I like to sit in my office window and look over the French Quarter early in the morning, around six in the morning or so.  Right at sunrise when everyone has staggered back to their beds, nursing hangovers.  The hookers are going back in, and everything is still and quiet.  It's one of the few times I am too.  I think about myself then.  Who I really am.  I'm always on stage here, as Miss Topaz Dieudonne.  I love the role, the praise and admiration, even the New Orleans accent that I have that drives every tourist wild.  In the early morning though, I'm just Terran.  I sometimes think I lost that little girl.  She was frozen out in the snow one cold winter night in Wyoming.  But here in the early morning hours, I can find her again.  She'll always be there, and the others are right there with her. 

The sun is up.  People are coming out and starting to prepare their businesses for another day in The Big Easy.  I finish my milk and stand up, closing the blinds.  I've got another busy day ahead of me as well.