Marissa's sojourn
When I first met Marissa, I was staying at my college room mate's home in Memphis. His name was Tom and she was his high school girlfriend. They had stopped dating months before and there was no doubt that he wanted to resume their romance.
Marissa was a high school senior. While not a raving beauty, she was atractive with her shoulder length, soft red hair and large green eyes. Shen she smiled, she revealed a full set of shiny, silver bands. This was 1975 and Braces were more prominent then than today. It was obvious that she was self conscious about displaying her hardware. This was evidenced by her habit of pulling her upper lip down to conceal her braces each time she smiled. And, as Tom had remembered, her smile was as cute as I had seen. Marissa was almost animated as she talked to Tom, his mother and me over the hot soup Mrs. Wood had prepared that cold, rainy November night. As the discussion wore on, I could see her attention noticably focusing on me. This was a little embarrassing considering the fact that she was, after all, Tom's girlfriend and I was his "buddy from college." When she finally left, I guessed that I would never see her again. I wished I had a girlfriend like her.
The months passed. Then, in March, I ran into Marissa at the Germantown Mall. I almost didn't recognize her at first because she was wearing oversized glasses. As were frames in the seventies, they were large and it was then that I noticed that she was evidently quite nearsighted. We quickly found a McDonalds there in the mall and began to talk. And we talked. Tom was, according to Marissa, a "nice guy" but was on a "different communications path." I didn't ask her what that meant but concluded that they weren't dating. I had figured as much. Tom had said little about Marissa since Christmas break. He had even started dating another girl from his high school.
Marissa didn't seem to want to talk about Tom. But she did ask me a lot of questions about myself and my personal life. I answered her questions in order while noticing how amazingly attractive the glasses looked on her. She had defined, delicate features and the frames and lenses seemed to accentuate them. "I really like your specs." I admitted. "I learned that I had kerotitis just before Christmas. My optomotrist wouldn't allow me to wear contacts for thirty days. I guess I got lazy. I remember when I hated wearing glasses. I got those hard lense contacts in the seventh grade. Two years ago, they came out with soft contact lenses. Now I have them and don't even wear them."
She asked me when I planned on being in Memphis again. I had only come down to buy a book that only Memphis State had. That was my true purpose for the trip. My parents lived in Clarksville which was almost two hundred miles to the northeast. But, I told her that I might be able to come down a lot in the near future.
So it began. I began driving down every Friday. Phone calls were expensive but gasoline was about 35 cents a gallon. Motel rooms could be found for twently dollars. Marissa was always available. When I asked Tom if he would be sore if I began seeing her, he answered with a sullen, "you guys can date whoever you please by me." But, I could tell he wasn't thrilled.
On one hand, I felt like a heel. But after I picked up Marissa, that feeling quickly subsided. She was fun and interesting. Our dating was definitely high school type dating. No drugs. No booze. No sex. Just Movies, Pizza, Shoney, friends and parents. We did french kiss. Alot! And, the next morning my first sensation was always soreness of my tongue from it's excursion through her braces the night before.
Then, as we moved into May, I noticed that Marissa was not her cheerful self when she got into the car. I asked her why she was so blue and she made a face and began confessing her new dilemma. "This morning, I met with my Ortho and he gave me some horrible news. My wisdom teeth are not coming in the way they are supposed to."
"Why don't you have them removed?" I asked.
"I can't yet. They need to be in a certain place before they can take them out." She went into an explanation that didn't truly make sense but I listened attentively. "He said," she continued." that I' going to have to wear cervical headgear until the time that they extract those two upper wisdom teeth. Because we have to keep my mollers stationary."
"What if you don't?" I asked.
"He showed me a picture of a young woman about my age who didn't." Marissa's voice broke. "Her teeth moved out and it completely changed her appearance. It was awful!"
I was silent and then asked. "How long and how much?"
"Maybe three months. Maybe 15 months," She sighed. "It will just depend. And, to answer your other question, constantly! 24/7! Can you believe it? I've had braces since I was in the fifth grade. Now, I thinking that I'll have them off for prom and now this!"
She slowly told me her story. "I spent my entire fifth grade year in a facebow. I remember all the other kids laughing and teasing me. Then we moved from Cape Gireadeau to St. Louis. I got a new ortho there who took the headgear away and said that there were other ways." Marissa described the new ortho as a golfing buddy of her father's boss who used a series of retainers and promised to have the braces off by the end of her eighth grade year.
"He was true to his word. They were off at the end of my eighth grade year." she recalled. "But a year later, my teeth had moved back to their original places."
At the end of her freshman year, her father was transferred to Memphis and, this time, her mother found a third orthodontist who put her in full bands. At the end of her sophomore year, he added high pull headgear with j-hooks to her treatment. "He told me to wear it 14 hours per day but I did well to sleep in it. I did do that and he wasn't real pleased with me. But, this ortho, Dr. Amberly, knows what he's doing, unlike Dr. Dumbo(the St. Louis ortho). He's also an oral surgeon and he gives seminars on grafts and stuff." she mused.
"I guess you'll have to do what he tells you." I comforted. "It probably won't be that bad. When do you start wearing your headgear?"
"Tuesday. When you come Friday, I be wearing it." she shook her head. "Can you believe it! 18 years old. Three weeks from graduation and I am stuck in headgear?"
When I arrived Friday, Marissa still had not arrived. Her Mother invited me in and gave me some lemonaide. I had always liked her parents and I felt they liked me. We chatted 30 minutes or so and then Marissa arrived.
I was no stranger to braces having had them myself from age 12 to a month short of 15. I had even worn headgear briefly. I remembered the girl who sat next to me in the second grade having cervical headgear like Marissa had said that she was getting. But when I saw Marissa's headgear I was surprised. It was undoubtably the largest facebow that I had ever seen. It was a cushion loop that extended a half inch beyond her upper lip. The navy blue neck strap looked new. And when she open her month, I noticed a series of rubber bands.
"See!" She frowned. "He gave me a bottle of aspirin and these hospital straws. You'll probably need the aspirin just to look at me all evening! Oh yeah, by the way, she told her Mother, Dr. Amberly said I don't half to wear the high pull if I wear my elastics 24/7."
"Well that's really nice of him." Her mother commented sarcastically. As I looked at Marissa, I noticed that the oversized facebow some how balanced the oversized glasses, further emphasizing her delicate features. Surprisingly enough, she looked sexy!
"Oh, Marissa, " I exclaimed, "that doesn't look bad!"
"Yeah, right!." she looked at the floor.
"No, really! Are you ready? I thought we're going to the movie." Taking her hand I said goodby to her mother and we were off.
Throughout the evening, I held Marissa close to me. After the moving we made out way to Pizza Hut. Only when the waiter delivered our pizza did she stop to remove the facebow. It seemed that she might had forgotten that she was wearing it. After we had finished she excused herself, went to the restroom and when she had returned I saw that she had re-inserted her facebow.
When we returned to her home, we found that we had the den all to ourselves. We sat on the sofa and I took her in my arms. Slowly I kissed, facebow and all. It was a wierd feeling but she responded. Then she laughed. "I can be a good ortho patient but this is going a little bit too far." She removed the facebow and I took off her glasses. We were locked in an embrace for what seemed like enternity.
Winding south on US 51 on my return to Memphis I recounted the past week.
Yesterday, I had completed my fourth final exam in as many days. I had also learned of my father 's promotion and upcoming transfer. And, I had probably spent $100 in long distance phone calls serving as Marissa's sounding board as she adjusted to life in cervical headgear.
Later this evening we would attend her senior prom. Fortunately we would be attending sans the headgear. Her mother had likewise insisted that she wear her contacts and prior to prom, we were going to Olin Mills for studio photos. I was thankful that Marissa's parents had graciously insisted that I spend the night in their guest room. Between the tux, the trip and the evening out, I was becoming more and more stressed about money.
The previous summer had had l had worked to save $1400. Now, as my bank account dipped below three hundred dollars, I wondered how I would continue the relationship with my new girlfriend of the past two and a half months. Marissa was my room mate's high school girlfriend who I had met by chance one weekend while staying in his home.
There had been chemistry from the start with Marissa and me. Tom, she had said "was on a different communications path." When I asked him if he was sore that she and I had started dating, he had said that there wasn't. But, I never received another invitation to stay at his Memphis home. This week he had excitedly told me that he had been accepted by Southwestern of Memphis, a prestigious private school. He had attended UT Martin for the purpose of establishing a high grade point average. Now, he was one step closer to his goal: medical school
I was an average student at best. I had attended UT Martin in hopes of getting the tough Junior Division courses behind me in anticipation of a transfer to Tennessee's Knoxville campus. Like Tom, Marissa was a straight A student. When she had originally announced plans to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia to pursue a Broadcast Journalism degree, with the ultimate goal of being a TV anchor woman, I couldn't picture it. She was attractive, even pretty. But, she wasn't in the mode of a typical TV newscaster. Maybe it was because she wore little or no makeup. Perhaps it was because her mouth glistened with shinny braces. The more I looked at her, however, the more i could envision her on television. She had beautiful bone structure with defined delicate features. Marissa stood about 5 feet six inches and was "well made." She had prominent, rounded breasts which I was becoming more and more familiar with. While slender, she confessed that she had lost "five or six pounds," since beginning her 24 hour headgear treatment. I guessed that she weighed between 115 and 120 pounds.
At home in Clarksville, my father, a career army officer had surprised our family by announcing his promotion to general and two year assignment to Seoul Korea. He was delighted as was my mother. My sister, a senior at Clarksville High School announced that she was not going. She had accepted a cheer leading scholarship from Austin Peay and would living in the sorority house her freshman year.
I had originally accepted a summer job working in a Wesley Foundation youth camp in Colorado. The pay was only $250 per month and the job lasted from mid-June to Mid August. Now, it was likely that I would need to find a job that paid more. Marissa had suggested that I find a job in Memphis, attending Memphis State for summer school. This thought was tempting and when I had suggested the idea to my parents, they were supporting. They had always felt that the summer camp job was too little money and that it might be a good idea to take some classes in the summer. I was glad when they offered to cover the tuition, room and board.
Marissa had been accepted by the University of Missouri. However, her headgear treatment was giving her second thoughts about attending as a freshman. She had also learned after her Wednesday visit to the Orthodondists office, that she had a "stray" tooth growing in the roof of her mouth. It would need to be surgically removed but Dr. Amberly wanted to wait and do it at the time that he removed the long awaited wisdom teeth. She had anxiously hoped that he would say they could extract them prior to the end of May. She knew that as long as they stayed in their current position, they could not be removed. And, as long as she had to wait for their removal, she would be in her current 24-hour headgear treatment.
When she opened the door, I noticed that she was wearing her headgear but was without her glasses. Ushering me inside,she told me that she was going to talk our the facebow at 3 p.m. and forget about it until the next day. We drank iced tea and I watched her insert her index finger between her top lip and the apex of the facebow. This was evidently a new habit that she had acquired over the past two weeks.
"You know, my girlfriend Pam wears a facebow kinda like mine. " she said. "But it's maybe half the size of mine. She wears it only when she sleeps and told me that she was embarrassed to let anyone know about it until she saw me showing up at school wearing my headgear.
"I asked Dr. Amberly if I could have a smaller facebow," Marissa took the question from my mind. " He said he thought about it and even conferred with a colleague in Maryland who had a patient with a similar problem. He said I needed "maximum traction." That means "maximum metal," I guess.
I looked at her fondly. When she looked down, I could see the space between her cheek and the facebow. "It must be uncomfortable to sleep in." I comforted.
"The first week," she remembered, " I ate asparin. Now it's not so bad. In fact, what's funny is when I take it off, my teeth hurt. Can you believe that?"
"So you'll be in pain this evening."
"Happily!" Marissa smiled through the facebow. " I wouldn't go to prom wearing headgear. Actually, I more worried about these contacts. Mom wants me to wear them but they start bothering me after about four hours."
"What about the Keroti...?" I struggled with the word.
"Kerotitis," Marissa laughed calmly" is when your iris is inflammed and you can't wear contacts. I'm okay now, but I got used to wearing glasses. Now, I guess I need to get used to the contacts again."
I actually liked the glasses but didn't say more. Marissa's mother came in, greeted me and showed me to the guest bedroom. An hour later we were at Olin Mills. The photographer took shot after shot of Marissa and I. There was no doubt that we looked good together. Wearing her formal, I could see how glowing and beautiful she was. She wasn't the kind of girl who jumped our in a crowd. Instead, she had a quiet beauty that seemed to grow the more you looked at her. It was understandable why she was so concerned with her teeth. She had a dream of being on television and straight, perfect teeth were required. Thus, "no pain, no gain," she constantly reminded me.
My grades were in! 16 hours, Three C's, Two B's and One A; in a one hour tennis class! That made 28 hours over my two freshman semesters and a 2.5 G.P.A. Hardly nothing to write home about. My room mate, Tom would have been mortified. But my parents were pleased. My decision to attend summer school was openly supported and the idea of attending Memphis State as opposed to U.T. Martin or Austin Peay made sense. "Because," as my father put it, " it will be much easier to find a summer job there."
I was glad that he was so happy. He had been very unhappy with me the previous year when I turned up my nose at a ROTC scholarship. My father was career military. Now, he was going to Korea as a General and the Army was not only picking up all of his moving expense but they were offering to move the entire family. My sister was dating the star wide receiver on Clarksville High's football team. She was not interested in spending the summer abroad. Neither was I. Marissa was on my mind and the thought of being gone for three months was not appealing.
