The Miller's Widow Story-Arc

[Willow Oran]

The Miller’s Widow



If Sive had known that he was a scientist, she would have charged more when he rented the rooms below the mill, but she hadn’t, and the deal was made. Irritated, she slipped the smooth coins into the pocket of her apron and pondered the best way to dismiss him from her doorway. The man was lingering.

He was a youngish fellow, painfully awkward in countenance and ill-advised in dress. One of those who mistook shabby habits for efficiency and abstract laws for practical reality.

“…and I was wondering if you could show me how it worked?” He was looking down at her, somehow pleading and condescending in the same expression.

“Sorry?” Sive pretended not to have heard his question.

“The mill. It’s amazing!” He enthused, wide eyes and flushed cheeks betraying his excitement, “I’ve never seen anything like it and was hoping you could show it to me.”

Sive raised an eyebrow, amused, and took his elbow, turning him to face the mill-house and the waterfall that powered it.

“There it is,” she said, carefully keeping her expression neutral and not reacting to his arrogant fascination with the eye-bending edifice.

The youth sighed impatiently. “Yes, but how does it work?”

“Well, the force of the waterfall turns that big wheel…” Sive began.

“I know that part!” He exclaimed, exasperated, “I meant the part before that.”

“Oh,” Sive paused, savoring the moment, “Well that’s quite simple. The waterfall is fed by the stream. Waterfalls usually are, you know,” She added, wicked humor creeping into her tone.

“Ma’am,” his tone verged on despairing now, “Surely you’ve noticed that your stream is flowing uphill?”

Sive admired the mill whilst she called to tongue her favorite explanation. The stream feeding the waterfall was indeed running uphill, its bed a dizzying, unnatural series of switchbacks. Mere illusion and simple physics, decipherable by any with unusual wit. “Waterfalls need height,” she said significantly, giving him one last chance to free himself from the trap he had walked into.

“But gravity- ? Water isn’t supposed to flow that way!”

“I wouldn’t know about ‘supposed to’.” Sive sighed, almost feeling sorry for him in his naivety, “Laws have not been my study.”

“I can see that!” He returned rudely and her sympathy evaporated, “Look, did you bother to keep your husband’s notes? I’d love to read them, as you obviously can’t answer my questions…”

He trailed off as Sive’s expression grew cold, “There are no notes.” She informed him haughtily, “You may find the answers yourself, just as I did.” She closed the door firmly and, locking it, went out on the deck to finish hanging the laundry out to dry.

Below, she watched the young scientist still standing, bafflement embodied, staring desperately up at the waterfall she had designed for her late husband’s mill. She shook her head, smiling to herself. She would have a steady income for a long while now; This young scientist had more to learn about necessity than most.