A Story For Said
After dinner one Sunday, my cousin took me to my room and sat me down and smiled. His teeth were green or I thought they were green at first. I didnāt have a green light in my room, so it wasnāt the light.
Ā Man, he said, ever since I started chipping I havenāt felt less than a hundo.
Ā I didnāt know what a hundo was, but it sounded good by the way he said it.
Ā Best feeling in the world, man. Like six flags in one.
For a second I didnāt get the six flags thing, but I focused on him calling me man, something heād never done before. The chipping part was also weird, but if it made you feel like a hundo and call your cousin who wasnāt even in high school man, then it must be good. Then I remembered the year before my cousin took me to Six-Flags and snuck me onto the Green Lantern coaster since his friend was working the line even though I told him it was cool, I would wait for him by the fence. As we got closer to the front of the line, I kept hoping his friend had the day off or that someone older would see us and stop us since I was too short. I didnāt really want to go on the ride, but after I was glad he got me on it. It was Fan Fucking Taz Tick.
Ā His mouth opened wider, and I saw for the first time the little green chip marks in his teeth and I got it. The front two were full of them, thin, like they were made of chip holes instead of whatever teeth are made of.Ā Chip. Teeth. Chip. I had never seen the small green holes of his teeth before.
Ā He smiled even wider if you believe me and said, Man, chipping is what God made man for, and then he leaned back and rubbed his hands together like he was cold and the only thing that would make him warm again would be to chip.
Ā Both my parents chipped, then. My mom more than my dad cause she was missing two full teeth on the right side of her smile. That made sense too. Dad was a serious guy and didnāt have time to chip. He probably only chipped at Tuesday Bowling and then only a little since he had pretty good teeth. I tried to think of other people who chipped.
Ā If I had a five spot, said my cousin, Iād give you a chip right now.
Ā Ah man, I said, trying to stall so I could figure out what five spot meant and what the fuck did boot mean if it was something you did instead of put on. I canāt.
Ā Man, I said, Iām all out of spots right now. Anyways, I canāt tonight since I stayed up all night last night. I knew that anything really good made you stay up all night.
Ā I looked up at him. He stopped smiling.
You little fucker.
I flinched. He wasnāt even close to smiling now.
I need five dollars. Five Fucking Dollars.
I looked at my jar of change and then away, hoping he didnāt notice. He kept looking at me.
Fuck, you know nothing, man.
I smiled to show I was listening and thankful he understood. He let his shoulders down and took his hand off my ear.
Get me five dollars and Iāll come back tonight and Iāll show you how to chip, boy.
Ā I stopped smiling. I shut my mouth, knowing what I did wrong.
My teeth didnāt have any chips in them.
My cousin slowly grabbed my leg below the knee and started to squeeze and said, Five dollars please, and then he said it again, and again, and again while squeezing harder until I thought my knee was going to pop off.
Ā Then my aunt called from outside. My cousin stopped squeezing but kept his hand under my knee. My leg was shaking. He started to squeeze again, but then my aunt said his name again and you could hear her getting closer, using the wall to find my room.
Ā Iāll be seeing you soon, said my cousin. Ree Fucking Member. Five dollars and maybe you can even come with me to pick the horse up.
Ā I didnāt even think about how there was no way us two could pick up a horse. At that point I just wanted my leg to stop moving. I nodded a few hundred times and he took his hand off my leg and he got up and smiled and I saw the chips again shimmering green light. Then he turned around and walked toward the hall but then bumped into the empty doorframe and I thought he was going down. He straightened up and walked out yelling at his mom to shut up and be ready to go and he was leaving.
Ā My parents thought my aunt and cousin were wastes of space and time. The front door locked real quick and my parents went right to sleep. But I couldnāt. As much as I was scared of chipping, I didnāt want to not know and not being a man to my cousin. And anyways, he said hundo like it was a million fucking bucks. So I went to the kitchen because I remembered something, knowing I was wrong since my cousin wanted money and why would he want money if he could just get a chip from the kitchen. There must be special tools or something easier.
Ā When my mom drank coffee, the holes in her smile were filled by the green rim of her cup. Sometimes I even forgot she was missing teeth. I went into the kitchen and pulled down her cup and thought, if the cup filled the holes, if the cup fit the holes, there you go. I put my teeth on her cup and started to bite.