My parents had reviewed the prom pictures. They noted that Marissa was "an attractive girl." They were not sympathetic with Tom and said that they were glad that we had met. They both thought that I had been somewhat secretive about our dating. But, I had been vague primarily because I thought they would be unhapy if they had learned that I was driving to Memphis every weekend. Now, it would be different. I would be attending college there and could see her every day.
My biggest worry had been my car, a 1969 Galaxie 500. It had been making funny noises and I feared that each and every trip to Memphis would be my last if it went out of commission. Therefore, I was surprised when both parents suggested that I take the Army's allotment for the trip and use it to upgrade cars. My father's Junior Officer at the base had just received a promotion and a transfer to West Berlin, Germany. He had decided not to store his 1973 Mercury Cougar. Instead he agreed to sell it to me for the price of $3000! I was elated! The car had less than 10,000 miles on it. It was jet black with a black leather interior. The government trip money came to nearly $1500. There was another guy at the base who offered me $600 for the Galaxy. My father then took me to the credit union and co-signed a loan for the remaining $900. I would make payments of $42 per month for two years. I was in heaven.
When I told Marissa of the new car and the how it came into my possession, she shared her own piece of good luck.
Through her Journalism Teacher and Achedemic Advisor, Mrs. Devereaux, she had landed a work study scholarship through Memphis State's Radio-Television Department. It involved a job with WMC TV, the NBC Affiliate in Memphis working in Master Control. This job paid $3.92 per hour( minimum wage was $1.65 per hour in 1975) and guaranteed her 28 hours per week. It also paid in full for a four hour Basic Operations class offered at the University. The "only hitch," Marissa had noted, " was I will have to sign a one year contract with the station. And, I will have to pass the FCC Third Class Operators Exam."(This was required back in those days for such a position in the TV station.) It also insured that the University of Missouri would be out for at least one year.
"Mrs. Devereaux also recommended that I take the one hour library science class." Marissa explained. " I guess a job in a dark TV studio and classes in the library are just what the doctor ordered for the girl in headgear."
Marissa was adjusting to her 24-hour headgear therapy. She had originally thought that would be an impossibility. Now, as I planned my move to the Memphis State University student dormitory and she began her job at WMC, it seemed like that revelation of misplaced wisdom teeth was 100 years ago instead of two months earlier. She had even drawn praise from Dr. Amberly, her orthodontist. "But you, Matt," she had confessed to me, "made it possible. My Mother thinks you're the nicest guy she's ever met." I could
She was constantly asking me if I minded the headgear. And I was always(honestly)telling her that I didn't. She had resumed wearing her contact lenses although she was quick to take them out after six p.m., much to her mother's dismay. She was in great anticipation of of Mid- June visit to Dr. Amberly. Perhaps he would have good news this time. Her hope was he would tell her that the wisdom teeth could be removed and her headgear treatment would be history. She was concerned with the "stray" tooth found in the roof of her month. She expected to hear details on it's removal.
I signed up for History and Economics that first summer term. That would amount to six hours. But, my job search had not been promising. I was al but resigned to the fact that I would be working in McDonalds when Marissa found a classified in the Commerical Appeal. It wanted a person to go to homes, following up on time share leads for a company at Horseshoe Bend Arkansas. The pay was $10 for signing and collecting a deposit check and an additional $15 when the people showed up for their tour. It was straight commission in a matter of speaking. But, it offered flexibile evening hours. And, there was a chance that I could make as much as $100 per week part time! It also coincided with Marissa's 3-10 p.m. shift Monday through Thursday. That I liked most of all.
Thus. summer of 1975 begin with me driving a sleek sports car, taking classes in the morning, and going to different middle class Memphis homes in the evening. I was able to see Marissa every day for lunch and generally for a drive in the afternoon. Her job at WMC was interesting but studying for the FCC Exam took time. She was excited and grateful to have the kind of "on the job training" her position offered. As time passed, it seemed that she was less and less concerned with the facebow. It was becoming "like I'm not dressed without it." she had declared one muggy afternoon.
On the Friday prior to her Monday Ortho appointment, we sat on her sofa in the living room. Her parents had gone out to eat and we sat watching a movie. Huddled close together I kissed her on the forehead, then the nose. Slowly, she began to remove the facebow. "Wait." I said. "Just leave it on. Now, you can tell Dr. Amberly that you made out in headgear."
"Yeah, he'd love it." She laughed.
French kissing was virtually impossible through her facebow. But, I nevertheless, ran my tongue along it's rectangular loops and then touched her bottom lip. Then I kissed her chin and her nose again. I could imagine how benign she must have appeared to her parents with her thick facebow and ovesized glasses. But, to me, she was the sexiest thing alive. She was responding by caressing me between the legs. It was going to be difficult resisting what came natural much longer.
"Time for you to go!" Marissa gulped.
And, I left. For my cold shower at the dorm. This was becoming an every night ritual for me. I wondered how much longer we would be able to continue in this manner.
That weekend I completed the 400 mile roundtrip to Clarksville to bid my parents farewell as they left for Korea. It would be the following June before they would return. Both parents were broken up when I left that Sunday night. But they made sure that I had enough money for the remainder of the summer and fall semesters at Memphis State. In addition to giving me money for the room, board and tuition, my father gave me a check for $1000 for "emergency laundry money." I had not expected so much. My job with the Real Estate company had started slowly, yielding only $20 the first week. The second week it had climbed to $75. I was encouraged and grateful considering it took almost $100 per month just to pay for my car loan and the insurance.
Because I left Clarksville so late, I was unable to talk to Marissa until the following day. We had planned to have lunch together and she would tell me the results of her morning appointment with Dr. Amberly. She was wearing wearing neirther her headgear or her glasses when we met at Denny's near the TV station. As we sat she reached into her purse and pulled out a glasses case. She produced her frames and I noticed that the lenses had been darkened.
"I got my first paycheck last Friday." She said. "I bought sunglasses. They were kinda expensive."
"Those look like your glasses." I observed. " Did you tint the lenses?"
"No. These are different glasses. They're the same frames. I liked them but they were too large for those clip on sunglasses." She pointed out.
"Mom never liked my frames. She said they were too big and covered up my face. But, I like them. I remember seeing them in a magazine along with about eight other contemporary frame styles. They call mine "racers." But, Mom did't like them. She doesn't like me wearing glasses period." She added.
"Well, this is the 70's." I said. " She's probably would be more confortable with the "cat eye" glasses the girls wore in the 50's."
The conversation was starting out in a strange manner. Nothing had been said about her appointment at the orthodontist's office. She wasn't wearing her headgear. Maybe that was a sign. "So," I asked, "what did Dr. Amberly have to say?"
"Good new and bad news." Marissa breathed heavily.
"Tell me the bad news first." I volunteered. I had received a 92 on my Economics test when it was returned earlier that morning. Between the money in the bank and seeing Marissa after three days, I couldn't have been happier.
"Well, " she started. " Dr. Amberly was real happy about the way that I had been wearing my headgear. But, he got on to me about not wearing my rubber bands."
I had noticed that she had been without elastics a lot as of late.
"I didn't have any excuse." She noted. " I told him that I just would forget. He told me it was like wearing a face bow without the strap. Pretty stupid! He's right."
"So, what'll happen now?" I asked.
"He said that he'll have to compensate my laxness with "additional high pull traction." Marissa mimicked the Doctor using a low mechanical voice.
"What does that translate to?" I couldn't imagine where the conversation was going.
"It means that I am going to have to wear a high pull with my facebow.," She explained.
"Well, that's not that bad." I comforted. " Did he give you any indication as to how long it will be for the treatment to continue?"
"No. And there's more." Marissa looked away as the server brought plates of pancakes and sausage. "You recall when he found the stray tooth in the roof of my mouth?"
"Sure."
"Well, they did another xray on the lower jaw thinking they might find another stray tooth."
"Did they?"
"No. But they found that my lower wisdom teeth were growing in the same manner as my upper wisdom teeth. It's a mess!" She sighed.
"So what now?" I was trying to piece together why she was in such a vague, wistfull mood.
"I don't know for sure." she shook her head. "He promised he would do everything that he could to keep me out of two bows."
"You mean two headgears?" I asked blankly. "Would you be able to talk?"
Marissa laughed. "He's not going to wire my jaw shut, silly. But, it might mean double headgear. Wow! What a mouthfull! I just can't believe this is happening to me."
"When will you know for sure?"
"When I return Friday to be fitted for my high pull headcap." She frowned. "He said that he would review the xrays one more time and talk to his ortho buddy in Maryland who had a patient with a similar problem before making the final determination.
"What about the good news?" I smiled.
'Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! That stray tooth in the roof of my mouth," Marissa smiled, " can be taken out in his office Friday. They won't need to put me under like they thought that they would. And, then there will be no elastics or headgear until the following Tuesday."
We slowly finished out pancakes. Marissa excused herself and returned wearing her cervical headgear. She took my hand as we left Dennys.
'You know, Matt,"she offered, "Dad asked me to invite you to the lake house this next week. Interested?"
I had waited for such an invitation. "You bet."
"Yeah, I'll get a chance to wear my new sunglasses." Marissa touched her purse. 'You need 'em there. And no headgear this weekend. But after Tuesday, I can only imagine!"
"He didn't give any indication as to how much longer it might take those teeth to move to the proper position for extraction?" I felt I was becoming an expert on her misplaced wisdom teeth.
"Nope. Next week or next year!" Marissa shook her head.
We drove around for an hour. Then I returned Marissa to her car as she prepared for work. As was becoming habit, I kissed her through and around the facebow. Since I had never seen a "double headtgear" I couldn't imagine what she would look like if she was wearing two facebows. I felt for her and the frustration of doing nearly everything that she was supposed to do, only to watch things go from bad to worse. It would be interesting to hear Dr. Amberly's verdict on Friday.
"Well, it was kinda what I was expecting!" Marissa exclaimed.
"Did he get the tooth out?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's gone and I can't feel a thing." She winced."I'm still numb.!" Marissa had experienced a "stray tooth" extraction from the roof of her mouth that morning. She recounted the sequence as we sipped milk shakes at the Baskin Robbins near the college. "He took four stiches. They'll come out Tuesday when I return. By the way. Dr. Amberly thinks you "sound like quite a guy." He asked if you can come with me on my next appointment. Can you? It'll be at 11:30 in the morning. Your last class ends at 11 if I remember correctly. I think he wants to tell you some things about my "wisdom teeth situation" and my "treatment routine." What do you think?"
"Sure."
"Yeah, and you can see me in all my metal!" Marissa's eyes narrowed. She had received the bad news first. Dr. Amberly had analyzed her bottom jaw xrays, talked to his Maryland orthodontist associate and concluded that, even though it would be both cumbersome and uncomfortable, it would be "the safest, surest bet" to utilize "external traction" on her bottom mollers as they were successfully doing with her uppers."
They had taken measurements for her high pull head cap, then for her new cervical neck strap. They had also attached buccal tubes to her lower bands for her second facebow. This has been done prior to the "stray tooth" extraction.
"I don't know if you'll want to be seen with me wearing all of this." Marissa whined. "I don't know if I will want to leave the house!"
"Marissa," I said firmly, "it won't be that bad. I'm not going anywhere. You'll be fine and done with all of this before you know." I was trying to sound convincing. But, I couldn't imagine exactly what it would be like. I hoped for the best.
Marissa had adjusted to wearing the cervical headgear quite nicely. She didn't seem to have a lot of friends. But she had two very good girlfriends, Pam and Jen whom we often visited. However, we never went too many different places and she preferred dark movie houses and corner booths at Shoneys to laces with high concentrations of people. Her job brought her into very little contact with more than a dozen people. She had become used to letting them and the people in her two college classes see her in her headgear. She claimed to have heard one of the young part timers refer to her as "little Miss Tinselmouth."
"You know, Matt, " Marissa related, "Dr. Amberly warned me when I got my cervical that my social life might take a beating and I told him, I already had a boyfriend. If anything, my social life has been as good as I can every remember it the whole time I've been in headgear."
"Yeah, that's right," I agreed. She had amazingly never referred to me as "her boyfriend." I relished the reference.
"Have you told your parents?" I asked.
"No." She said. "But my father isn't real high on Dr. Amberly. He is probably going to have some choice words for him. Then, Mom will remind him of Dr. Dumbo(the St. Louis Ortho) and he'll shut up."
The week had ended. I would return to the dorm for my things and then drive to Marissa's home. From there, we would depart for the familie's lake house at Greer's Ferry Lake near Heber Springs Arkansas, a two hour drive due west. Marissa was wearing her new sunglasses. She told me that her Mother had objected to the price that she had paid- $92; a lot for frames and lenses in 1975.
"But I earned it from my job." she reminded.
I was feeling pretty good about my job. The first week, I had earned a paltry $20. The second week, a promising $75. Then, this week, I had learned that my earnings hit $115. I realized that I was working only about 16 hours per week. My parents, now in Korea, would be stunned!
Marissa wore her glasses all weekend. We water skied and swam in the clear, cold water of Greers Ferry Lake. There was only one bedroom in the cabin. I slept on a roll-a-way in the livng room next to Marissa's father who slept on the sofa. Marissa and her mother slept in the other room. We didn't talk much about her upcoming orthodonic ordeal but it was obvious it was on both of our minds.
