Again, like the first time, I was riding a bus that was being boarded by what appeared to be a rather shallow cardboard tray, the bottom part of a box, really, and like the other one this one had legs sticking out of it and was walking under its own power.
Actually, “legs” gives an inaccurate picture of what I saw. It was actually the bottom half of a rather curvy woman, disappearing into the box just above the navel. Very nicely toned, skin about the shade of a naturally fair-skinned person who spends a LOT of time in the sun, wearing white shorts that went down to about mid-thigh, managing to hug her/its figure without restricting movement. (We need new pronouns and adjectives.) On the legs and feet were strappy sandals, as if their wearer needed something to draw even more attention than there would have been otherwise. And it was apparent that their wearer was fully aware of the attention that was being directed its/her way as the assemblage strutted to an empty seat, did an about face with a flourish, and sat down, crossing its legs as if daring all the watchers not to stare.
I guess I should mention that this new passenger sat directly across from me. The seats towards the back of the new Bee-Line buses are placed along the sides, facing inward, so I was actually facing this stunning creature. I had always figured that, in the absence of a face to register either dispapproval or interest, I would stare unabashedly at such a creature without thought of consequence, and that had already proven true with the first walking, apparently telekinetic box. And proved true again with this new box with half a woman sticking out of it. But I had no inkling of just how long I would wind up being able to stare at this creature and observe its antics.
Oops, I shouldn’t have said “antics.” I don’t want to give too much away…