One week after her first appointment, Lisa was back in Dr. Reed’s office and waiting to get her cavity filled. She’d written a letter, which was sealed in a light blue envelope and tucked into the front pocket of her hoodie. She’d start with that, and if it didn’t get her closer to Solomon, she’d find another way. She was almost certain she could convince Dr. Reed that her son needed a friend, but she was hoping the letter would get her in sooner.
It had been a long day at school, with three tests and a Student Council meeting, but Lisa still managed to exude a level of energy that no one in the small dental office could match. This wasn’t her usual demeanor. She was more of a pragmatic know-it-all with control issues, but she was smart enough to know that you catch more flies with honey, so this cheery, inquisitive version of herself seemed like the best way to charm Dr. Reed.
Once seated in the exam chair, she chitchatted with the dental hygienist, Cathy, who was setting out some tools. But her eyes kept wandering over to the family photo hanging on the wall by the window—the photograph of Solomon Reed the way he was when she last saw him, only not soaking wet and hyperventilating. She wondered what he looked like now, having witnessed firsthand what three years in the life of a teenage boy can do. Three years before, Clark had been a chubby eighth grader with acne problems and now look at him.
“Well, Lisa, you ready to get that cavity filled?” Dr. Reed asked, walking in and taking a seat next to the exam chair.
“You know it,” Lisa answered. “How’s life?”
“Life’s good. Same as last week. Very busy.”
She didn’t give Lisa much opportunity to speak after that, quickly asking her to open wide and getting started on the anesthetic. Valerie Reed was a beautiful woman. She had laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, but the kind that make you envious of whatever put them there. Lisa had expected a hardened, maybe bitter person to be this troubled boy’s mother, but Valerie Reed seemed as happy as could be.
“What’s he like?” Lisa asked, her face half numb.
“Who? Solomon? Gosh. He’s just Solomon.”
“Oh. Well, what does he like to do?”
“He likes to watch TV and read books. He’s just like his dad.”
“So how come that’s the most recent picture I see around here?” she said.
“I don’t know, Lisa. We don’t take too many pictures just sitting around the house. And I think maybe I lucked out with the one teenager on earth who doesn’t constantly take selfies.”
“It’s about insecurity,” Lisa said. “I don’t get it, either. Maybe Solomon and I are just mature for our ages?”
“He has his moments.”
“Can you give this to him?” Lisa pulled out the letter. “I know maybe it’s weird. But, I just thought he might like it. You can even read it first if you want.”
Dr. Reed looked down at the envelope and smirked a little, like she wasn’t surprised at all that Lisa had written it.
“No, no. I don’t need to do that. I’ll give it to him. I can’t promise you’ll ever hear back, but I can promise he’ll get it.”
“Thank you so much.”
As Dr. Reed filled the cavity in her lower right second bicuspid, Lisa closed her eyes and let her mind wander with the sound of the drill drowning out all the noise of the dental office. She thought about lonely Solomon Reed, sitting in a house all by himself with no clue that she was about to change his life. And even though there were a couple of fingers and a suction tube in her mouth, Lisa managed a smile.
When she got home, Clark was waiting in her driveway with a milk shake in his hand. He did things like that all the time, and it still surprised her.
“I can’t feel half my face,” she said, once out of her car.
“Can you feel this?” He stepped forward and poked her cheek.
“Nope.”
“Weird. I’ve never had a cavity, so, you know, I wouldn’t really know.”
“Yeah, yeah. Gimme my milk shake.”
“Oh, this milk shake? No, this is my milk shake.”
He took a sip and then held it high above his head where she couldn’t reach. He was tall anyway, about 6’1”, and with his long, apish arms in the air, Lisa was screwed. So she went for his biggest weakness and started for his underarms. Being tickled made him physically ill, something left over from having grown up with all those older brothers. He practically threw the milk shake at her to make her stop.
“Mean,” he said. “You’re just stone-cold mean.”