“And that’s it!” Annette gave Morgan a dazzling smile.  “Congratulations!  I’m so excited for you!”  Annette’s enthusiasm was infectious.  Morgan smiled back.

“Thankth!” she said, the lisp surprising her.  “Oh! I gueth I’ve got to get uthed to thpeaking with all of thith,” Morgan gave an embarrassed laugh.

“It’s an adjustment,” Annette agreed.  “You look like you’re dressed for work?  I can help you take your headgear off.”

Holding the pouch stuffed with her headgear and all its straps, Morgan stepped out into the lobby.  She checked her phone.  She had just enough time to make it to work, at least if there were no traffic delays.

And of course, in Houston, there were.  Morgan jogged up to the back entrance of the pharmacy, typed the security code in the door, and hurriedly clocked in for her shift.  She was only a couple of minutes late.  Traffic had been nuts, so she’d had to concentrate on the road, and now the afternoon rush at the pharmacy was in full swing, so there was still no chance to check out her new braces in a mirror. 

Morgan had been feeling all around them with her lips and tongue while she drove, but there’d be no chance to slip away to the bathroom and see what it looked like.

“There you are,” said Mariana, the lead pharmacy tech, “go work a register,” she ordered, bustling away.  Mariana, when she wasn’t harried by customers, was Morgan’s friend.

Morgan logged in to the register, pulled the “Closed” placard from the counter, and, awkwardly smiling at her first customer, said “How can I help you?”

The four hours of her shift went by in a blink.  When she had time to think about it, Morgan was glad the pharmacy had been slammed.  She’d never really had a chance to be self-conscious, since she was so focused on work.  Even though she was aware of her lisp, none of the customers had seemed to care.  The only time her braces had been mentioned at all was by a young woman in a University of Houston t-shirt who smiled to show off her own metallic braces to Morgan and gave a thumbs-up as Morgan handed over her prescription, saying “Love the colors!”

Morgan walked in the kitchen door of her house feeling confident again.  Jeff was in the kitchen, pulling more of his frozen lasagna out of the oven.  Carrie was leaning against the counter, sipping from a canned beer.  Her eyes lit up, her round cheeks dimpled, and she gave Morgan a heavy metal smile of genuine pleasure.

“Hey sweetie!” Carrie’s elastics stretched at the corners of her mouth as she smiled.  “Your text message made my day.  I’m so proud of you.”  She put the beer on the counter and stepped across the kitchen to give Morgan a hug.

“Aww, thankth Mom,” Morgan said, giving Carrie a broad  smile.  Carrie’s eyes registered surprise before she smiled again at Morgan.

“I’m really proud of you,” she said again, hugging her daughter.

“U of H colors,” Jeff nodded, placing plates of lasagna on the table.  “Nice.”

“Do you mind me asking what changed your mind about getting braces?” Carrie asked, gently.

“Elithe thaid loth of people in the pharmathy program get bratheth,” Morgan explained, “tho I don’t need to worry about being the only one.  And Elithe got bratheth, too.  Thorry,” she put her hand over her mouth, blushing, “I have a big lithp.”

“I’m not having trouble understanding you, sweetie,” Carrie said, reassuringly.

They ate dinner, chatting about their days; Jeff and Carrie expertly weaving forks past their elastics.  Morgan struggled, realizing for the first time all day that the large acrylic bite block behind her front teeth was the only thing that made contact with her bottom teeth, forcing her to chew by mashing food between the bite block and her lower front teeth.  She snagged her elastics a few times with the tines of her fork, slingshotting lasagna and meat sauce across the table.

After a while, Jeff and Carrie having cleared their dishes and tidied the kitchen as Morgan laboriously chewed, she put her fork down.

“I am thuppothed to wear headgear,” Morgan announced to her parents.  “Twelve hourth a day minimum, but ath many hourth ath pothible when I can.  I’m going to put it on now, and if you thee me without it, can you help remind me to wear it?”

“Sure, honey,” Jeff said.  Carrie nodded her assent.

