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

Setting: coffee shop, park bench, public place of some kind.

Prop: knitting in progress

Characters: a middle aged woman and myself

Action: invariably they stop, they ask what i'm making. i love the generational bridge that knitting creates. but if i'm making a baby item, they always ask if i have kids:

me: "no, but we'd like to have one eventually."

woman: "you should, kids are such a blessing." (or something like that)

this is when i decide if i should let them go on thinking i'm straight. if not,

me: "yeah, i'm just glad i don't have to have one. my partner wants to be the one to have it."

woman: (gears frantically turning in her head) "oh... oh, you're soooo lucky." (she turns and leaves. i smirk.)