Muse, did you have to show up now?

The writer wasn't having the best month of her life. She had suffered from a nasty bout of food poisoning. Some suit in city hall had decided to rip up the street in front of her apartment. Work was lame. The weather was nasty. Her hair was limp. Her shoes made her feet hurt. Her eyes were dry. The guy who lived above her had a max-volume Metallica night. Breakfast sucked. And now she was driving to some party that required she buy an expensive gift.

Oh, and she she hadn't written anything in over two weeks.

"All of the negatives just pile and press until you're full of lava," said a silky voice from the passenger seat.

The writer turned her head and viewed the Muse.

"You always just show up right when I'm at my most frustrated, don't you?" she asked her inspiration.

The Muse flipped down the visor and lazily admired her reflection in the tiny mirror. She ran a long finger over her delicate lips and cast her eyes over at the writer. That was her response - a gaze.

"I can't write now! I'm driving!"

The visor was flipped up and the Muse grinned.

And then the writer's mind was racing. She had more ideas than she'd had in the last month. Beautiful combinations of words swarmed her thoughts. Stories started and ended seamlessly in a matter of moments.

"I'm going to forget half of this stuff," the writer groaned in frustration. "Can't you ever show up when I'm sitting at my desk?"

The Muse reached over and tucked a lock of the writer's hair behind her ear. Then she adjusted the air vents and turned away to watch the houses roll by.

Meanwhile, the writer was desperately trying to remember everything that she was coming up with. She even pulled out her cell phone to leave herself a voicemail full of ideas.

Feeling slightly accomplished, she ended the call and parked her car in front of her destination. She turned to thank her Muse.

The seat only held a wrapped package.

The writer collected the present and her purse and left the car wishing that her Muse had stayed just a moment longer.