Monday, August 25, 2003

Glass box purse

Last week a woman boarded the bus carrying a purse which was a glass box--perfectly clear. I could count how many bus tickets she had left, see whether there were hairs in her brush, estimate how fat her wallet was and try to guess where she was planning to go for lunch from the coupons. I did none of these things, but she seemed to invite them. When I mentioned this to a friend from church I learned that some high schools require transparent backpacks! (I leave as an exercise to the reader describing 3 ways of transporting weapons in a transparent backpack, with extra credit for approaches that won't set off metal detectors.)

Transparency is supposed to be a good thing, but I think this exceeds the bounds of courtesy. What next? Transparent clothing? (If you start getting excited, think pot bellies and appendicitis scars.) Surely her job doesn't require this, does it?

Perhaps the lady has an exhibitionist streak, and wanted the world to see what color her comb was and whether she used pads or tampons. I don't think I need to know these details, though.

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