Promptly at 11:30 Tuesday Morning, Marissa and I entered Dr. Amberly's Germantown office. After registering at the front desk, she led me into a small waiting room. We seated ourselves and began nervously thumbing through magazines. After less than three minutes a tall woman who looked to be in her late twenties wearing a blue smock came through the door.
" Hi Marissa! And this must be Matt! Come on back." She led us to a richly furnished office and told us to take a seat on a brown leather sofa in the corner. As I looked at the walls I noticed numerous plaques, certificates and diplomas. Then I noticed the nameplate on the front of the large desk, "Dr. Theodore Amberly."
"Marissa! And this must be the infamous Matt Hendrix! I'm Ted Amberly." A small, thin man of about 50 emerged wearing a white lab coat and a maroon tie. His tiny black mustache and round black glasses gave him the look of a comic book character. "Marissa has told me a lot about you. So glad of you to take time and come out!"
"Yeah, Dr. Amberly, I've heard a lot about you, too." I mused.
"Understand that your one of Dr. Hill's old patients?" he reviewed.
I was surprised at thoroughness and attention when he mentioned my Clarksville Orthodondist. "Yeah, I haven't seen him in a few years."
"I guess you never had problems with your wisdom teeth." Dr. Amberly surmised. "You know, those wisdom teeth are what we refer to as the "wild card" of orthodontic treatment."
"So we've learned." I added ruefully.
"Marissa," the tall assistant called, "we're ready for you."
"Judy." Dr. Amberly addressed the assistant. "Why don't you take out Marissa's stitches I'll be in there in a minute. Matt, can you stay behind for a second. I want to talk to you." Marissa followed Judy out of the room. Dr. Amberly slowly closed the door and beakoned me to walk to his desk. "Matt, I want you to see something."
He slowly placed xray photographs on a nearby light table and quickly pointed to focal points of three different pictures. "This is Marissa's upper jaw two months ago. This is the same jaw last week. Tell me what you see?"
I wasn't sure what I saw. It looked like teeth in reverse but I couldn't determine what was what. "I guess it's Marissa's xrays." I said.
"You are right." Dr. Amberly had a low, almost monotone voice. "Do you see this little fella?" With a felt tip pen he pointed at a small white blob. "This is the root of our problem. It's Marissa's wisdom tooth trying toe come in but as you can see, it come in high and at a 45 degree angle. Left unchecked it will ultimately push all of her teeth to the front. This we will have, for lack of a better way to put it, buck teeth.
"You notice on this second picture the tooth is beginning to turn slightly. I'd say it's now at about a 60 degree angle. Now, do you see this tooth?" he asked taking a third picture. "This is what we found last week when we were checking for another "unexpected stray" in her lower jaw."
"Looks like the same problem." I said.
"Yes, unfortunately it is."
"Well, I guess we can thank good old Dr. Dumbo for that." I shook my head.
"Actually, Matt, it it had not been for Dr. Kirtchener," Dr. Amberly corrected me using the correct name of the St. Louis Orthodondist, " we might never have had the chance that we have now to prevent what would have been unexpected movement after the treatment was long concluded."
Noticing my surprised gaze, Dr. Amberly continued. "I have been practicing Orthodondics 24 years. And there have always been Orthodondists who promise results without the rigors of traditional treatment. He obviously was one of those. I recall a couple of orthodontists here who offered "alternative method treatment." They never seem to be around for long periods of time. However, had Dr. Shaw(the Cape Gireadeau Orthodontist or my office had Marissa from when she began treatment eight years ago, we would have been done in five or less. Then, when these pesky wisdom teeth emerged, she would be busy and not willing to stop and undergo the kind of treatment necessary to correct the problem."
It dawned on me that Dr. Amberly seemed to be almost selling me his treatment of Marissa. "Did you talk to her parents?" I asked.
"I had a long talk with Mrs. Danner on Friday." he said. " I still haven't met Mr. Danner. I understand he's a very nice person. Main thing that I wanted to tell you, Matt, is I appreciate your attitude. You wouldn't know how many instances I can recall where high school patients were told that external applicances were necessary and their boyfriend-girlfriend relationships would blow up. And, believe me, I understand. Full time headgear treatment is something associated with elementary school patients.
"You can't understand how pleased and surprised to see Marissa wearing her headgear in perfect compliance. In all honesty, I thought that she might attain 25% of our objective if we were lucky. When she told me how supportive that you were," he nodded, " I said, I want to meet this guy and shake his hand."
"Sounds like she didn't do that great of a job with the rubber bands." I laughed.
"No, she didn't." he agreed. "But that's a minor problem that easily fixable. The next two months are critical. If we can keep those 12 year mollers stationary, I think that we'll be able to extract the wisdom teeth by Labor day; Halloween at the latest. In the meanwhile, it's going to be tough for her. And, speaking of Miss Marissa, let's check and see how she's doing."
He lead me into the next room where Marissa was sittng in the patients long chair. Judy was explaining the details of her headcap. "You run your finger along the inside," she explained, " and you notice it's soft foam rubber, wafer thin. The outside is plastic. It's waterproof." The high pull was tan in color and consisted of two straps that we joined by a single connecting strap that would fit on the crown of Marissa's head. "Now take your neck strap and as you can see, it the same material and same color. Now take your lower facebow and insert it. Did you find the buccal tubes?"
"This looks kinda like the facebow I had when I was in grade school." Marissa remembered. Unlike the facebow that she had been wearing for two months, this facebow did not dontain the retangular looks and was less rounded. It's apex was perhaps an eighth of an inch past her bottom lip. It arched our to a distance of almost a third of an inch above her cheek before connectly neatly just below her earlobe with the hooks of the neck strap. "It's big!"
"Now, Marissa, take your upper facebow and insert it. Good." Judy continued. "Then take the headcap and hook it on the left side and then the right. The headcap stopped near the hole in her ear and a thin strip with a circle on the end hooked to each side of the facebow. "There! How's that feel?"
"Tight!." Marissa's words were slurred.
"Now take this vasoline and you need to coat your lips before you fall asleep every night. Otherwise, they will chap." Judy warned.
"Kinna har to tal.." Marissa started. I noticed that the two facebows made closing her lips over her braces impossible. When she spoke they moved.
""You'll get use to talking with the facebows." Judy said. " You might want to practice reading at home to get use to it."
"And, Marissa, " Dr.Amberly added in the background. " I would advise you not to remove the facebows until this evening. The more that you take them out, the more they'll hurt. Have you eaten."
"No.: Marissa said. "An I'm down to 111 pouns. Mom's all over me about that."
"We'll get a milkshake when we leave." I said. I looked at her sympathetically. She held the mirrow in her hand and admired her new hardware. It was likely going to be difficult and no fun, to say the least.
Selecting a secluded corner booth in a nearby Howard Johnsons Restaurant, I ordered milkshakes for both Marissa and myself.
I had to admit. Dr. Amberly's staff had done a superb job fitting her high pull headcap. There was no slack, no loose areas. It fit Marissa's head like a glove. The neckstrap was mostly concealed by her shoulder length hair, revealing itself only at the ends where it hooked to the facebow.
Marissa hair was "soft red" in color. As her former boyfriend, Tom had once described "not a Bozo red but a quiet red." It was slightly more red than auburn, thick, natural and quietly beautiful. The tan colored headcap and matching neck strap accented nicely with her unique haircolor.
The "cushion loop" upper facebow, as Judy the assistant had labeled it, did not look as large as it had looked prior to being connected to the high pull headcap. I couldn't understand why. It still extended one-half inch past her upper lip. Perhaps it was due to the new lower facebow, referred to by Judy as a "conventional" facebow, which now extended past Marissa's lower lip by a mere eighth inch. This facebow did not have the two retangular loops on each side and was less rounded. Instead, it's apex was about an inch in width. Then it arched out to points where it was about one third of an inch from Marissa's cheek. This facebow hooked to the neckstrap. When Marissa spoke, both facebows moved with her jaws. The cute smile that Tom had once described and I had later noted, was nowhere to be found. I remembered Marissa's habit of pulling her upper lip down over her banded top teeth with her index finger. That was impossible now. The facebows prevented her from joining her lips thus exposing her shiny sets of upper and lower bands.
"I must look like a dork." Marissa suggested.
"No, you don't look like a dork." I answered honestly. The 70's slang word which was synomous for "goofy" was not the description that I was looking for. In truth, I had not determined who to describe my girlfriend's "new look." I continued, "Not at all, Marissa."
In reality, she looked quite comely from the neck down. Although she had lost almost 15 pounds since initiating her headgear therapy two months earlier, her breasts remained rounded and prominent. Her blue jeans were tight and he heels added three inches to her 5-6 figure. Her light, white "peasants" blouse completed her simple yet smart appearance.
"You're so sweet, att." the facebows prevented her from joining her lips. "I noticed you stayed in Dr. Amberly's office and talked. What'd he say?"
"He showed me the xrays. He said that you had done great." I didn't add that the doctor expressed his surprise over how well she had done with her headgear compliance. " He said that the next two months will be critical but he thinks that he can extract those teeth as early as Labor Day."
"Labor Day!." Marissa brightened. "That's not as ad as I thought it ight be. He never said anything to ee about Labor Day."
"Well, he also said Halloween at the latest." I confessed honestly. "Meanwhile, he showed me how the upper teeth were moving in the direction he wanted. He said keeping those 12 year mollers stationary is the key." I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She had tried so hard to comply with Dr. Amberly's stern requirement and had accomplished everything that he had hoped. Now, she had received another setback. I noticed that her large green eyes were red. Perhaps she had been crying secretly. "Hey, don't cry. It's not that bad."
"I'm not crying. It's these contact lenses." Marissa reached for her compact and inspected her large green eyes. "I'm going to call ay oftomologist tororrow." her speech was slurred. "I was wanting to eat something efore work. Then he strapped ee up in this thing."
"Tell you what. I'll pick you up at ten and we'll go down to Beale Street and have a first class pizza. How about that." Normally, going out on a Tuesday night to one of Memphis' premiere places would have not been within my budget. But my latest paycheck had totaled $130. "By the way, I forgot to tell you. That job you found in the paper that I took is really bringing in some coin! We can splurge!"
"Without this headgear!" Marissa added. "I'll wear it to work. Then off it comes 'till I go to ed. With asoline! Ugh! That stuff is so gross!"
I kissed her as we departed. Once on the nose. I tried to touch her lips but could only feel wires. Then I felt her tongue on mine. I kissed her chin, her ear and finally settled on her neck.
"No hicki, no hicki." Marissa giggled. "I gotta go to work now. Last week they called me "little iss Tinsel outh. I wonder what it'll ee now? The lady froh outer sace?"
I laughed. Everytime she moved her jaws, the facebows moved. It was if she now had a new mouth. "Not on your life, Marissa!" I still couldn't compare my girlfriend in double headgear to anything that I had seen. But I did know that I was fantastically aroused.
Later, when I picked her up at the television station, she had switched to her glasses. I noticed the oversized frames with the thick lenses seemed a perfect fit with the two large facebows. She did not removed the headgear even when we had selected a pizza tavern in the middle of the famous section of the city. Between the car and the restaurant, we walked, arm in arm for better than a half mile. She didn't seem to mind wearing her "external appliances." Only when the pizza came did she remove the headgear. This was a little surprising. Normally, I would have thought that she would have taken it off in the car. But she hadn't. It seemed that she was already becoming comfortable with her "new look."
Later in the car, minus the headgear, we embraced and french kissed. I felt her body close to mine like never before. Slowly removing her glasses, I kissed every inch of her pale white skin.
"Let's pick this up tomorrow." Marissa breathed heavily. She was resisting. But, I knew that it was not going to be indefinite. I drove her back to her car. We kissed passionately. Then, I left for my dorm and the usual cold shower.
Early Wednesday morning, prior to the July 4th, the upcoming Sunday, my company had ask me if I could work both Sunday and Monday in Horseshoe Bend. I was coming off my best week: $155 for about 16 hours of marketing calls the previous week. When they told me that they could pay me $150 plus cover expenses for the trip to Izard County Arkansas, I quickly agreed.
I saw Marissa briefly after the conclusion of my 10 a.m. history class. She was wearing her glasses and told me that her optomologist would see her that Friday to determine if the Kerotitis had reoccured. "il then," she mused, "No Contacts. Period!"
In the well lit spaces of the Memphis State University Student Union, I studied her as we found a table and took a seat. She was wearing her new double headgear with the matching tan headcap and neck strap with her large contemporary eyeglass frames. They were amber in color with flecks of brown. Together with her "quiet red" hair she actually seemed color coordinated.
"Marissa, I believe you're frames match your headgear." I smiled.
"Yeah, sure." Marissa laugh bounced the face bows. "On thing I noticed. My glasses don't slide." It was true. With the arms of her frames tucked snuggly under the ends of her headcap, she no longer needed to periodically push them up on her nose. "I guess they were truly ade for each other!" her smirk was slightly sarcastic.
I knew that Marissa wasn't truly upset about the contacts. She constantly made it clear how much she loathed the daily care associated with contacts lenses. I did not know, however, what her overall reaction might be since being assigned a headgear therapy of maximum rigor. I knew that she was trying not to allow the two facebows from impeding her speech. "Your goin' to work Sunday and unday?" the facebows moved in rhythm.
