Of the many advantages of going unseen there is one which looms above all others: you can be just as you are. No more worrying about appearances or reactions. No fear of unwanted advances. No issues with misunderstanding. You can literally just be.

Know this: in this mostly past life, they called me Tony Dominique Franklin. I was the middle of three kids but grew up as the oldest because my first sibling died in utero. I've been looking for them, but can't find them, in part, because they were never named in life. But I look, when I'm not working on something else.

In this state, I call myself Patience. No one says different, so that's my name.

Of the numerous drawbacks of being insubstantial, one is paramount: you can't feel much. Even great swelling emotions are just impotent whisps that ripple out in drips.

And folks of substance can barely feel you at all. It's a shiver or a sneeze, maybe an inexplicable sting in the tear gland. Nothing more.