I bet my mom wasn't a sneaky tooth puller. I bet she was merciful. I bet she was asked to tie the dental floss around her child's tooth once. I bet that happened when the child was feeling brave. And I bet her child chickened out and didn't feel so brave and said, "No, I don't want to do the dental floss after all, Mom." But the knot had already been tied. And she knew that fiddling with the floss, trying to get it off of the dangling tooth, would've just been more painful than yanking the darn thing. I bet she watched her child half heartedly tug on the string with no success, himself... I mean, herself. I bet she patiently watched while the child became more fidgety with nervousness. I bet she wanted to put her child out of the nervous misery, and so she tried a pep talk. "Remember the other night when it was so easy? And it didn't hurt... but for just a split second? Remember how you were so brave?" I bet the pep talk didn't work.
And so then, I bet she said, "Okay, I'll try to get the dental floss off." And then she had to trick the child. And I bet it was painful to trick her baby. I bet it hurt her heart a lot. I bet she felt awful when the child, on the other side of the tooth pulling, asked, "Mom, WHHHYYYY did you do that?" I bet she wanted to cry at the momentary loss of trust, however fleeting the loss was. And I bet she had to eat her words about not being tricky with dental floss.
Love you, Mom.
That broke my heart! Got me a little misty eyed even.
ReplyDeleteThen I saw the picture. And I laughed.
Emma laughed too. She said, "Jack looks like a pig!"
ReplyDeleteLove the picture. Pretty cute nose, thanksfully boogie free =)
ReplyDeleteThat's my new word I guess thanksfully!
ReplyDeleteWell written. Good twist. The makings of a phycho-thriller. I thought maybe there were some multiple personalities going on for a while and then I got it. It wasn't really about Whitney's mom at all! It was about Whitney!
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These pictures of Jack make me laugh. . .not because of his teeth, but because of the horrible angle "the photographer" chose not once but TWICE. You have made my grandson look like some weird reflection in an old shiny doorknob. He looks wacky and distorted. It's as though his cranium (which houses his brain) is the size of a walnut, but his nose and mouth and jaws are hideously MASSIVE. How about a normal picture, straight on? I know it will be impossible to get him to just smile naturally because he's, well, he's Jack.
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