"Yeah. Good money. My parents are going to ask if what I am doing is legal!" I shook my head. The previous evening I had received a cable gram from my father asking for an alternate phone number. "They have been trying to call me and I'm just never in my room. I gave them your phone number. I hope that's okay."
"Sure. good idea!" she looked down. "My brother and his family are coming in for the fourth. My father was talkin' 'out all goin' to the lake. I'm not wild about the idea. " This was Karl, Marissa's one and only brother. He was six years older and lived in Virgina with his wife and baby. From what I had gathered, Karl and Marissa's father had experienced a fallout several years before. He had joined the Navy, even enduring a short tour in Viet Nam just prior to the withdrawal. "I kinda feel stupid showing up like this." she confessed, pointing at the headgear.
"Last night, Matt," she was able to pronounce my name, " I heard Dad talking to Mom. He didn't think I heard him. He said I looked like I had been in a car wreck."
"You don't look like you were in an automobile accident, Marissa. That's ridiculous!" I comforted.
"Well, Mom said, "It's Marissa's decision." You know, like she didn't believe in what Amberly was prescribing..Matt," she looked at me through her thick lenses, " Do you think he knows what he's doing. I mean, really!"
"Marissa," I was surprised by my own firmness, "I saw the xrays. You made progress. That's for sure. And, truthfully, based on what he said to me, he never figured that you would follow his instruction literally. I think he was hoping you would "sorta, kinda" do what he prescribed."
"Sorta, kinda." the facebows bounced. "Did he show you the picture of that girl who's teeth pooched out when her wisdom teeth came in?"
"No."
"Matt, I want to be an Anchor Woman." Marissa smiled wistfully through the facebows. "I can't do that with buck teeth. Dr. Amberly told me that ay teeth would definitely ove." When Marissa attempted to speed up her speech, she continued to have problems pronouncing certain words. But she was improving.
"Honey," I called her for the first time, placing my hands on either side of her head, "this too shall pass." I kissed her on the nose, then the chin, then on the apex of the facebows as I felt her tongue touch mine.
We arose and left the student union. Final Exams would begin the following week. Although I was elated about the opportunity to earn additional money, I was worried about the exams. I knew that I had an reasonable chance at making B's in both the history and the economics class. But, poor performances could result in D's. Therefore, it would be important to study as much as possible.
"We'll get together Saturday and study for exams, aybe." Marissa read my mind. "I ay go to the lake. Then, again, aybe not." her speech was beginning to slurr. "What I really need to do is learn how to talk with these facebows."
Putting me arm around her shoulders, I led her to where we had parked the cars. Kissing again through the facebows, we said goodby and headed for work.
Final Exams were in and I had made B's in both the American History class and the Economics class! The six hour study session with Marissa on the Saturday prior to July 4th had not been in vain. And, as luck had it, my parents finally reached me on the telephone early the following morning after I received my grades. They were elated when I told them the results. They were equally happy when they learned how much money my part time job had yielded.
Marissa, naturally made A's in both her Basic Radio Operations class and her Librairy Science Class. Because her F.C.C. Third Class Operators License Exam was coming up at the end of August, she had opted to take no second semester classes at the University. She had heard countless tales about good broadcasting students failing "element nine" of the exam and was determined to pass the entire exam on the first try. When she explained the stakes, I understood.
If she passed the exam,WMC-TV had promised to, not only extend her 28 hour employment indefinitely, but to give her an immediate 90 cent per hour raise. Additionally, she would receive six hours of classroom credit toward her degree in both the first and second semesters. To top it off, she would receive a $500 per semester scholarship from the station. In 1975 Full time Tuition at Memphis State University was $410 per year. While Marissa's parents were comfortable, they were by no means wealthy. Altogether, these incentives were enormous and I could readily sense how intensely focused she had become.
The Tuesday after July 4th, she had also learned that her kerotitis had returned. Her Optomotrist had prohibited contect lense wear for three months.
After a week's hiatus,"to get use to her new external appliances," Dr. Amberly had resumed her elastics wear. This time, Marissa did not forget. When I saw her after returning from Horseshoe Bend, the Wednesday after July 4th, she was again wearing them, with her headgear.
Something seemed to have changed about Marissa. Before, she had been very shy about wearing her facebow in public places. Only with my sensitive, persistent prodding did she agree to go to two movie houses in different parts of the city, two dark Pizza Huts near those movie theaters and a Shoneys and Howard Johnson Restaurants with out-of-the-way corner booths. We had visited her two girlfriends homes And, we had spent at lot of time at her home. That was it.
Now, she wanted to go to Beale Street, the zoo, and to concerts. Suddenly, she seemed to not care if she was seen in her headgear. It was as if she had become blind to the stares that she often received when in public.
She had mastered talking with the facebows. I was quick to tell her how little they impeded her speech and she admitted reading outloud as Dr. Amberly's assistant, Judy had advised her to do. In fact, I was finding myself looking more and more at our prom pictures trying to remember the last time when I had seen her not wearing both her glasses and her double headgear.
I could remember the look of horror on her friend Pam's face the first time she had seen Marissa's new hardware. Pam had told me privately that she could not imagine how Marissa seemed so unconcerned about wearing such an appliance. She told me that her boyfriend would had "thrown a fit." But, as Marissa's mother had concluded, I was a "really nice guy."
I recalled hearing Marissa's mother scolding her about her weight. She had dropped to 108 pounds, model proportion with a heighth of Five feet, six inches. Always describing herself as a "casual, bluejean type girl," Marissa had evidently invested a lot of her WMC earnings on a wardrobe that included tight fitting dress slacks and body blouses. I had heard her mention to her friend Jen, that even though she had "lost 18 pounds" she still maintained "a cup size of 32-B." With her ever present three inch heels, she defined the term "foxy" in seventies slang.
Furthermore she seemed to be living on milkshakes, Dr. Pepper and Carnation Instant Breakfast. I remembered a conversation that she had after returning for one day at lake house when her brother visited. She had left her headgear at home for the night and when she returned and put it on "it hurt like blazes." Marissa had purchased a bottle of Chenin Blanc(drinking age was 18 at that time in Tennessee) and had consumed the entire bottle, "with a straw of course." she had laughed.
She evidently had an unending supply of the bendable hospital straws, courtesy of Dr.Amberly's office. When I asked her if she wanted to eat, she always seemed to "not be hungry" or "had already eaten." Often, I came away feeling that our time together was gradually growing more limited. Yet, she was always available for the hour long, late night telephone conversations.
The second semester began after a one week break. I decided to take Calculus, a demanding course that I felt I would be lucky to pass along with an easier Health and Safety class. Both were three hour credits and I hoped to spend a lot of time at Marissa's house studying. She had told me that she intended on spending four hours per day, every day studying for the F.C.C. exam. My job continued to pace well and my earnings had slowed only slightly, to between $135 and $150 per week. There was even mention that I might be allowed to continue through the end of October.
When I picked Marissa up that Friday, July 19th, I did as I always did: I first opened her door, then walked around the back of my car and watched her reach over to unlock my door. I viewed the neat tan headcap as she pulled up the lock button and when I got in the car, closing the door, she began excitedly, "I can't believe what my father said to me today!" she proclaimed, her facebows moving in unison.
"What did he say?" I looked at my svelte, red haired, girlfriend and looked into her eyes through her thick lenses. Between the glasses and headgear, her delicate features seemed to be hidden.
"That if I passed the exam, he would get me a new car!" the facebows came together as if Marissa was trying to frown. " I told him that I didn't need a new car right now. But he said, if I could work like I was doing and get the TV station to pay for my college, I should be rewarded."
Marissa was driving a 1972 Ford Maverick. It wasn't a new car or an expensive one. I was impressed that she didn't seem to be obsessed by the thought of a new car. "Well, Marissa," I began. "maybe it's his way of saying "good job." I mean, you made the Dean's list. You work almost 30 hours a week. You're buying your own clothes. You're living at home. Heck! My folks paid for my room and board and help me get this car. And they're happy with me. I'm working. I'm doing pretty good in school."
Marissa grabbed my hand as I shifted into third gear. "I told him, "thanks maybe later." But, on the other hand, what I really wanted to talk to them about was helping me with a Sorority. Pam and Jen are both hoping to go Chi-Omega at Ole Miss this fall and now, Pam's telling me that she may stay in town and go to Memphis State because I'm here."
We had talked about Greek Organizations during the early part of our dating. Tom, my former room mate and Marissa's former boyfriend, had been high on Fraternities. He planned on pledging Kappa Sigma at Southwestern the upcoming fall. I had thought about it the previous year and had even had a two Frats rush me at U.T.- Martin. But, I had known that I would transfer and had passed, thinking that I would be attending the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the fall. Instead, I had gone to Memphis State which was largely a commuter school. And, to top it off, I had landed a part time job that looked like it would extend into the fall.
"That's great, Marissa!" I nodded, " You should do it. Especially if the Chi-O's are strong here. Has Pam decided to go to MSU?"
"Well, she has a dorm deposit she would forfeit at Ole Miss, but it's only a hundred dollars or so."
"What about Jen?"
Marissa released my hand and fingered her upper facebow. "Probably not. She's got family connections there, I think."
We pulled into the Germantown Mall parking lot. I remembered six weeks earlier, I had asked Marissa to accompany to a mens' clothing store but she had refused on account of her headgear. Now, she was out of the car and almost running to the door. " You say you found a suit that you like?" she took my hand.
"Well, maybe they still have it."
The suit was still at the store. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. Then Marissa found a shirt and a tie for me. Leisure Suits were in style but neither she or I were particularly fond of the look. "They won't be around much longer." Marissa predicted. Everywhere we walked, I couldn't help but notice the surprised stares from people seeing this attractive young woman, in her late teens and the headgear that so domintated her face.
"Where to now?" Marissa's voice was upbeat and happy.
I paid for the outfit, taking the bag holding the shirt and tie along with a claim ticket for the suit that would be ready the following week. "Maybe we need to go see "Young Frankenstein," a popular, Mel Brooks Movie that had recently come out."
"That'd be great!" Marissa huddled close to my side.
Throughout the movie, her hand constantly messaged my thigh and knee. I could feel the moisture under my trousers. When the movie finally ended, we made a beeline for her house. Her parents had already retired for the evening leaving us the den to ourselves.
As was the custom, we took a seat on the sofa and I took her in my arms. First a kiss on the forehead, then the nose, then the chin, then the ear. Normally, this would have been the cue for Marissa to remove her headgear. I recalled how fast she had been to remove her facebow at the first hint of a kiss. Now, she seemed like she had forgotten that she was even wearing it. Gradually, I began to unhook the neckstrap from her lower facebow. "Don't." she pulled my hand away. "I don't want you getting too worked up."
Surprised, I kissed her at the apex of her facebows, then on the ear again and held her close to my chest. This was the last response that I would have expected and I was speechless. We sat embraced for almost 15 minutes. I felt like I was going to explode. Slowly, with my hands on her breasts, I began slide my hands under her blouse. She stopped me.
"Let's talk tomorrow, att." the facebows slurred her speech. "There's plenty of time. Don't worry."
I walked out of her house and drove to the dorm, stopping only for a half pint of Wild Turkey.
My company held a pool party the last Sunday in July. When I picked up Marissa, I quickly noticed that she was without her headgear.
"When you told me that they were serving bar-b-que, " Marissa exclaimed, "I thought, what the heck! I can give the headgear a rest for a couple of hours!"
"I doubt Dr. Amberly will be at this party." I laughed wryly.
"Speaking of the doctor, " Marissa's noted, "He called me about a half hour ago."
"On Sunday?"
"Yeah. You know, I have an appointment tomorrow morning at ten. He wants me to talk to someone he said."
"Another ortho?"
Marissa fingered her heavily banded front teeth. She was wearing elastics and fingered them playfully making a high musical sound. "No..He said it was a girl from Hamilton High. He didn't say much other than she would benefit from talking to me."
We were both wearing sunglasses against the bright, late afternoon sunshine. The weather was typical for Memphis is late July: low nineties with high humidity. When we arrived at our company president, Martin Schlenberg's, colonial mansion, I quickly saw Bob and Roland, two salesmen in their late twenties who had become my friends.
"Matt!" Roland greeted. "And this must be Miss Marissa?"
I was glad that Marissa had elected to leave the bulking headgear at home. I realized that I had talked alot about her to my work associates, never mentioning her orthodontic treatment. Looking at her through their eyes, I saw a sleek, well made young woman, pale in the sunlight but striking in a way that I have never observed. The cute smile which had disappeared behind the facebows had returned and she was flashing it readily. It was dawning upon me that it had been almost three weeks since I had seen her without her headgear.
"Yeah," I smiled proudly. "This is Marissa Danner;of WMC- TV." Roland led us to the back of the house where a large free-form smimming pool beakoned. There were probably forty people in the vicinity as we studied the ancient live oaks that extended high above the pool. Marissa was wearing a large white linen shirt over her two piece bathing suit.
"Haven't y'all got some bar-b-que yet?" the drawling voice was Bob's. He came over, slapped me on the back and continued. "You know, Matt's our stud out there, bringing in all that business. You going to get your Real Estate license this fall?"
"I don't know." it had been suggested that I take the Tennessee Real Estate License before the end of the year. "It will depend on how my classes go. I' m having a bear with Calculus!"
"Aw, you don't need that mess." Bob laughed. "Just get out in the real world and make some money!"
