"Just 30 more words," 25-year-old Makayla Collins thought to herself one sunny Monday afternoon in April. "Thirty more words, and then I can hand in my story and start on another one. Fame and fortune, here I come!" Makayla worked on the first floor of a three-story building, and most of the building was devoted to the publishing of a literary magazine called After the Pause.

Makayla was an introvert who had had other jobs in the past--jobs like daycare worker and dog bather--but these jobs had not worked out. She had worked hard at all of them. Somehow, though, she had not been a good fit, and she was ultimately fired. Then, two years ago, she got the magazine gig, and she could not have been happier. She had finally found a job where she could put her talent to use.

Right now, though, as she stared at her computer screen, trying to work out the perfect ending for her story, she noticed that her eyelids were feeling heavy. "Shouldn't have stayed up so late playing Candy Crush last night," she thought to herself. "Oops...my bad. Can't fall asleep. Must. Have. Coffee." With that, she stood up from her desk, walked out into the hallway, and took a left to head to the break room--that coveted place in most workplaces where people could get some refreshment, such as coffee, a soft drink, or a candy bar, and talk with those they saw there about things that had nothing to do with work, like an upcoming basketball game between teams that everybody in the company liked or a concert that many of the employees had been talking about going to see. Makayla went straight to the coffee maker, grabbed a small white styrofoam cup from the stack beside the machine, and poured herself a cup of hot black coffee. Then she strolled over to the large window that looked out at the building's parking lot. The lot was full, and the street in front of it was busy with afternoon traffic as people hurried back to work, ran errands, or went to pick up their children from school. She sipped her coffee and watched the scene outside.

When there was finally a brief break in the traffic, she noticed a pink limousine sitting at the newspaper office across the street. She was instantly curious. What was going on? Who was there? She reasoned that since it was a pink car, the person or people who had been riding in it were probably female, and she again wondered who it might be. She thought of famous females she admired, like Pink, Rachel Platten, and Kelly Clarkson, and she imagined how cool it would be to be able to do a personality profile of one of them. It would be the experience of a lifetime, it would get her some extra money, and she would be envied by everyone she knew.

Then she shook her head. This was only a coffee break. There would not be enough time for her to do what she wanted to do and get back to her desk in time. She would also never be able to get close enough to talk to a celebrity, let alone conduct an interview. Finally, she would likely get in serious trouble if she worked for the competition on company time.

She looked at her watch. Her break was almost over. She finished her coffee, threw her cup in the trash, and headed back to her desk. This was not just a typical day at work. She had seen a pink limo! She was excited at the thought that if she worked hard, she might become famous, and then one day she might be the one riding in a pink limo, on her way to an interview of her own. Then she smiled to herself and returned to her work.

Works Cited

Klems, Brian A. I Spy With My Little Eye. 2015. 5 April 2016.