The Dentist

It was off to the dentist for Collette.
Again.
She blamed it on the braces.
Also again.

Very fortunately, no fillings were necessary.
No root canals.
No crowns.
Just a light filing and instructions to rinse with warm salt water and floss and brush the tooth particularly hard.

Meanwhile, Collette was recovering from the unstabilizing sensation of having slept only one hour, in two shifts, the previous night.
There were several distractions of the day, however — the dentist, Puck’s handsome little haircut that Carrie had given him the previous afternoon…
And later, Mom, Collette, and Puck picked up Rose with some Home Run pizzas. Then Rose almost immediately departed for Lowe’s to buy a fire pit for OLeif and Collette.

“The little old man there said that there was only one of those fire pits left,” said Rose. “So he said I’d probably get a big discount. So he said, ‘Go over to that young fella over there and wink at ’em. He’s a sucker. He’ll give you a deal.’”

And he did. Forty dollars off.

“You should have gone over there and twirled your finger in your hair and said, ‘I was thinking of getting some chairs with that eventually…’” OLeif teased.

Shortly later, OLeif left for the Popples’ house where Sunrise was giving a presentation of her photographs from Costa Rica.