A Toothfully Twisted Summer

I was going into High School in September, time of an unknown future for me. And it meant bigger responsibilities besides High School. My family called it the “Responsible Age”. We’d spend three summers in some far off place, with relatives that worked for a billion year old Tooth Exchange. I wondered if it was even real. My little brother, Kai, came in the kitchen and took his place across the table. He was finished with Elementary School today and he was excited. It was time for him to put the baby years behind him now. He was the precious little boy mom always dreamed of having. He had sandy blonde hair that was short and tousled. It matched nicely with his fair skin tone and icy blue eyes. His frame was taller and thinner than the other kids his age. Mom was hustling back and forth, talking to us as she went about the small kitchen, putting things on the table, getting things out of the fridge, scrambling eggs, turning the bacon, and burning the toast. This was like a morning ritual with mom. I knew she was trying to cheer me up with her endless chatter. She was really hoping to rouse my interest into accepting those places she always told me about. It wasn’t going to work. I was determined about that. Kai finished his breakfast and hurried away and I munched down the last bit of the scrambled eggs leaving mom the clean up chores. But she followed me to the door. “Are you upset about school being over, Nikki?” she was showing her concern because I didn’t answer her. I thought about telling her I’d rather leave rather than face a future with a bunch of freaks wearing lame dresses and….wings. I wondered how she could not know why I was in the mood I was in. Didn’t she know me at all? Doesn’t she remember what happens in one’s fourteenth summer? Mom looked at me. Her tawny brown eyes solemn, her hair a lustrous chestnut brown and brushed back sharply from her forehead, making her look a little austere. I knew I had to say something. I had to speak for myself, and the time was now or never. I had to let her know I did not want her or dad to send me away. In as quiet a voice as I could summon, I said, “Mom, I can’t believe you and dad want me to do this. I don’t even care about the family business.” There was a shrew and knowing look that fell around her thin, pallid face. “It’s not the end of the world, Nikki. You will love Tooth Kingdom. It’s really a very beautiful place.” She walked briskly back to the kitchen, not waiting to hear whatever else I had to say. Just the same I thought: If I was going to love it so much, then why weren’t we living there? Maybe because the place really didn’t exist.