Anti-Gravity and the Punishment of Clever Girls

Librarian, mother, and minor trickster, Janna spends her time annoying lobsters, sharpening the edges of paper, and refusing to take out the trash. She has coerced published works in Andromeda Spaceways, F(r)ction, Meow Meow Pow Pow, Luna Station Quarterly, and a dozen or so more. Nominated for Best Small Fictions, she doesn't really know what to say about that, but will get back to you later. Generally, if the toaster blows up, it is not her fault. Follow her @ScribblerMiller on Twitter or visit her website to detail a complete list of her shenanigans. /millersminusculemystories.com

This story was born out of a drabble challenge and a love for genre mashing and word mincing. I've always been drawn to folk stories where the girl outsmarts the villain/dragon/ignorant populace by using some clever loophole. But what if that girl is tired? She's outsmarted again and again and this time it doesn't quite work out for her. Or the child. Perhaps this time, she didn't make the right choice at all. In one version of Grimm's The Clever Girl, the queen gets away with taking her husband through a backwards kind of prenuptial agreement. All is forgiven and she is celebrated for her wittiness by avoiding a careless banishment. In this story, no matter how hard the clever girl tries, the universe works against her. Taking what she thinks most precious, she is banished after all and left spinning through cold darkness to an uncertain end.