I don't remember exactly when it started, but sooner or later everyone has a breaking point. If I'm not fending off internal coups on my company or dealing with threats against my brother, it's the thousand and one other demands that people make on my time. Research and Development want me in the lab but Accounting demands that I intervene in their crisis with Finance, meanwhile the company lawyers hint at coming tax liabilities for the next year and I still don't know what my competition is up to. Even my little brother, whom I adore, constantly pesters me to spend more time with him, sharing his meals and listening while he prattles incessantly about school and his numerous friends. Everybody wants me for something, and nobody is willing to wait in line.

Like I said, we all have our breaking points.

I realized some time ago that for the preservation of my sanity I had to find somewhere to hide away from the rest of the world, to shelter me from its neverending cacophony of needs. And the place that I found was good, merely blocks away from company headquarters but several light-years away when it came to the peace and quiet it offered.

I swept into the bookshop and selected my usual from the magazine racks, then proceeded to the café for my drink. The whirr of the coffee kettles and hushed conversations between the other patrons was about as noisy as it got; it was tranquility. This shop was an oasis where I could relax and allow my thoughts to roam wherever they would without fear of interruption. It refreshed me and did wonders for my focus for the rest of the week, and when something works I stick to it.

So at precisely three o'clock every Sunday I retreat to my haven. No exceptions.

I made my purchases in the café: the international edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the international edition of the Times (for the crossword), and a large cup of coffee. Black, no sugar.

And for three beautiful hours I did nothing but sit in the café and skim through the business news, pausing to read this and that, making notes in the margin when I thought something might affect the gaming industry or my company in particular, sipping my coffee and exercising my mind over the Sunday crossword. No one bothered me and I bothered no one. It was perfect.

Until coffee girl changed that.