Trick or Treaters

            At 6:30 Thursday night I saw my first Trick or Treater through the glass storm door.  She was about three feet tall and had blond curls.  She was wearing a pink frothy princess dress and had pink wings attached to her shoulders.  Her dad rang the doorbell then stepped down a few steps so only his little girl was on the top stoop when I looked out. 

            “Hi there!” I said pushing the storm door open.

            The pink princess stared past me into my living room.  I think she wanted to come in.  I dropped a Twix and a Hershey bar into her orange plastic pumpkin, waved to her dad, and stepped back inside. The princess continued to stare into the house through the glass storm door, so I waved at her again.  After a few minutes dad stepped up and carried her down the stairs.

            At 7:30 as I plopped Twixes into five different bags, a small voice interrupted me.

            “Could you give me a Hershey bar instead?”

            I stopped and looked at the Court Jester requesting a different candy bar.

            “Sure.”   

            “I have braces and my dentist doesn’t like me eating Twixes,” he explained.

            But your dentist is fine with Hersheys?

            At 8:45 I decided to close up for the night.  I was getting ready to shut the porch light off and close the main door when I saw three taller kids walking up my driveway.  As they came closer, I could see they were all girls.  One was looking down at her phone and tapping with both thumbs.

            I picked up the bowl of candy. They would be the last for the night, and I planned to empty the bowl into their bags.  They would love and honor me.

            I stood with my bowl and waited.  Miss Two-Thumbs Texter paused at the bottom of the steps and bent her head lower. Serious texting going on.

            I waited.  And waited some more. 

            Her friends looked up at me in the lighted doorway.  They walked up one step, looked back at her, and stopped.  She was clearly the alpha Trick or Treater.

            Four of us waited, watching.  The Trick or Treater Texter paused a moment and walked up the five steps to the door.  I pushed it open and leaned out with my bowl of candy bars.

            “Hi guys!”

            She held up her hand to silence me and bent back to her texting.  We all waited again.  After 20 seconds her thumbs paused.  She held out her pillowcase, but kept her eyes on her phone. 

            I stood for five seconds looking back at her then picked up three small Twixes and put one in each of their pillowcases.   Alpha girl’s thumbs resumed tapping.

            She was still on the stoop texting as I stepped back inside, shut the door, and turned off the light, leaving her in the dark.

            I looked out this morning, expecting to see her still there, tapping away with her thumbs, but the front stoop was empty. 

            It’s her fault I ate the rest of the candy.

Pain

            I sat in the padded chair oddly feeling like I was a student who was in trouble. 

            I had a meeting with the school counselor to set up schedules for next year, but her 9 o’clock meeting was running long. I sat in the outer office waiting for her door to open.  Even though the bell had rung and classes were now in session, a steady stream of people still moved in and out.  After five minutes, the stream fell to a trickle.

            From where I sat, I could see directly into the nurse’s office.  Landon didn’t even notice me as he came into the office and walked directly over to the nurse’s door.

            “I need some medicine.  My mouth hurts.”

            The nurse looked up from her desk.  “Do you have a sore throat?”

            “No, it’s my mouth.”

            “What about your mouth?”

            “My braces.  They hurt my mouth.”

            Landon was facing the nurse sitting at her desk, so I could see his profile.  He had a sad, sad look on his face, and his mouth hung slack, slightly open.

            “Are your braces irritating your gums?”

            Now Landon looked puzzled.  “No.  I just got them.  They’re tight.  They hurt my teeth.”

            The nurse stood and looked down at him.  “Do you want me to loosen them?”

            Landon dropped his mouth open and tilted his head up.  “Uh huh,” he said awkwardly looking up.

            What in the world?

            The nurse was smiling now, and sympathetically patted Landon’s head.

            “Sweetie, I can’t loosen them.  Your dentist wouldn’t like it.  But I can give you a Tylenol.”

            Landon’s face collapsed and he closed his mouth.  “OK,” he groaned.

            I watched the nurse get a Tylenol and a glass of water.  Landon tossed the pill in his mouth, drank the water, turned, and walked out.  I gave him my “S’up?” nod as he walked out.

            “Hi, Mrs. Jones,” Landon said sadly.  “My mouth hurts.”

            “Braces?” I asked.

            “Uh huh,” Landon moaned.  “They’re tight.”

            “Yeah,” I nodded sympathetically.  “That stinks.  See you.”

            I watched Landon go out and turned back to see the nurse standing in her door.  Her arms were folded and she was smiling.

            “Really?” I said.  “Loosen the braces?”

            Her shoulders were shaking now.  “I have to get my laughs where I can.”

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