In the bathroom, Morgan leaned toward her mirror, grimacing at herself as she saw her orthodontia for the first time.  The bright red ligatures were definitely eye-catching and the shiny metal brackets and wires were impossible not to notice, but Morgan realized she didn’t hate how her smile looked with braces.  It was different, metallic and obvious, but not bad.  She opened and closed her mouth, seeing the rubberbands on the sides stretch.  The bite block hung down, visible below and behind her top front teeth, the translucent acrylic making it look a bit like an ice cube stuck in the roof of her mouth.  She bit down, seeing how only her bottom four front teeth could touch it, the rest of her teeth half an inch apart.  The expanders in the roof and floor of her mouth made a hard, irregular surface for her tongue.  Morgan’s tongue had been tracing the arms and expansion screws of the appliances all day, trying to get used to its new home.

She unpacked the headgear pouch Annette had given her and, after several missed attempts, aimed the ends of the facebow into the tubes on her top molars, then strapped the bright red combination straps around her head.

–

Monday morning, Morgan used the parking permit she’d received in the mail to open the gate across from the pharmacy building.  She pulled her battered Kia into the student parking area and carefully double-checked the backpack she’d packed last night.  Brand-new laptop with the school’s required specs, Elise’s binder of study materials, large water bottle, lunch-bag with soft foods, a toothbrush and baggie of elastics.

Smiling, excited, Morgan locked her car and walked with a bouncy step toward the building and the door with a placard reading “Pharmacy 1st Year Class.”

The lobby of the pharmacy school was crowded with excited men and women – mostly a few years younger than Morgan – who milled about a bit nervously.  Morgan followed signs with arrows directing her to a series of folding tables set up along the wall.  At the first table, she signed in, then moved down the wall to a table piled with tote bags with the school logo.  At the third table, Morgan smiled, surprised to see Elise manning the station next to a computer and a camera on a tripod.
“Hey Elithe!” Morgan greeted her mentor.  “I’m tho exthited!” she gave Elise a nervous metallic grin.

“Yay! You’re here!” Elise smiled back at her, the pink twin block appliances holding her lower jaw in its awkward propped-open and thrust-forward position.  Elise tilted her head, noticing Morgan’s smile.  “And you got your bratheth!  Great color thoithe!” she nodded approvingly.  “I’m doing ID phototh for all the new thtudenth,” Elise explained, gesturing to the wall by the camera. 

“Ok!”  Morgan placed her backpack on Elise’s table and turned to face the camera.  Elise clicked on the mouse.

“Big thmile!” Elise instructed.  The camera flashed.  The card printer on the table next to Elise hummed and dropped Elise’s new ID card in its tray.

Elise handed Morgan her ID card and a pharmacy school lanyard.  “Go to room 116, the big lecthure hall over there,” she pointed.  “Have fun today!  Congratulationth!”

Morgan clipped her ID card to the lanyard and looked at the picture Elise had just taken.  It was an extreme close-up of Morgan’s head, with surprising clarity and lighting.  Morgan recognized her curly, dark hair and dimpled cheeks.  Her broad smile showed the metallic braces, bright red ligatures, clear plastic bite plate, and elastics in detail.  As Morgan slipped the lanyard over her head and followed the crowd of new students into the lecture hall, she realized she wasn’t embarassed by her ID picture.  It seemed somehow appropriate.  A new school year, a new career, a new look.

The lecture hall was a wide room with long tables running in a semicircle around the podium at the front.  Each row was up several steps from the one before it.  The earlier-arriving students had mostly filled the back rows.  Morgan saw a friendly-looking face in the middle of the front row opposite the podium and headed to the neighboring empty seat.

“Mind if I thit here?” She asked, slipping into the cushioned lecture-hall seats attached by swinging arms to the tables.

“Go ahead!” the strikingly-pretty blonde young woman gestured toward the empty desktop next to her.  “What’s your name?” she asked as Morgan unpacked her laptop computer.

“Morgan!”

“I’m Sarah,” the blonde woman said.

“Good to meet you, Tharah...thorry...Tharah,” Morgan tried again, doing her best to enunciate, the bulky bite plate and expanders blocking her tongue.  “New bratheth,” she explained, gesturing lamely toward her mouth.

“No worries!” Sarah brushed off Morgan’s apology.  She smiled at Morgan with bright white, healthy, crooked teeth.  “Are you as nervous about this year as I am?” she asked, her voice lowered as if confessing something embarrassing to Morgan.

