There was a chill in the early morning air and Scirey couldn't help but shiver as she made her way down the alley and into the cafe. She'd been hard at work for several hours despite the early time. She had a deadline to meet and she was a bit behind in making the illustrations for the children's book was was supposed to be published the next day. She'd been working crazy hours all week trying to get the pages right. She thought she was nearly done when the writer decided he didn't like the way the main character looked even though he'd already approved the guy five times. He decided that he liked an earlier version better and that she better get it right this time or he was taking his book elsewhere and damn his advance. Writers were so fickle. But she had to put up with them because it was her job. She catered to their wilms, turning their written work into pictures.  It wasn't all bad though. She enjoyed her job. She got paid for painting. She'd make a pretty nice commission off this latest book if it hit the presses on time and it would not be her fault if it didn't. She was willing to work the next twenty four hours to get it done. But that required caffeine. Normally she didn't like drinking coffee, it made her too jittery and  anxious. However, she was running low on energy and needed it. So she caved in and here she was just after opening, waiting in line like the other caffeine addicts. Her stomach grumbled and she decided she might also grab a muffin or something. Maybe eat in the cafe quickly before heading back to the publishing house.