The Strawberry Race

Zofia was the fastest picker at Hollins Farm. During the strawberry season, she worked in the fields from five to eleven every morning, and she filled more baskets than anyone. She worked quietly, with her headphones on, and she almost never looked up.

In the second week of June, a new picker arrived. His name was Benji, and he talked all the time. On his first morning, he looked at her baskets and said, "I bet I can pick more than you." Zofia didn't even take off her headphones. "Fine," she said. "The loser buys the coffee."

So the race began. Every day at eleven, the farm manager counted their baskets. On Monday, Zofia won by four. On Tuesday, she won by seven. On Wednesday, she won by ten. Every day Benji paid for two coffees at the farm shop, and they drank them together on the wooden steps. He talked, and for ten minutes, she listened.

But Zofia felt that something was wrong. She wasn't working any faster. So why was the difference bigger every day? On Thursday, she worked more slowly and watched him carefully. Benji picked the biggest, reddest strawberries in his row. Then, when he thought she wasn't looking, he leaned over and put them gently in her basket.

Zofia took off her headphones. "What are you doing?" Benji's ears turned the color of the strawberries. "When I lose, I buy the coffee," he said. "And when we drink the coffee, you take off your headphones and talk to me. It's the best part of my day."

Zofia looked at the basket in her hands for a long time. Then she laughed. "You know you could just ask me," she said. Benji smiled. "Okay. Then tomorrow, let's have a new race. You and me in the same row, with one basket for both of us. And I'll buy the coffee anyway."