Once upon a time there lived a girl, a Princess actually, who absolutely loved staying up late at night. The Princess loved watching tv, reading, chatting on the computer, you name it....until the wee hours of the morning. The beautiful part about this was that she would then go to bed and sleep extremely soundly until her body was refueled and ready to go again. Usually, the clock would say 10 or 11 a.m....but sometimes it would even say noon.
She used to catch a lot of hell from her mother about this habit. Her mother, The Evil Queen, absolutely loved calling The Princess at the ungodly hours of 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning...just to chat. The Princess, although overjoyed to have an opportunity to be in the Queen's Presence, would make it known that she was not pleased about being woken up. The Queen would laugh hilariously, even chortle, at this....she thought it was Great Fun. (This, by the way, is what made the Queen "The Evil Queen".)
This lifestlye served the Princess well. She went to college, had a brief stint teaching the masses in a public high school, and then went back to college for her Master's degree. After obtaining her degree, she obtained employment by colleges to supervise their dormitories. (Er, residence halls.) This suited the Princess to a "t". She could stay up late to commune with her public (the residents) well into the evening...and call it "work". She could then sleep somewhat later in the morning (8 or 9 o'clock)....and head to the office mid-morning. This was perfect.
Somewhere along the way, this all went tragically wrong.
After deciding that she did not want to be on-call 24/7, the Princess left the dormitory-supervision job (er, residence hall) to return to the public school classroom. When she interviewed, and accepted, the job, she did so willingly. Although she knew this meant dealing with teenaged-humans all day, she was thrilled to know that her evenings and weekends and egads! even her summers would be her own. This seemed like a fabulous trade-off.
And so, she signed the contract. The incredibly legal, binding, contract. She had not signed one of these in a long, long time. (Her job in the dormitory supervision arena had been of an "at-will" status. Er, residence halls.) She felt somewhat reassured that it would take an act of Congress to terminate her employment at Uberschool.
This entire time, she had no idea that The Universe was conspired against her.
It seems that The Princess, when she accepted this appointment at Uberschool, had not been informed of the start time of said school. This school, due to bussing schedules (busses are what the common folk use to reach their destination) had an absolutely ungodly start time.
The Princess was not pleased.
This meant that her carefully maintained sleep schedule was to be no more. She now had to go to bed extra early and get up in the veritable middle of the night to go instruct the children. This was a transition that was difficult for the Princess to make...but she did it as a sacrifice for The Common Good.
Over time, it seems, her body has adjusted far too well to this schedule. Now, the Princess feels fatigued at an hour that used to seem like the middle of the afternoon...but is now "bedtime". She is still shocked by this, but obeys her body and heads to The Royal Chamber to sleep.
Although she has made peace with going to bed at "a decent hour"...she still cannot get used to her body waking up at an hour that she used to term "the middle of the night". Now, when The Royal Eyeballs pop open...it's usually at the extremely ungodly hour of 4:30 a.m. The Princess would absolutely love to be able to roll back over and go back to sleep, but alas, it is not to be. The Royal Brain wakes up with The Royal Eyeballs, and starts planning the day. Sleep is but a memory.
The Princess is not pleased.
There is one little thing that gives her joy about this. The Princess, although she doesn't do it very often, has been known to...upon occasion....shortly after rising from slumber....call The Evil Queen. Just to chat. The beauty of this is that, now that the Evil Queen is advancing in age, she sleeps somewhat later in the morning. Far, far, later than The Princess. This gives the Princess the Joyous Pleasure of WAKING UP THE QUEEN.
Now, 'tis The Princess' turn to chortle delightedly. Oh, so, delightedly.
The End.