"And then what?" it was Martin who had quietly crept into the circle. "Ignore him, Matt. Do what it takes to get your degree. They can never take that away from you."
"Marissa's majoring in Radio-Television and working at MC." I shifted the attention to my girlfriend.
"Good move. What are you doing with them?" Martin's question was serious.
"Master control, right now. I' m on a work-study. Marissa answered. "If I can pass my third class operators exam on August 17th, I'll work there through May at least. Maybe longer."
"I have a friend who works in sales there." Martin revealed. " I'll mention that I met you. TV's a good business."
" I hope to be on the air one day." Marissa added.
"A pretty lady like you will be a cinch." Martin nodded.
As he moved on I could feel Marissa's delight. She was essentially shy and tended to move to the edge of any crowd. But here, she seemed at ease, almost comfortable.
The afternoon wore on and while I ate little, I found that the frosty minp juleps were outstanding. Soon, I was becoming relaxed to the point that I wanted to find a chair. I could tell that Marissa was drinking soda and eating heartily of the bar-b-que. She seemed to be a little concerned with getting the gooey sauce between her braces. Finally, she excused herself and went to the toilet.
When she returned, I noticed that she had replaced her sunglasses with her clear glasses. The sun was beginning to set and soon it was semi-dark. "Maybe we ought to be going, Matt." I have to get up early in the morning."
Bidding everyone goodbye, we left.
Not three hundred yards from the property I saw blue lights in my rearview mirrow. It was a Memphis Police Officer. Strolling to the door, he asked me to get out of the car.
"Having a good time, this afternoon, I see!" he proclaimed.
I sighed. A D.U.I. would be a disaster and I knew that I was caught. Marissa seemed frozen in her seat. "Yeah but not that much." I answered, trying not to stumble on my words.
"Well we'll see." the policeman said starting the sobriety test.
"WE HAVE A 721 IN PROGRESS AT THE INTERSECTION OF I-40 AND DANNY THOMAS BLVD, PLEASE REPORT."
"Kid," the officer was surly."You better let the lady drive. I've got to get to this little burglary that taking place over on D.T.B. You better not drink and drive. Next time you won't be so lucky!" Then he was gone.
Marissa and I exchanged places. She started the Cougar and we proceeded to a Shoney's. "You need some coffee, Matt." she comforted. "I should have been driving to begin with."
That was it. No scolding. No angry words. It was one reason why I liked Marissa more and more with each passing day.
We met at the MSU Student Union the following afternoon. My head still hurt from the previous night and I vaguely remembered my near D.U.I. . By luck, the police officer had been summoned to a crime scene leaving me with a warning "not to drink and drive" while advising Marissa to take the wheel.
She had herded me to a Shoney's near her the mall and ordered black coffee for me. I remembered little else other than the instant when she had amazingly produced a travel toothbrush and excused herself, to "clean the rest of the bar-b-que" from her braces. When she returned from the bathroom she was wearing her prominent double headgear which had become a fixture as of late.
Four cups of coffee later when I felt like I could resume driving, we left. I still was foggy about when I had actually crawled into bed at the doom. I did remember awakening at 3 a.m. with a mouth that felt like paper.
Seeing Marissa enter the Union, I saw that she was wearing her clear glasses and headgear. Briskly taking a seat across the table from me, she asked for a Dr. Pepper and as I left for the food line, I noticed that she was pulling a large white envelope from her purse.
"There!" I produced the soft drinks. "It's gonna be a while before I drink like that again!"
"You didn't eat!" Marissa recalled. "I kept looking at your plate. Didn't you like the bar-b-que?"
"Not very much." I had never been a big bar-b-que lover. "What happened at the Dr. Amberly's office?"
Marissa had gone in early to meet with a 15 year old girl from Hamilton High who, as it turned out, had received the bad news that she would be forced to spend her entire Junior year in Combination Headgear. "She didn't wear a retainer or something." Marissa explained. "I'm not sure what it was but they said that last Thursday she threw a tantrum in the office. Said her boyfriend would break up with her and her mother was chapped at her because they had spent so much money on her treatment and then she didn't follow instructions. Her mother even wanted to tie in the facebow so she couldn't take it out but Dr. Amberly doesn't do that kind of treatment.
"When I saw her headgear, I thought, gee, this isn't even bad. In fact it was kinda pretty. The headcap and neckstrap were a blue-green type plaid and the facebow was maybe half the size of mine. And she had only one facebow. I guess she realized that she was lucky when she saw me!
"I told her, to heck with that guy, he's probably an asshole anyway and if he was for real, it wouldn't matter. And I told them about you. And I told her that she could pay the price now or later." Marissa added.
"What happened, then?" I asked.
"Nothing. She left wearing her headgear. I don't think her mother liked her boyfriend. Anyway, her name is Sharon Armstrong and she might come over sometime. She was nice." Marissa fingered her glasses.
"What about your progress?"
Marissa removed her glasses and began to polish them. "The upper wisdom teeth can be removed in the next two weeks, he said. The bottom wisdom teeth are nowhere close."
She said it so matter of factly. As if, it didn't really matter. Two months earlier that was all that she talked about. "I can have them extracted then. Or, I can wait and do all four together. He said it's up to me." Marissa pondered her options..
"Would you still need to wear your upper headgear if you didn't extract?" To me it seemed like a very easy decision.
"Yeah. But, and you're gonna think I 'm crazy, Matt, but," Marissa smiled through the facebows. "I kinda feel naked without my headgear. Can you believe it?
"Like yesterday, for instance; at that party," Marissa fingered her upper bow with her index finger and her lower facebow with her thumb, "I had three different guys hitting on me when I went to the bathroom. I mean you work with a bunch of wolves! That Roland or Rowan or whatever his name was... Kept asking me for my telephone number. Wow..
"This," she emphasized her grips on the facebows, "keeps the preditors away. Besides, I have a new name at the TV station. Didn't you hear?"
"No."
"I'm Marissa Antenna! No longer Little Miss Tinsel Mouth. Marissa Antenna. Neat, huh?"
I shook my head at her evident display of humility. She seemed to be comfortable enough wearing her appliances. Yet I had never thought that she would be reluctant to give them up. "What about the sorority?" I tried to imagine her entering rush with her hardware.
"Maybe next year. I don't know. Right now, passing that exam will make the difference. Or not. We'll see." Marissa seemed to be more relaxed about the FCC 3rd Class Licensing Exam. "What about you? I heard that you were having trouble with the Calculus class yesterday. You never said anything about that?"
I was having a lot of trouble with the class. The first exam I had score 57, an F. Then I had barely passed with a 66. I was concerned that I seriously might fail."It's tough. I may need to hire a tutor."
"Well let me give you some real good news that should brighten up your day." Marissa's cute smile had again disappeared behind the horizonal facebows but I couldn't help feeling aroused watching them dance. "I have been awarded the "first annual Marissa Danner Compliance Award," courtesy of Dr. Amberly and the prize is, get this: "Three Days and Two Nights in Fun Filled St. Louis!"
What will you do in St. Louis?" I laughed, "Attend a Ortho Conference on how to brush your teeth?"
""Look, see." Marissa handed me the thick envelope that I had seen her take from her purse. "Open it!"
Inside the white, plastic coated envelope were two dugout level tickets for the St. Louis Cardinals-Pittsburg Pirates Baseball game on the 19th. There were two One day pases to Six Flags Over Mid-America dated August 20th. There were two Floor Seats to the Z.Z.Top Concert on Saturday, the 20th at Kiel Auditorium. There were tickets to the St. Louis Zoo dated the 21st. And, there were hotel confirmations from the Stauffer Hotel in downtown St. Louis for both nights. The reservations indicated two single rooms!
"Wow." I couldn't believe it. "What a trip. How we getting there."
Marissa reached into her purse and produced two Airline Tickets. "They aren't first class. But, we're flying!Actually, Dr. Amberly and his wife will go to the game and Six Flags with us. Then he's staying over for a Conference on Monday and Tuesday. It'll be great!"
I thought so too. Two days after her exam we would be celebrating her passing or drowning our sorrows if she didn't pass. And, in the company of the good orthodontist, it was highly likely that my sexy little girlfriend would be decked out in her now familiar external appliance.
The first two weeks of August slid by. I ws able to hire a graduate student there in the Mathematics department at M.S.U. who agreed to tutor me three days a week. Even with this added help it looked like I would be fortunate to pass the class. My other three hour class, Health and Safety, was proving to be much easier than originally ancipated. There were several players on the nationally ranked basketball team in the class and the instructor was one of the assistant football coaches. Halfway through, I felt it was going to be easy enough to receive an "A" in the class.
My job contined to produce between $120 and $130 per week. Since they were registering my earnings as "contract labor," there were no deductions. My bank account was approaching $1800 and when I told my parents, they were shocked. When they offered to send money to pay for tutor, I was proud to tell them I didn't need it.
Marissa's job at WMC-TV was producing good income as well. She was working more than the original 28 hours guaranteed due to vacations from other employees. She said that she was working as many hours as possible due to the fact that if she failed to pass the FCC Third Class License test, she would be suspended after August 31st.
Even though Dr. Amberly had made it clear to her that he could now extract her two upper wisdom teeth, she had made the preliminary decision to wait and take the top and bottom wisdom teeth together. Her logic stemmed from not wanting to "take off work twice." I continued to be puzzed by her rationale considering her upper jaw headgear therapy would end with the extraction of those wisdom teeth.
She seemed to be more and more comfortable wearing her headgear as each day passed. I remembered the first time that I had seen her wearing the two large facebows together for the first time, I had felt sorry for her and had vowed to be as supportive as possible. Now, I was becoming slightly annoyed by her desire to keep wearing both when she could rid herself of the upper facebow.
Even wearing the bulky double headgear, Marissa was still the sexiest thing alive to me! She liked to touch and I always departed company with with a massive erection. Throughout the summer, I had frequently felt that she was keeping me at arms length even though I knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before we surcumbed to our physical sides. One late summer evening at her home when her parents had gone to dinner, I carefully broached the subject. We were sitting on the sofa, arm in arm. The back of her head rested against against my chest. Her glasses were on the coffee table as were her facebows, headcap and neck strap. She had allowed me to remove the headgear and my tongue felt the inside of her mouth and the multitude of bands and archwires within it.
"You think I should have the upper wisdom teeth removed now, you say?" Marissa mumbled the words lazily.
"Well, that was the goal." I often felt that she was toying with me.
"Mother thinks I should as well. Even Dr. Amberly told me that I "had already won the compliance award. " Marissa spoke ot her orthodondist's award of the St. Louis trip that she and I would take the up coming weekend. "But, if I do have them taken out, it will be the end of next week at the earliest. Dr. Amberly, you know, will be in St. Louis Monday and Tuesday. He might not be able to do the extractions next week at all. By then, the bottom teeth may be ready to come out! Besides, I've always had a fantasy to make love to you in headgear!"
That was it! She wanted it as bad as I did. And, she had evidently been dreaming about it for some time. Now, the opportunity seemed to be presenting itself! This weekend, we would be in St. Louis at a Five Star Hotel, 270 miles from home! It could not have been more perfect!
Fingering the upper facebow, Marissa began re-inserting it. Reaching for the headcap, she quickly hooked it to the facebow and then proceeded to re-insert the lower facebow. Connecting the neck strap to the lower facebow, I couldn't help but smile. The facebows extended well past her lips and seemed to make her small, delicate featured face even smaller. "I never told you this, Matt, but I'm a virgin. You know that I love you."
The facebows seemed to bounce the words out of her mouth and their intoxicating effect made me almost delirious! I pulled her close to me and did my best to kiss through the facebows. Giving up at last, I kissed her left ear, then her chin, and finally her neck.
"I've got to pass that test Wednesday!" Marissa turned and again rested her head against my chest. "If I pass, then I can afford to rent an apartment near campus."
That thought was enticing. "Yeah, Marissa! Maybe I can help pay the rent." I offered.
"You don't need to do that, sweetie." her hands were caressing my chest.."just wish me luck on this exam. I have studied so hard for it! I'll just die if I don't pass! Pressing her facebows lightly against my cheek, her eyes smiled,."Are you sure you want me to have those upper wisdom teeth removed when we get back from St. Louis?"
My hands were carefully removing her bra. Holding her soft breasts in each hand, I thought for a moment. She was an increasingly stunning young woman. It was obvious that men noticed her. Having her wearing the prominent headgear might have some advantages. She certainly seemed comfortable wearing it! If anything, she was almost reluctant to take it off. It was, as if, it had become part of her.
"Did Dr. Amberly give you any indication as to when your lower wisdom teeth would come in?" I broke the silence.
"He said it was impossible to predict!" the facebows moved in unison. "Maybe Halloween. Maybe Christmas!"
"Well, if you want to wait and have all four wisdom teeth taken together, just do it!" I smiled.
"You sure it will be okay with you, Matt.?" I could tell Marissa had hoped I would have such a reaction.
"Sure! After all, you miss less work and only need to be "novicaned" one weekend, not two!"
"Well, I could always change my mind." Marissa warned. "But, I think you're the most wonderful guy in the world!"
She meant it. I hoped that she was successful on the exam. If she was, our trip to St. Louis later that week would likely be off the charts.
