Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

Oversized vehicle vibrates at the intersection of blacktop and cement. Emits a steady hum that will blend in to the atmosphere if one permits it. Occasionally, a body transports itself from outside the living structure to within it by lifting one of its two appendages on to its bottom lip and then, with a pause suspended in midair, following it with the other. Nobody seems to be waiting for anything, because that which they might be waiting for has already arrived. The condition of the atmosphere within the bus is, I suspect, kinder than the chill a body might face outside its metal encasement. It continues to sit. No, with a jog, it raises its body slightly and glides around the corner and out of sight. Now, we have something to wait for. A figure with red cloth covering almost the entirety of its skin sits on a metal bench protected by three glass walls and a roof, the latter of which blocks the nonexistent rain from moistening the scalps of prospective passengers. A series of printed letters and numbers posted on one of the aformentioned walls attracts the attention of a few passerbys. This place seems designed for the body in waiting. It (the body) half-occupies itself with the most menial of tasks, existence paused until something more worthwhile occurs. What is interesting about the bus stop, in particular, is that rather than waiting for X, one waits to wait for X. There will inevitably be more time-suspending activity within the bus itself... rifling through backpacks, half-reading, half-talking, half-being. Until later, it seems.