I had to go to the dentist today. I hate the dentist. Not him personally, he’s actually a really nice guy. He’s Irish and really short. Almost freakishly dwarf-like short. Going there is like having the Lucky Charms leprechaun clean your teeth.
I hate going to the dentist because my teeth are crappy. Instead of proper tooth material (whatever that is) mine seem to have been made out of dried out Play-Doh. They chip or crack all the time. I get cavities from simply walking through the candy aisle. I am the only seventeen year old I know who sees those denture paste commercials and thinks about how “ooze” issues are in my future.
It isn’t that I don’t take good care of my teeth. I brush them more than anyone else I know. I carry a toothbrush in my backpack. Who does that other than weird old ladies who have handbags the size of a carry on? No one. I have ninja like reflexes when flossing. None of it seems to matter- my teeth are still lousy.
When I go to the dentist I spend the whole time gripping the arms of the chair trying not to freak out when he pokes me with those metal stabby things. Why would anyone want a job where you spend your day scrapping crud off other people’s teeth? No wonder they jab your mouth with those tiny mouth machetes. Job frustration.
Nora
Sometimes I think the way I’ll know someone is my birth mom is because I’ll recognize her snaggle tooth smile. I blame her (or my birth dad) for the lousy genetics. My adoptive family all have great teeth. Life would be better if in addition to their last name I could also get their teeth. If I inherited my birth parents’ bad teeth, what else did I get? Is there something else wrong with me- hiding inside? Maybe I have lousy kidneys too. My adoptive mom would tell me not to be so negative. I might have inherited great stuff too. Maybe my liver works better than anyone else’s. Hard to know I guess.
YOU ARE READING
Year of Mistaken Discoveries
Teen FictionFriendship is a bond stronger than secrets in this novel from the author of The Almost Truth and Unraveling Isobel. As first graders, Avery and Nora bonded over a special trait they shared—they were both adopted. Years later, Avery is smart, popular...
