the once-over
slyly. "Didn't work. I can tell when a man is interested in
someone. The questions he asked were … well … personal."
    "I don't think … "
    "Dear, don't even try to deny it. It seems
that our Cullen Vail is human after all."
    "I doubt … "
    "I always thought of him as being too
standoffish to ever have a real relationship. But it looks like I
was wrong." She shuddered delicately and turned up a snub nose.
"And, Elle, don't take this the wrong way, but you're welcome to
him. He's way too stiff for most