“Good morning, first year class!” a woman spoke into the microphone at the podium directly in front of Sarah.  Morgan looked up to see a middle-aged woman in a business suit whom she recognized from her interview.

“Welcome to the beginning of your pharmacy career!  I’m Dr. Segura, the Dean of Students.  Most of us met during your interviews last spring.  It is truly a pleasure to have you all here to begin a challenging, but rewarding program.”

Morgan felt the table jostle slightly under her elbows and turned to her right to see a tall, dark-haired man in jeans and boots trying to quietly take the seat next to her.  When she made eye contact, he gave her an embarrased shrug.

Dr. Segura continued on with her speech, introducing several other administrators and staff members. Then, at 9 o’clock, said “That is really it for our formal orientation.  You’ll find information about the white coat ceremony this week in your welcome tote bags.  And, now it’s time to get to work!  Dr. Miyazaki will have your first lecture in Pharmacology.”  Dr. Segura smiled self-consciously at the scattered applause as she left the room.  Dr. Miyazaki turned out to be a muscular, fast-moving man who plugged a flash drive into the podium computer and immediately began the first lecture.

By 12:30 when the morning lectures finished, Morgan’s brain and typing fingers were tired.  She yawned, feeling the rubber bands stretch tight between her jaws, and pushed her arms against the edge of the table, twisting her back from side to side.

“I guess we eat on campus, huh?” Sarah asked, looking at the time on her phone.  “The next lecture starts in 30 minutes.”

“There were thome tableth in the lobby out there,” Morgan pointed.  “Want to eat with me?”  she stood up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.  The man who had slipped in late stood up to let them pass.  Morgan realized he was older than the other students, with faint traces of gray in the stubble on his face.  “I’m Morgan,” she said, extending her hand and smiling at him.

“Ian,” he said, shaking her hand and nodding, still looking slightly embarrased.

“Do you want to eat with uth?” Morgan gestured to Sarah.

“Sure, ok,” Ian nodded, stuffing a notebook in his backpack.  He looked back at Morgan, finally smiling.  “Thanks.”  Morgan was surprised that Ian had full metal braces on extremely crowded teeth, globs of wax caked on several brackets, and elastics that looked similar to Morgan’s.

“So, what’s your story?” Sarah asked Morgan as the three of them settled around a small circular table on the edge of the lobby.  Sarah unwrapped a protein bar.

“I’ve been a pharmathy tech for eight yearth,” Morgan said, “while I worked my way through undergrad.  I’m tho exthited to be here!  How about you, Ian?” she asked, catching him struggling to remove his rubberbands with his index finger.  Ian blushed.

“Um, this is a career change for me,” he explained, his lips moving awkwardly over his metal brackets.  “I was a high school teacher most recently.  Some sales jobs before that.  My wife says pharmacy had better stick,” he gave a genuine smile.  “We have two little kids, so it’s time for me to have a career.”  He shrugged.  “What about you, Sarah?” he asked.

“No interesting backstory like you guys,” Sarah said.  “I just graduated from UT and I got in to pharmacy school, so here I am!”

Morgan ate the pudding she’d packed, careful to avoid her rubber bands as she inserted the spoon in her mouth.  She pursed her lips, licking pudding off of her brackets.

“Are you both coming to the white coat theremony on Friday?” she asked, pointing to the announcement she’d found in her tote bag.

“Oh, definitely!” Sarah said.

“Yeah,” Ian said.  “My wife wants to bring the kids.  It’s after their bedtime, so sorry in advance if they’re fussy,” he gave another shrug and a metallic grin.  “Um, Morgan...weird question for somebody I just met, but if those are Impala rubber bands you have, can I have two of them?  I forgot to bring the little baggie with more.”

“Oh! Thure!” Morgan reached in her backpack for her tiny package of elastics.

“Aww!” Sarah smiled at them as she stood up from the table.  “You’re rubber band buddies now!”

I really appreciate this story. I can't wait to read about embarrassing showing their braces time for the family and especially Morgan in family moment or at University.

Thank you for the comments!

Yes, there will be some embarrassing braces moments to come, Radian!

Thank you for this story.  It is a fun read.  A LOT of people have braces.  Surely there will be a few twists in their treatment plans.