Patience

Meet Patience. There she is sitting in a class room next to the open window longingly staring out, her foot tapping under the desk. There’s always a song playing in her head. An endless beat from her inner companion. 

Let's leave her to daydream as I explain. 

Patience was perhaps the most absurdly named child in history. Her parents spent many years trying for a baby. They’d almost given up when her mother fell pregnant and decided to name, her soon to be bundle of joy 'Patience’.

After all, they had been over the several years of trying and we’re destined to be, over the following years of growing up. She had been diagnosed with ADHD at three and her mother had never forgiven her. 

"Patience Stanford! Are you with us?"

The teachers shrill voice stabbed at her subconscious, viciously intruding on her daydream.

She jumped as if she’d been transported from the holo deck of the Starship Enterprise and found herself stranded on a Klingon planet. The theme tune from 'Star Trek' struck up loudly in her head.

"Err. Yes?" 

"I’ll repeat the questions shall I?" asked the teacher sarcastically as all eyes in the room turned to stare.

Really? Do we have too? I’m not going to know the answer but if you want to play this game, let’s go, thought Patience, but what she said was nothing. It was a rhetorical question and she'd learnt teachers got annoyed when you answered them. Mrs Jones stared over her glasses and repeated the question, 

“So, what was Columbus hoping to achieve?"

Patience was at a loss, she’d been in a different world. Public humiliation was the point of this little charade. Still with the theme tune buzzing in her ears, 

"To boldly go where no man has ever gone before?"

The class erupted into laughter and the joyous noise echoed off the walls as the 'Star Trek’ theme was replaced by 'Ding Dong the Witch is dead.‘ from 'The Wizard of Oz’ and Mrs Jones began to disintegrate into a pool of steaming green goo. (Of course she didn’t, but that would have been cool.)

Mrs Jones could see she was loosing the room and fired back,

"Very witty Patience but it won’t get you any marks in you exams."

That was true, however no one expected much from the girl who didn't have any patience.