You Shouldn't Have (short story)

You Shouldn't Have was the fifth story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology Secret Histories. It was written by Cody Schell.

Summary
Benny and Adrian's shuttle crashes on a planet and is damaged. They learn that three brothers, Petaldew, Larkspur and Dogwood thought the shuttle was a giant insect and shot it down. The brothers welcome Benny and Adrian, though they make fun of Adrian for his "unmanly" way of dressing.

They invite Adrian to help them defend their crops, as a condition for helping Adrian and Benny fix their shuttle, though Adrian has to dress in a skirt and flowers like they do. Petaldew assigns Benny the job of preparing the nuts, and she is offended that they assigned her the "woman's work".

The men, with Adrian's help, defend the crops against the Duskflies, but when Petaldew looks for the nuts Benny prepared, he finds that she didn't do the work, watching the battle instead. He scolds her, and she realises that the nuts were to neutralise any toxins received from Duskfly stings.

Benny realises that the mission was a test, and Petaldew informs her that while the men were defending the crops, others had already fixed the shuttle. Benny apologises and mentions that she misses her son. She plays a disc of him singing, and the plants on the planet echo the sound.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Adrian Wall
 * Larkspur
 * Petaldew
 * Dogwood

Worldbuilding

 * Benny thinks Adrian looks like a mix of Swan Lake and Little Red Riding Hood in the natives' apparel.

Continuity
to be added