OPEN WIDE

I remember my dentist, Dr. Norton. His office was two doors from the corner of my street but at the other end of the block from our house. Even as a little eight year old girl, I knew what ‘handsome’ was. I saw every movie Robert Taylor made.  Dr. Norton was just as handsome and standing live beside me. He was as tall as the instrument cabinet next to him that had too many drawers for me to count. Once he gave me a ride up as high as his dental chair could go and he opened many drawers to show me what was in them. ‘What’s that for? Do you hurt patients with that ugly thing?’ When I ran out of questions, he lowered me slowly to the floor and then pumped me up just to where he could examine my teeth without bending over too far.

 

I was in love with Dr. Norton. His almost black hair was thick, not too thick, brushed back, smooth, every hair in place.  As he bent his head close enough to look in my mouth, I smelled fresh peppermint on his breath. It was a good clean smell. His black shiny eyes made me dizzy. ‘Dr. Norton, how come your eyes are so black? None of my friends have eyes like yours.’ ‘Betsy, what color are your Daddy’s?’ ‘Blue.’ ‘And yours are blue, too. Well, little girl, my Daddy has black eyes and mine are like his. That’s just the way it goes sometime. Now open your mouth wide and let me see what is going on in there.’ I checked out his starched white office coat that buttoned on the shoulder. It made his skin look pink some times and sometimes a little yellow. The backs of his hands and fingers were hairy.

 

‘Everything looks fine, Betsy. Are you brushing your teeth twice a day?’
I lied a little as sometimes I was so tired after dinner that I did it only once. His cleaning brush whirred and tickled. I was never scared.
My Daddy would come into the office when my examination and cleaning were over. I didn’t like what he was told. My new teeth didn’t look like they were coming in straight and I might need braces in a year or so. I remember wanting to get out of there fast and asked Daddy if I could jump down from the chair. He and Dr. Norton told me to go ahead so I jumped and ran out of the office without even telling Dr. Norton goodbye.

 

My parents never had to remind me to have my 6 month dental appointment. I was eager for the time to come, except my molars were pushing my bicuspids crooked and I had to get those big, ugly, silver things in my mouth when I was thirteen. Oh, how I hated them. I slobbered just sitting still, couldn’t speak clearly. I got an F in
English when it was my turn to recite the first paragraph of the
Gettysburg address. My supposed friends laughed at my humiliation.
That was a terrible time but the good part was I had to go to see Dr. Norton often to adjust the braces. After a year and a half they were taken off and my teeth looked great. Every tooth was aligned perfectly. My face, my body were maturing.

 

Daddy let me have a few dates if he met the boy first and approved. One time he didn’t and sent Harvey away. I could have choked my mean father. Mother was better. She enjoyed my having friends, boys calling and I did too, but deep inside of me there was always Dr. Norton, who I truly believed, never knew I was growing up. Yet he must have noticed I was 18.

 

I bit into the core of a pineapple and broke my lower left incisor. One dreary afternoon and Dr. Norton let two patients wait while he did the ground work to cap the tooth–and actually asked me out to dinner when the tooth was finished. My god, I almost died, became tongue tied and still managed to say, ‘I’d love that, Dr. Norton.’ He replied with a smile, ‘I had better tell you now, Norton is not the name my family had in Indonesia. It was Nayoan and Dad decided Norton would be close enough for here. Remember you asked me when you were a little girl about my dark eyes, all of my people have dark eyes, not just my father.

 

How about Italian for dinner? I love hot, spicy food.’ I honestly told him, in a seductive voice, any place with him would be fine, except maybe Indonesia.’ ‘You never asked what the J. was for on my statements. It’s Josh. Call me that and I’ll tell you how much older I am than you.’ ‘Sure, Josh Norton, tell me how much older you are than I am–but I don’t care.’ ‘Fourteen years. I was 33 last July.’

 

Josh and I had dinner and talked with our mouths full. I accidentally spit some red sauce on his tie. He thought that was funny and said I was still a little girl. It took some time for our families to adjust to our differences and when our daughter was born, and I was 20, we all agreed to name her Naomi that was almost like Nayoan.

 

I not only had a family, I had free dentistry for myself, my parents and baby daughter. I didn’t worry for a moment that braces some day would cost a fortune.