The dimensionally-oriented meditation of the taller, broader, and/or overweight traveller
20 November 2006 | airlines, coach class, forego dignity for a newer better you, travel | No Comments
I am small. I am compact. I fit in this undersized space. I am shapeable and can conform to this seat designated by my boarding pass. My hips are malleable, smoothing themselves into shapes more agreeable to the armrests.
I am small. I am miniscule. I curve my wide shoulders inward towards congruence with the width of the seat back, to not deprive my neighbors of those extra inches. It is alright to forego leaning back enough to give myself breathing room, lest I deprive another. My body beneath my knees is no longer my concern.
I am small. I am teensy. My lungs deflate, and I take breaths only as small as I am right now, no longer needing air as we are surrounded by it, suspended in it, hurtling through it as it hurtles through me. I sleep, or pretend to, curling into myself, so that those adjacent to me might forget that I could, by any accident, suddenly breach their outer borders of personal space, unwanted human contact.
I am small. I collapse. For the duration of this trip, I am nothing, such as the engineers intended and the airline management approves. I disappear until we again hit the runway.
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