We were so excited about Tilly’s arrival in the Barn. Things were going to be great. All of the less-than-critical-but-still-pretty-important stuff that we don’t have time to do was suddenly, as if by magic, going to be done by someone else. Tilly showed up, eager and willing to dive into anything and everything. For the first four days of her internship, it was smooth sailing.

But this morning, August woke up with other ideas. All week, he has listened attentively as we walked Tilly through her responsibilities. And just now, before any of us had a chance to say otherwise, he climbed up onto Tilly’s stool, and the coup was on.

As an intern, he was utterly ineffective. His file management protocol is less than laughable. His sense of layout is pedestrian. And he has a childlike affinity for comic sans.

And Tilly told him so.

Pulling no punches, I might add.

Four days into her internship, Tilly has proven several things:

1) she works hard and listens well
2) she is smart and capable
3) she won’t put up with sass from babies

August has slunk of into some corner to bask in his wretched irrelevance. All that remains of him is a tear-soaked Kleenex.

Give it another 22 years, kid. Maybe someday you can hope to equal the magnificence of Tilly.