My new Muse was late for work today. Again. One week on the job, and already she’s pissing me off. I’m not sure this is going to work.

I had to get working first thing today. Last night I tossed around for hours, struggling with some dialogue, yet stubbornly refusing to get out of bed and work it. So this morning I wanted to deal with it as soon as my fingers hit the keyboard.

At 7:30, she hadn’t come in. By 8:30, she still hadn’t shown up. Shit.

I called her cell. The one I provided for her when she started working for me. The one I told her to leave on all of the time.

“Hey, you know, sure would be great if you could show up some time today. I can’t sit here all morning staring at the screen.”

“Stuck in traffic on the I-90, sorry,” she said.

“You couldn’t have left, oh, thirty minutes earlier to beat traffic?”

“Car wouldn’t start.”

“Pretty sure I specified ‘must have reliable car’ in the want ad,” I said, and hung up.

She came highly recommended, and she’s wicked expensive, so I didn’t feel too bad being irritated at the tardiness.

Twenty minutes later she trapsed into my office and plopped on the couch. She opened a whimsical turtle-shaped messenger bag, pulled out some tablets, and tossed them on the coffee table. After propping up her feet, she took out a pack of Camels.

“Well, what’ve you got so far?” she asked.

“Nothing yet. Been waiting for you. And I’ve told you before, Calli, you can’t smoke in here,” I said. She pouted and put the cigarettes down.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to snap like that. I’m just struggling here, you know, and I needed you a bit earlier.”

We sat in uncomfortable silence for a few seconds. “That’s a cute bag,” I said, changing the subject to clear the tension. “Where’d you get it?”

“My little sister gave it to me. She’s a good kid. Now, are we gonna sit here and chat all day, or are we gonna write?”

I smiled. Calli pushed her sleeves up over her beautifully inked arms, and grabbed one of her tablets. “Now, I’ve got some dialogue I want you to try out. I think this will work.”

Yeah, it might work, I thought. I’ll still need another week to feel this arrangement out, but I think it might work.