Marissa was a high school senior. While not a raving beauty, she was atractive with her shoulder length, soft red hair and large green eyes. Shen she smiled, she revealed a full set of shiny, silver bands. This was 1975 and Braces were more prominent then than today. It was obvious that she was self conscious about displaying her hardware. This was evidenced by her habit of pulling her upper lip down to conceal her braces each time she smiled. And, as Tom had remembered, her smile was as cute as I had seen. Marissa was almost animated as she talked to Tom, his mother and me over the hot soup Mrs. Wood had prepared that cold, rainy November night. As the discussion wore on, I could see her attention noticably focusing on me. This was a little embarrassing considering the fact that she was, after all, Tom's girlfriend and I was his "buddy from college." When she finally left, I guessed that I would never see her again. I wished I had a girlfriend like her.
The months passed. Then, in March, I ran into Marissa at the Germantown Mall. I almost didn't recognize her at first because she was wearing oversized glasses. As were frames in the seventies, they were large and it was then that I noticed that she was evidently quite nearsighted. We quickly found a McDonalds there in the mall and began to talk. And we talked. Tom was, according to Marissa, a "nice guy" but was on a "different communications path." I didn't ask her what that meant but concluded that they weren't dating. I had figured as much. Tom had said little about Marissa since Christmas break. He had even started dating another girl from his high school.
Marissa didn't seem to want to talk about Tom. But she did ask me a lot of questions about myself and my personal life. I answered her questions in order while noticing how amazingly attractive the glasses looked on her. She had defined, delicate features and the frames and lenses seemed to accentuate them. "I really like your specs." I admitted. "I learned that I had kerotitis just before Christmas. My optomotrist wouldn't allow me to wear contacts for thirty days. I guess I got lazy. I remember when I hated wearing glasses. I got those hard lense contacts in the seventh grade. Two years ago, they came out with soft contact lenses. Now I have them and don't even wear them."
She asked me when I planned on being in Memphis again. I had only come down to buy a book that only Memphis State had. That was my true purpose for the trip. My parents lived in Clarksville which was almost two hundred miles to the northeast. But, I told her that I might be able to come down a lot in the near future.
So it began. I began driving down every Friday. Phone calls were expensive but gasoline was about 35 cents a gallon. Motel rooms could be found for twently dollars. Marissa was always available. When I asked Tom if he would be sore if I began seeing her, he answered with a sullen, "you guys can date whoever you please by me." But, I could tell he wasn't thrilled.
On one hand, I felt like a heel. But after I picked up Marissa, that feeling quickly subsided. She was fun and interesting. Our dating was definitely high school type dating. No drugs. No booze. No sex. Just Movies, Pizza, Shoney, friends and parents. We did french kiss. Alot! And, the next morning my first sensation was always soreness of my tongue from it's excursion through her braces the night before.
Then, as we moved into May, I noticed that Marissa was not her cheerful self when she got into the car. I asked her why she was so blue and she made a face and began confessing her new dilemma. "This morning, I met with my Ortho and he gave me some horrible news. My wisdom teeth are not coming in the way they are supposed to."
"Why don't you have them removed?" I asked.
"I can't yet. They need to be in a certain place before they can take them out." She went into an explanation that didn't truly make sense but I listened attentively. "He said," she continued." that I' going to have to wear cervical headgear until the time that they extract those two upper wisdom teeth. Because we have to keep my mollers stationary."
"What if you don't?" I asked.
"He showed me a picture of a young woman about my age who didn't." Marissa's voice broke. "Her teeth moved out and it completely changed her appearance. It was awful!"
I was silent and then asked. "How long and how much?"
"Maybe three months. Maybe 15 months," She sighed. "It will just depend. And, to answer your other question, constantly! 24/7! Can you believe it? I've had braces since I was in the fifth grade. Now, I thinking that I'll have them off for prom and now this!"
She slowly told me her story. "I spent my entire fifth grade year in a facebow. I remember all the other kids laughing and teasing me. Then we moved from Cape Gireadeau to St. Louis. I got a new ortho there who took the headgear away and said that there were other ways." Marissa described the new ortho as a golfing buddy of her father's boss who used a series of retainers and promised to have the braces off by the end of her eighth grade year.
"He was true to his word. They were off at the end of my eighth grade year." she recalled. "But a year later, my teeth had moved back to their original places."
At the end of her freshman year, her father was transferred to Memphis and, this time, her mother found a third orthodontist who put her in full bands. At the end of her sophomore year, he added high pull headgear with j-hooks to her treatment. "He told me to wear it 14 hours per day but I did well to sleep in it. I did do that and he wasn't real pleased with me. But, this ortho, Dr. Amberly, knows what he's doing, unlike Dr. Dumbo(the St. Louis ortho). He's also an oral surgeon and he gives seminars on grafts and stuff." she mused.
"I guess you'll have to do what he tells you." I comforted. "It probably won't be that bad. When do you start wearing your headgear?"
"Tuesday. When you come Friday, I be wearing it." she shook her head. "Can you believe it! 18 years old. Three weeks from graduation and I am stuck in headgear?"
When I arrived Friday, Marissa still had not arrived. Her Mother invited me in and gave me some lemonaide. I had always liked her parents and I felt they liked me. We chatted 30 minutes or so and then Marissa arrived.
I was no stranger to braces having had them myself from age 12 to a month short of 15. I had even worn headgear briefly. I remembered the girl who sat next to me in the second grade having cervical headgear like Marissa had said that she was getting. But when I saw Marissa's headgear I was surprised. It was undoubtably the largest facebow that I had ever seen. It was a cushion loop that extended a half inch beyond her upper lip. The navy blue neck strap looked new. And when she open her month, I noticed a series of rubber bands.
"See!" She frowned. "He gave me a bottle of aspirin and these hospital straws. You'll probably need the aspirin just to look at me all evening! Oh yeah, by the way, she told her Mother, Dr. Amberly said I don't half to wear the high pull if I wear my elastics 24/7."
"Well that's really nice of him." Her mother commented sarcastically. As I looked at Marissa, I noticed that the oversized facebow some how balanced the oversized glasses, further emphasizing her delicate features. Surprisingly enough, she looked sexy!
"Oh, Marissa, " I exclaimed, "that doesn't look bad!"
"Yeah, right!." she looked at the floor.
"No, really! Are you ready? I thought we're going to the movie." Taking her hand I said goodby to her mother and we were off.
Throughout the evening, I held Marissa close to me. After the moving we made out way to Pizza Hut. Only when the waiter delivered our pizza did she stop to remove the facebow. It seemed that she might had forgotten that she was wearing it. After we had finished she excused herself, went to the restroom and when she had returned I saw that she had re-inserted her facebow.
When we returned to her home, we found that we had the den all to ourselves. We sat on the sofa and I took her in my arms. Slowly I kissed, facebow and all. It was a wierd feeling but she responded. Then she laughed. "I can be a good ortho patient but this is going a little bit too far." She removed the facebow and I took off her glasses. We were locked in an embrace for what seemed like enternity.
Winding south on US 51 on my return to Memphis I recounted the past week.
Yesterday, I had completed my fourth final exam in as many days. I had also learned of my father 's promotion and upcoming transfer. And, I had probably spent $100 in long distance phone calls serving as Marissa's sounding board as she adjusted to life in cervical headgear.
Later this evening we would attend her senior prom. Fortunately we would be attending sans the headgear. Her mother had likewise insisted that she wear her contacts and prior to prom, we were going to Olin Mills for studio photos. I was thankful that Marissa's parents had graciously insisted that I spend the night in their guest room. Between the tux, the trip and the evening out, I was becoming more and more stressed about money.
The previous summer had had l had worked to save $1400. Now, as my bank account dipped below three hundred dollars, I wondered how I would continue the relationship with my new girlfriend of the past two and a half months. Marissa was my room mate's high school girlfriend who I had met by chance one weekend while staying in his home.
There had been chemistry from the start with Marissa and me. Tom, she had said "was on a different communications path." When I asked him if he was sore that she and I had started dating, he had said that there wasn't. But, I never received another invitation to stay at his Memphis home. This week he had excitedly told me that he had been accepted by Southwestern of Memphis, a prestigious private school. He had attended UT Martin for the purpose of establishing a high grade point average. Now, he was one step closer to his goal: medical school
I was an average student at best. I had attended UT Martin in hopes of getting the tough Junior Division courses behind me in anticipation of a transfer to Tennessee's Knoxville campus. Like Tom, Marissa was a straight A student. When she had originally announced plans to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia to pursue a Broadcast Journalism degree, with the ultimate goal of being a TV anchor woman, I couldn't picture it. She was attractive, even pretty. But, she wasn't in the mode of a typical TV newscaster. Maybe it was because she wore little or no makeup. Perhaps it was because her mouth glistened with shinny braces. The more I looked at her, however, the more i could envision her on television. She had beautiful bone structure with defined delicate features. Marissa stood about 5 feet six inches and was "well made." She had prominent, rounded breasts which I was becoming more and more familiar with. While slender, she confessed that she had lost "five or six pounds," since beginning her 24 hour headgear treatment. I guessed that she weighed between 115 and 120 pounds.
At home in Clarksville, my father, a career army officer had surprised our family by announcing his promotion to general and two year assignment to Seoul Korea. He was delighted as was my mother. My sister, a senior at Clarksville High School announced that she was not going. She had accepted a cheer leading scholarship from Austin Peay and would living in the sorority house her freshman year.
I had originally accepted a summer job working in a Wesley Foundation youth camp in Colorado. The pay was only $250 per month and the job lasted from mid-June to Mid August. Now, it was likely that I would need to find a job that paid more. Marissa had suggested that I find a job in Memphis, attending Memphis State for summer school. This thought was tempting and when I had suggested the idea to my parents, they were supporting. They had always felt that the summer camp job was too little money and that it might be a good idea to take some classes in the summer. I was glad when they offered to cover the tuition, room and board.
Marissa had been accepted by the University of Missouri. However, her headgear treatment was giving her second thoughts about attending as a freshman. She had also learned after her Wednesday visit to the Orthodondists office, that she had a "stray" tooth growing in the roof of her mouth. It would need to be surgically removed but Dr. Amberly wanted to wait and do it at the time that he removed the long awaited wisdom teeth. She had anxiously hoped that he would say they could extract them prior to the end of May. She knew that as long as they stayed in their current position, they could not be removed. And, as long as she had to wait for their removal, she would be in her current 24-hour headgear treatment.
When she opened the door, I noticed that she was wearing her headgear but was without her glasses. Ushering me inside,she told me that she was going to talk our the facebow at 3 p.m. and forget about it until the next day. We drank iced tea and I watched her insert her index finger between her top lip and the apex of the facebow. This was evidently a new habit that she had acquired over the past two weeks.
"You know, my girlfriend Pam wears a facebow kinda like mine. " she said. "But it's maybe half the size of mine. She wears it only when she sleeps and told me that she was embarrassed to let anyone know about it until she saw me showing up at school wearing my headgear.
"I asked Dr. Amberly if I could have a smaller facebow," Marissa took the question from my mind. " He said he thought about it and even conferred with a colleague in Maryland who had a patient with a similar problem. He said I needed "maximum traction." That means "maximum metal," I guess.
I looked at her fondly. When she looked down, I could see the space between her cheek and the facebow. "It must be uncomfortable to sleep in." I comforted.
"The first week," she remembered, " I ate asparin. Now it's not so bad. In fact, what's funny is when I take it off, my teeth hurt. Can you believe that?"
"So you'll be in pain this evening."
"Happily!" Marissa smiled through the facebow. " I wouldn't go to prom wearing headgear. Actually, I more worried about these contacts. Mom wants me to wear them but they start bothering me after about four hours."
"What about the Keroti...?" I struggled with the word.
"Kerotitis," Marissa laughed calmly" is when your iris is inflammed and you can't wear contacts. I'm okay now, but I got used to wearing glasses. Now, I guess I need to get used to the contacts again."
I actually liked the glasses but didn't say more. Marissa's mother came in, greeted me and showed me to the guest bedroom. An hour later we were at Olin Mills. The photographer took shot after shot of Marissa and I. There was no doubt that we looked good together. Wearing her formal, I could see how glowing and beautiful she was. She wasn't the kind of girl who jumped our in a crowd. Instead, she had a quiet beauty that seemed to grow the more you looked at her. It was understandable why she was so concerned with her teeth. She had a dream of being on television and straight, perfect teeth were required. Thus, "no pain, no gain," she constantly reminded me.
My grades were in! 16 hours, Three C's, Two B's and One A; in a one hour tennis class! That made 28 hours over my two freshman semesters and a 2.5 G.P.A. Hardly nothing to write home about. My room mate, Tom would have been mortified. But my parents were pleased. My decision to attend summer school was openly supported and the idea of attending Memphis State as opposed to U.T. Martin or Austin Peay made sense. "Because," as my father put it, " it will be much easier to find a summer job there."
I was glad that he was so happy. He had been very unhappy with me the previous year when I turned up my nose at a ROTC scholarship. My father was career military. Now, he was going to Korea as a General and the Army was not only picking up all of his moving expense but they were offering to move the entire family. My sister was dating the star wide receiver on Clarksville High's football team. She was not interested in spending the summer abroad. Neither was I. Marissa was on my mind and the thought of being gone for three months was not appealing.
My parents had reviewed the prom pictures. They noted that Marissa was "an attractive girl." They were not sympathetic with Tom and said that they were glad that we had met. They both thought that I had been somewhat secretive about our dating. But, I had been vague primarily because I thought they would be unhapy if they had learned that I was driving to Memphis every weekend. Now, it would be different. I would be attending college there and could see her every day.
