The day crawled by and finally, when there was a lull in the rush of customers, she asked for her break. To her relief, the wish was granted.

Knowing that she has to escape the concrete walls, the treacherous music, the oh-too-fake flowers, lamp shades, scrapbooking pens, baskets, art books, and coworkers, she took her evening meal outside.

A step beyond the servile doors and a cool, fading winter breeze swept through the parking lot. Not knowing where she was going, but certainly walking somewhere, the exhausted employee simply ventured out into the bustling pavement, munching on some peanuts.

Eventually she reached her destination- the hood of her car- and there she sat to eat her dinner. The brown lunch bag contained cucumber slices, peanuts, and three chocolate chip cookies- a king's meal after three hours of the register, and it was good enough for her. As she sat there, noticing the changing seasons and loving it all, she suddenly thought of how nice it would be to have someone sitting beside her, to join her in the falling dusk and experience this simple happiness. Her mouth curved into an innocent smile, and then the thought was gone...

Another gust of wind tossed around the remaining crippled leaves of last autumn, and the girl returned to work.