Here is an Excerpt from a story I finished some time ago:
“So, what do you think, princess? Can you fix it?” he asked with a laugh.
Silver eyes flashed as she paused in her work. “Of course I can. This is easy. But why do you call me a princess? Princesses in the books at the library wear big dresses and go to dances and do magic. I’ve never worn a dress in my life.” He laughed out loud at her honesty. She was quite the little character.
“Maybe princesses do more than wear dresses, little one. And maybe you’re doing a different kind of magic right now.” She shrugged in response and focused on her task. Before too long, she began to pepper him with questions about his car.
“I’ve never gotten to work on such a nice car before, though Mr. Hahn has lots of books about cool cars in his shop. How long have you had it?”
“Not too long princess. I had a 907 before this one.” He said with a smile, not sure if she would know what that was.
“You had a 907 before this one? Why did you get rid of it? That was a really nice Porsche. I read in Mr. Han’s magazines that they only made like, 103 of those.” She asked, silver eyes wide as leaned toward him like an inquisitive little bird.
He frowned. He did not know how to explain it to such an innocent little girl. He decided to just lie. “I was driving too fast and I wrecked it. So, I had to get a new one,” he said simply.
She paused in her work and scrutinized him with her piercing eyes. She blinked those long, thick lashes a few times and scrunched her perfectly arched dark eyebrows together, and without saying a word, he realized the astute little girl knew he was not telling the truth. Instead of calling him on it, she asked.
“Why were you driving too fast?”
“I was trying to get away from some really bad people.”
“But when you crashed, didn’t they catch you?” she asked, cocking her head to one side, gazing directly at him. He smiled to himself, once more reminded of an innocent little bird.
“Almost. I was able to hide until they went away.”
She nodded and then resumed her questioning, still gazing at him. “Why were bad people chasing you?”
He decided to be a little more direct. He leaned toward her. She mimicked him, leaning close, thick dark lashes blinking, silver eyes wide and curious. He was close enough that he could detect the scent of black licorice on her breath. He definitely could tell now that most of dirt on her face was faded bruises, at least on her cheeks. But her skin underneath the dirt and bruises was soft and fair, otherwise flawless on her innocent heart-shaped face. He could not help but think to himself she would be a pretty woman one day. He was in turn curious to see her response. He felt wicked, almost like a villain in a fairy tale. He lowered his voice and said, “Maybe because I’m bad too, and I did something bad.”
She gave him another sharp look, but she did not pull back. “You don’t look like a bad man. Not like the guys my mom hangs out with,” she stated bluntly.
He threw back his head and laughed out loud. He was tempted to reach out and touch this innocent, honest little girl. He got the impression she would not take it well, she would probably burn him with that hot iron.
“Oh princess, don’t judge people by how they look. It will get you into trouble someday.”
She bristled at his teasing, her full, pink, licorice-stained lips pursed into a frown. “I don’t,” she retorted stubbornly, “But you don’t seem like the guys my mom hangs out with. And they are bad. They do bad things. Gross things,” she said assertively with a small shiver and then sat back and soldered a wire.
I have no doubt about that. He thought to himself. Who knows what this little girl has seen? “Princess, maybe there is more than one way to be bad.” Who would have thought he would be sitting in a small desert town on a Sunday afternoon having a philosophical conversation with a little girl about good and bad? It made him laugh harder. He was beginning to wonder if he had slipped into another dimension.
“Can I ask you a question?” she asked suddenly staring down at the part she was working on. It looked as if she were almost done working on it. He was impressed by how fast she wired it back together.
He laughed again, “You mean, in addition to all of the other questions you’ve already asked me princess?”
“No, I have a serious question this time,” she said. She reached for some of the wires that she had pulled off the old wiring harness. They were lying in a pile on the table, fluttering a little in the afternoon breeze.
Unsure where this peculiar little girl was going with the conversation, he replied, “Sure princess, ask whatever you would like.”
“Did one of those bad people put acid on your wires?”