My biggest worry had been my car, a 1969 Galaxie 500. It had been making funny noises and I feared that each and every trip to Memphis would be my last if it went out of commission. Therefore, I was surprised when both parents suggested that I take the Army's allotment for the trip and use it to upgrade cars. My father's Junior Officer at the base had just received a promotion and a transfer to West Berlin, Germany. He had decided not to store his 1973 Mercury Cougar. Instead he agreed to sell it to me for the price of $3000! I was elated! The car had less than 10,000 miles on it. It was jet black with a black leather interior. The government trip money came to nearly $1500. There was another guy at the base who offered me $600 for the Galaxy. My father then took me to the credit union and co-signed a loan for the remaining $900. I would make payments of $42 per month for two years. I was in heaven.
When I told Marissa of the new car and the how it came into my possession, she shared her own piece of good luck.
Through her Journalism Teacher and Achedemic Advisor, Mrs. Devereaux, she had landed a work study scholarship through Memphis State's Radio-Television Department. It involved a job with WMC TV, the NBC Affiliate in Memphis working in Master Control. This job paid $3.92 per hour( minimum wage was $1.65 per hour in 1975) and guaranteed her 28 hours per week. It also paid in full for a four hour Basic Operations class offered at the University. The "only hitch," Marissa had noted, " was I will have to sign a one year contract with the station. And, I will have to pass the FCC Third Class Operators Exam."(This was required back in those days for such a position in the TV station.) It also insured that the University of Missouri would be out for at least one year.
"Mrs. Devereaux also recommended that I take the one hour library science class." Marissa explained. " I guess a job in a dark TV studio and classes in the library are just what the doctor ordered for the girl in headgear."
Marissa was adjusting to her 24-hour headgear therapy. She had originally thought that would be an impossibility. Now, as I planned my move to the Memphis State University student dormitory and she began her job at WMC, it seemed like that revelation of misplaced wisdom teeth was 100 years ago instead of two months earlier. She had even drawn praise from Dr. Amberly, her orthodontist. "But you, Matt," she had confessed to me, "made it possible. My Mother thinks you're the nicest guy she's ever met." I could
She was constantly asking me if I minded the headgear. And I was always(honestly)telling her that I didn't. She had resumed wearing her contact lenses although she was quick to take them out after six p.m., much to her mother's dismay. She was in great anticipation of of Mid- June visit to Dr. Amberly. Perhaps he would have good news this time. Her hope was he would tell her that the wisdom teeth could be removed and her headgear treatment would be history. She was concerned with the "stray" tooth found in the roof of her month. She expected to hear details on it's removal.
I signed up for History and Economics that first summer term. That would amount to six hours. But, my job search had not been promising. I was al but resigned to the fact that I would be working in McDonalds when Marissa found a classified in the Commerical Appeal. It wanted a person to go to homes, following up on time share leads for a company at Horseshoe Bend Arkansas. The pay was $10 for signing and collecting a deposit check and an additional $15 when the people showed up for their tour. It was straight commission in a matter of speaking. But, it offered flexibile evening hours. And, there was a chance that I could make as much as $100 per week part time! It also coincided with Marissa's 3-10 p.m. shift Monday through Thursday. That I liked most of all.
Thus. summer of 1975 begin with me driving a sleek sports car, taking classes in the morning, and going to different middle class Memphis homes in the evening. I was able to see Marissa every day for lunch and generally for a drive in the afternoon. Her job at WMC was interesting but studying for the FCC Exam took time. She was excited and grateful to have the kind of "on the job training" her position offered. As time passed, it seemed that she was less and less concerned with the facebow. It was becoming "like I'm not dressed without it." she had declared one muggy afternoon.
On the Friday prior to her Monday Ortho appointment, we sat on her sofa in the living room. Her parents had gone out to eat and we sat watching a movie. Huddled close together I kissed her on the forehead, then the nose. Slowly, she began to remove the facebow. "Wait." I said. "Just leave it on. Now, you can tell Dr. Amberly that you made out in headgear."
"Yeah, he'd love it." She laughed.
French kissing was virtually impossible through her facebow. But, I nevertheless, ran my tongue along it's rectangular loops and then touched her bottom lip. Then I kissed her chin and her nose again. I could imagine how benign she must have appeared to her parents with her thick facebow and ovesized glasses. But, to me, she was the sexiest thing alive. She was responding by caressing me between the legs. It was going to be difficult resisting what came natural much longer.
"Time for you to go!" Marissa gulped.
And, I left. For my cold shower at the dorm. This was becoming an every night ritual for me. I wondered how much longer we would be able to continue in this manner.
That weekend I completed the 400 mile roundtrip to Clarksville to bid my parents farewell as they left for Korea. It would be the following June before they would return. Both parents were broken up when I left that Sunday night. But they made sure that I had enough money for the remainder of the summer and fall semesters at Memphis State. In addition to giving me money for the room, board and tuition, my father gave me a check for $1000 for "emergency laundry money." I had not expected so much. My job with the Real Estate company had started slowly, yielding only $20 the first week. The second week it had climbed to $75. I was encouraged and grateful considering it took almost $100 per month just to pay for my car loan and the insurance.
Because I left Clarksville so late, I was unable to talk to Marissa until the following day. We had planned to have lunch together and she would tell me the results of her morning appointment with Dr. Amberly. She was wearing wearing neirther her headgear or her glasses when we met at Denny's near the TV station. As we sat she reached into her purse and pulled out a glasses case. She produced her frames and I noticed that the lenses had been darkened.
"I got my first paycheck last Friday." She said. "I bought sunglasses. They were kinda expensive."
"Those look like your glasses." I observed. " Did you tint the lenses?"
"No. These are different glasses. They're the same frames. I liked them but they were too large for those clip on sunglasses." She pointed out.
"Mom never liked my frames. She said they were too big and covered up my face. But, I like them. I remember seeing them in a magazine along with about eight other contemporary frame styles. They call mine "racers." But, Mom did't like them. She doesn't like me wearing glasses period." She added.
"Well, this is the 70's." I said. " She's probably would be more confortable with the "cat eye" glasses the girls wore in the 50's."
The conversation was starting out in a strange manner. Nothing had been said about her appointment at the orthodontist's office. She wasn't wearing her headgear. Maybe that was a sign. "So," I asked, "what did Dr. Amberly have to say?"
"Good new and bad news." Marissa breathed heavily.
"Tell me the bad news first." I volunteered. I had received a 92 on my Economics test when it was returned earlier that morning. Between the money in the bank and seeing Marissa after three days, I couldn't have been happier.
"Well, " she started. " Dr. Amberly was real happy about the way that I had been wearing my headgear. But, he got on to me about not wearing my rubber bands."
I had noticed that she had been without elastics a lot as of late.
"I didn't have any excuse." She noted. " I told him that I just would forget. He told me it was like wearing a face bow without the strap. Pretty stupid! He's right."
"So, what'll happen now?" I asked.
"He said that he'll have to compensate my laxness with "additional high pull traction." Marissa mimicked the Doctor using a low mechanical voice.
"What does that translate to?" I couldn't imagine where the conversation was going.
"It means that I am going to have to wear a high pull with my facebow.," She explained.
"Well, that's not that bad." I comforted. " Did he give you any indication as to how long it will be for the treatment to continue?"
"No. And there's more." Marissa looked away as the server brought plates of pancakes and sausage. "You recall when he found the stray tooth in the roof of my mouth?"
"Sure."
"Well, they did another xray on the lower jaw thinking they might find another stray tooth."
"Did they?"
"No. But they found that my lower wisdom teeth were growing in the same manner as my upper wisdom teeth. It's a mess!" She sighed.
"So what now?" I was trying to piece together why she was in such a vague, wistfull mood.
"I don't know for sure." she shook her head. "He promised he would do everything that he could to keep me out of two bows."
"You mean two headgears?" I asked blankly. "Would you be able to talk?"
Marissa laughed. "He's not going to wire my jaw shut, silly. But, it might mean double headgear. Wow! What a mouthfull! I just can't believe this is happening to me."
"When will you know for sure?"
"When I return Friday to be fitted for my high pull headcap." She frowned. "He said that he would review the xrays one more time and talk to his ortho buddy in Maryland who had a patient with a similar problem before making the final determination.
"What about the good news?" I smiled.
'Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! That stray tooth in the roof of my mouth," Marissa smiled, " can be taken out in his office Friday. They won't need to put me under like they thought that they would. And, then there will be no elastics or headgear until the following Tuesday."
We slowly finished out pancakes. Marissa excused herself and returned wearing her cervical headgear. She took my hand as we left Dennys.
'You know, Matt,"she offered, "Dad asked me to invite you to the lake house this next week. Interested?"
I had waited for such an invitation. "You bet."
"Yeah, I'll get a chance to wear my new sunglasses." Marissa touched her purse. 'You need 'em there. And no headgear this weekend. But after Tuesday, I can only imagine!"
"He didn't give any indication as to how much longer it might take those teeth to move to the proper position for extraction?" I felt I was becoming an expert on her misplaced wisdom teeth.
"Nope. Next week or next year!" Marissa shook her head.
We drove around for an hour. Then I returned Marissa to her car as she prepared for work. As was becoming habit, I kissed her through and around the facebow. Since I had never seen a "double headtgear" I couldn't imagine what she would look like if she was wearing two facebows. I felt for her and the frustration of doing nearly everything that she was supposed to do, only to watch things go from bad to worse. It would be interesting to hear Dr. Amberly's verdict on Friday.
"Well, it was kinda what I was expecting!" Marissa exclaimed.
"Did he get the tooth out?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's gone and I can't feel a thing." She winced."I'm still numb.!" Marissa had experienced a "stray tooth" extraction from the roof of her mouth that morning. She recounted the sequence as we sipped milk shakes at the Baskin Robbins near the college. "He took four stiches. They'll come out Tuesday when I return. By the way. Dr. Amberly thinks you "sound like quite a guy." He asked if you can come with me on my next appointment. Can you? It'll be at 11:30 in the morning. Your last class ends at 11 if I remember correctly. I think he wants to tell you some things about my "wisdom teeth situation" and my "treatment routine." What do you think?"
"Sure."
"Yeah, and you can see me in all my metal!" Marissa's eyes narrowed. She had received the bad news first. Dr. Amberly had analyzed her bottom jaw xrays, talked to his Maryland orthodontist associate and concluded that, even though it would be both cumbersome and uncomfortable, it would be "the safest, surest bet" to utilize "external traction" on her bottom mollers as they were successfully doing with her uppers."
They had taken measurements for her high pull head cap, then for her new cervical neck strap. They had also attached buccal tubes to her lower bands for her second facebow. This has been done prior to the "stray tooth" extraction.
"I don't know if you'll want to be seen with me wearing all of this." Marissa whined. "I don't know if I will want to leave the house!"
"Marissa," I said firmly, "it won't be that bad. I'm not going anywhere. You'll be fine and done with all of this before you know." I was trying to sound convincing. But, I couldn't imagine exactly what it would be like. I hoped for the best.
Marissa had adjusted to wearing the cervical headgear quite nicely. She didn't seem to have a lot of friends. But she had two very good girlfriends, Pam and Jen whom we often visited. However, we never went too many different places and she preferred dark movie houses and corner booths at Shoneys to laces with high concentrations of people. Her job brought her into very little contact with more than a dozen people. She had become used to letting them and the people in her two college classes see her in her headgear. She claimed to have heard one of the young part timers refer to her as "little Miss Tinselmouth."
"You know, Matt, " Marissa related, "Dr. Amberly warned me when I got my cervical that my social life might take a beating and I told him, I already had a boyfriend. If anything, my social life has been as good as I can every remember it the whole time I've been in headgear."
"Yeah, that's right," I agreed. She had amazingly never referred to me as "her boyfriend." I relished the reference.
"Have you told your parents?" I asked.
"No." She said. "But my father isn't real high on Dr. Amberly. He is probably going to have some choice words for him. Then, Mom will remind him of Dr. Dumbo(the St. Louis Ortho) and he'll shut up."
The week had ended. I would return to the dorm for my things and then drive to Marissa's home. From there, we would depart for the familie's lake house at Greer's Ferry Lake near Heber Springs Arkansas, a two hour drive due west. Marissa was wearing her new sunglasses. She told me that her Mother had objected to the price that she had paid- $92; a lot for frames and lenses in 1975.
"But I earned it from my job." she reminded.
I was feeling pretty good about my job. The first week, I had earned a paltry $20. The second week, a promising $75. Then, this week, I had learned that my earnings hit $115. I realized that I was working only about 16 hours per week. My parents, now in Korea, would be stunned!
Marissa wore her glasses all weekend. We water skied and swam in the clear, cold water of Greers Ferry Lake. There was only one bedroom in the cabin. I slept on a roll-a-way in the livng room next to Marissa's father who slept on the sofa. Marissa and her mother slept in the other room. We didn't talk much about her upcoming orthodonic ordeal but it was obvious it was on both of our minds.
Promptly at 11:30 Tuesday Morning, Marissa and I entered Dr. Amberly's Germantown office. After registering at the front desk, she led me into a small waiting room. We seated ourselves and began nervously thumbing through magazines. After less than three minutes a tall woman who looked to be in her late twenties wearing a blue smock came through the door.
" Hi Marissa! And this must be Matt! Come on back." She led us to a richly furnished office and told us to take a seat on a brown leather sofa in the corner. As I looked at the walls I noticed numerous plaques, certificates and diplomas. Then I noticed the nameplate on the front of the large desk, "Dr. Theodore Amberly."
"Marissa! And this must be the infamous Matt Hendrix! I'm Ted Amberly." A small, thin man of about 50 emerged wearing a white lab coat and a maroon tie. His tiny black mustache and round black glasses gave him the look of a comic book character. "Marissa has told me a lot about you. So glad of you to take time and come out!"
"Yeah, Dr. Amberly, I've heard a lot about you, too." I mused.
"Understand that your one of Dr. Hill's old patients?" he reviewed.
I was surprised at thoroughness and attention when he mentioned my Clarksville Orthodondist. "Yeah, I haven't seen him in a few years."
"I guess you never had problems with your wisdom teeth." Dr. Amberly surmised. "You know, those wisdom teeth are what we refer to as the "wild card" of orthodontic treatment."
"So we've learned." I added ruefully.
"Marissa," the tall assistant called, "we're ready for you."
"Judy." Dr. Amberly addressed the assistant. "Why don't you take out Marissa's stitches I'll be in there in a minute. Matt, can you stay behind for a second. I want to talk to you." Marissa followed Judy out of the room. Dr. Amberly slowly closed the door and beakoned me to walk to his desk. "Matt, I want you to see something."
He slowly placed xray photographs on a nearby light table and quickly pointed to focal points of three different pictures. "This is Marissa's upper jaw two months ago. This is the same jaw last week. Tell me what you see?"
I wasn't sure what I saw. It looked like teeth in reverse but I couldn't determine what was what. "I guess it's Marissa's xrays." I said.
"You are right." Dr. Amberly had a low, almost monotone voice. "Do you see this little fella?" With a felt tip pen he pointed at a small white blob. "This is the root of our problem. It's Marissa's wisdom tooth trying toe come in but as you can see, it come in high and at a 45 degree angle. Left unchecked it will ultimately push all of her teeth to the front. This we will have, for lack of a better way to put it, buck teeth.
"You notice on this second picture the tooth is beginning to turn slightly. I'd say it's now at about a 60 degree angle. Now, do you see this tooth?" he asked taking a third picture. "This is what we found last week when we were checking for another "unexpected stray" in her lower jaw."
"Looks like the same problem." I said.
"Yes, unfortunately it is."
"Well, I guess we can thank good old Dr. Dumbo for that." I shook my head.
"Actually, Matt, it it had not been for Dr. Kirtchener," Dr. Amberly corrected me using the correct name of the St. Louis Orthodondist, " we might never have had the chance that we have now to prevent what would have been unexpected movement after the treatment was long concluded."
Noticing my surprised gaze, Dr. Amberly continued. "I have been practicing Orthodondics 24 years. And there have always been Orthodondists who promise results without the rigors of traditional treatment. He obviously was one of those. I recall a couple of orthodontists here who offered "alternative method treatment." They never seem to be around for long periods of time. However, had Dr. Shaw(the Cape Gireadeau Orthodontist or my office had Marissa from when she began treatment eight years ago, we would have been done in five or less. Then, when these pesky wisdom teeth emerged, she would be busy and not willing to stop and undergo the kind of treatment necessary to correct the problem."
It dawned on me that Dr. Amberly seemed to be almost selling me his treatment of Marissa. "Did you talk to her parents?" I asked.
"I had a long talk with Mrs. Danner on Friday." he said. " I still haven't met Mr. Danner. I understand he's a very nice person. Main thing that I wanted to tell you, Matt, is I appreciate your attitude. You wouldn't know how many instances I can recall where high school patients were told that external applicances were necessary and their boyfriend-girlfriend relationships would blow up. And, believe me, I understand. Full time headgear treatment is something associated with elementary school patients.
"You can't understand how pleased and surprised to see Marissa wearing her headgear in perfect compliance. In all honesty, I thought that she might attain 25% of our objective if we were lucky. When she told me how supportive that you were," he nodded, " I said, I want to meet this guy and shake his hand."
"Sounds like she didn't do that great of a job with the rubber bands." I laughed.
"No, she didn't." he agreed. "But that's a minor problem that easily fixable. The next two months are critical. If we can keep those 12 year mollers stationary, I think that we'll be able to extract the wisdom teeth by Labor day; Halloween at the latest. In the meanwhile, it's going to be tough for her. And, speaking of Miss Marissa, let's check and see how she's doing."
He lead me into the next room where Marissa was sittng in the patients long chair. Judy was explaining the details of her headcap. "You run your finger along the inside," she explained, " and you notice it's soft foam rubber, wafer thin. The outside is plastic. It's waterproof." The high pull was tan in color and consisted of two straps that we joined by a single connecting strap that would fit on the crown of Marissa's head. "Now take your neck strap and as you can see, it the same material and same color. Now take your lower facebow and insert it. Did you find the buccal tubes?"
"This looks kinda like the facebow I had when I was in grade school." Marissa remembered. Unlike the facebow that she had been wearing for two months, this facebow did not dontain the retangular looks and was less rounded. It's apex was perhaps an eighth of an inch past her bottom lip. It arched our to a distance of almost a third of an inch above her cheek before connectly neatly just below her earlobe with the hooks of the neck strap. "It's big!"
"Now, Marissa, take your upper facebow and insert it. Good." Judy continued. "Then take the headcap and hook it on the left side and then the right. The headcap stopped near the hole in her ear and a thin strip with a circle on the end hooked to each side of the facebow. "There! How's that feel?"
"Tight!." Marissa's words were slurred.
"Now take this vasoline and you need to coat your lips before you fall asleep every night. Otherwise, they will chap." Judy warned.
"Kinna har to tal.." Marissa started. I noticed that the two facebows made closing her lips over her braces impossible. When she spoke they moved.
""You'll get use to talking with the facebows." Judy said. " You might want to practice reading at home to get use to it."
"And, Marissa, " Dr.Amberly added in the background. " I would advise you not to remove the facebows until this evening. The more that you take them out, the more they'll hurt. Have you eaten."
"No.: Marissa said. "An I'm down to 111 pouns. Mom's all over me about that."
"We'll get a milkshake when we leave." I said. I looked at her sympathetically. She held the mirrow in her hand and admired her new hardware. It was likely going to be difficult and no fun, to say the least.
Selecting a secluded corner booth in a nearby Howard Johnsons Restaurant, I ordered milkshakes for both Marissa and myself.
I had to admit. Dr. Amberly's staff had done a superb job fitting her high pull headcap. There was no slack, no loose areas. It fit Marissa's head like a glove. The neckstrap was mostly concealed by her shoulder length hair, revealing itself only at the ends where it hooked to the facebow.
Marissa hair was "soft red" in color. As her former boyfriend, Tom had once described "not a Bozo red but a quiet red." It was slightly more red than auburn, thick, natural and quietly beautiful. The tan colored headcap and matching neck strap accented nicely with her unique haircolor.
The "cushion loop" upper facebow, as Judy the assistant had labeled it, did not look as large as it had looked prior to being connected to the high pull headcap. I couldn't understand why. It still extended one-half inch past her upper lip. Perhaps it was due to the new lower facebow, referred to by Judy as a "conventional" facebow, which now extended past Marissa's lower lip by a mere eighth inch. This facebow did not have the two retangular loops on each side and was less rounded. Instead, it's apex was about an inch in width. Then it arched out to points where it was about one third of an inch from Marissa's cheek. This facebow hooked to the neckstrap. When Marissa spoke, both facebows moved with her jaws. The cute smile that Tom had once described and I had later noted, was nowhere to be found. I remembered Marissa's habit of pulling her upper lip down over her banded top teeth with her index finger. That was impossible now. The facebows prevented her from joining her lips thus exposing her shiny sets of upper and lower bands.
"I must look like a dork." Marissa suggested.
"No, you don't look like a dork." I answered honestly. The 70's slang word which was synomous for "goofy" was not the description that I was looking for. In truth, I had not determined who to describe my girlfriend's "new look." I continued, "Not at all, Marissa."
In reality, she looked quite comely from the neck down. Although she had lost almost 15 pounds since initiating her headgear therapy two months earlier, her breasts remained rounded and prominent. Her blue jeans were tight and he heels added three inches to her 5-6 figure. Her light, white "peasants" blouse completed her simple yet smart appearance.
"You're so sweet, att." the facebows prevented her from joining her lips. "I noticed you stayed in Dr. Amberly's office and talked. What'd he say?"
"He showed me the xrays. He said that you had done great." I didn't add that the doctor expressed his surprise over how well she had done with her headgear compliance. " He said that the next two months will be critical but he thinks that he can extract those teeth as early as Labor Day."
"Labor Day!." Marissa brightened. "That's not as ad as I thought it ight be. He never said anything to ee about Labor Day."
"Well, he also said Halloween at the latest." I confessed honestly. "Meanwhile, he showed me how the upper teeth were moving in the direction he wanted. He said keeping those 12 year mollers stationary is the key." I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She had tried so hard to comply with Dr. Amberly's stern requirement and had accomplished everything that he had hoped. Now, she had received another setback. I noticed that her large green eyes were red. Perhaps she had been crying secretly. "Hey, don't cry. It's not that bad."
"I'm not crying. It's these contact lenses." Marissa reached for her compact and inspected her large green eyes. "I'm going to call ay oftomologist tororrow." her speech was slurred. "I was wanting to eat something efore work. Then he strapped ee up in this thing."
"Tell you what. I'll pick you up at ten and we'll go down to Beale Street and have a first class pizza. How about that." Normally, going out on a Tuesday night to one of Memphis' premiere places would have not been within my budget. But my latest paycheck had totaled $130. "By the way, I forgot to tell you. That job you found in the paper that I took is really bringing in some coin! We can splurge!"
"Without this headgear!" Marissa added. "I'll wear it to work. Then off it comes 'till I go to ed. With asoline! Ugh! That stuff is so gross!"
I kissed her as we departed. Once on the nose. I tried to touch her lips but could only feel wires. Then I felt her tongue on mine. I kissed her chin, her ear and finally settled on her neck.
"No hicki, no hicki." Marissa giggled. "I gotta go to work now. Last week they called me "little iss Tinsel outh. I wonder what it'll ee now? The lady froh outer sace?"
I laughed. Everytime she moved her jaws, the facebows moved. It was if she now had a new mouth. "Not on your life, Marissa!" I still couldn't compare my girlfriend in double headgear to anything that I had seen. But I did know that I was fantastically aroused.
Later, when I picked her up at the television station, she had switched to her glasses. I noticed the oversized frames with the thick lenses seemed a perfect fit with the two large facebows. She did not removed the headgear even when we had selected a pizza tavern in the middle of the famous section of the city. Between the car and the restaurant, we walked, arm in arm for better than a half mile. She didn't seem to mind wearing her "external appliances." Only when the pizza came did she remove the headgear. This was a little surprising. Normally, I would have thought that she would have taken it off in the car. But she hadn't. It seemed that she was already becoming comfortable with her "new look."
Later in the car, minus the headgear, we embraced and french kissed. I felt her body close to mine like never before. Slowly removing her glasses, I kissed every inch of her pale white skin.
"Let's pick this up tomorrow." Marissa breathed heavily. She was resisting. But, I knew that it was not going to be indefinite. I drove her back to her car. We kissed passionately. Then, I left for my dorm and the usual cold shower.
Early Wednesday morning, prior to the July 4th, the upcoming Sunday, my company had ask me if I could work both Sunday and Monday in Horseshoe Bend. I was coming off my best week: $155 for about 16 hours of marketing calls the previous week. When they told me that they could pay me $150 plus cover expenses for the trip to Izard County Arkansas, I quickly agreed.
I saw Marissa briefly after the conclusion of my 10 a.m. history class. She was wearing her glasses and told me that her optomologist would see her that Friday to determine if the Kerotitis had reoccured. "il then," she mused, "No Contacts. Period!"
In the well lit spaces of the Memphis State University Student Union, I studied her as we found a table and took a seat. She was wearing her new double headgear with the matching tan headcap and neck strap with her large contemporary eyeglass frames. They were amber in color with flecks of brown. Together with her "quiet red" hair she actually seemed color coordinated.
"Marissa, I believe you're frames match your headgear." I smiled.
"Yeah, sure." Marissa laugh bounced the face bows. "On thing I noticed. My glasses don't slide." It was true. With the arms of her frames tucked snuggly under the ends of her headcap, she no longer needed to periodically push them up on her nose. "I guess they were truly ade for each other!" her smirk was slightly sarcastic.
I knew that Marissa wasn't truly upset about the contacts. She constantly made it clear how much she loathed the daily care associated with contacts lenses. I did not know, however, what her overall reaction might be since being assigned a headgear therapy of maximum rigor. I knew that she was trying not to allow the two facebows from impeding her speech. "Your goin' to work Sunday and unday?" the facebows moved in rhythm.
"Yeah. Good money. My parents are going to ask if what I am doing is legal!" I shook my head. The previous evening I had received a cable gram from my father asking for an alternate phone number. "They have been trying to call me and I'm just never in my room. I gave them your phone number. I hope that's okay."
"Sure. good idea!" she looked down. "My brother and his family are coming in for the fourth. My father was talkin' 'out all goin' to the lake. I'm not wild about the idea. " This was Karl, Marissa's one and only brother. He was six years older and lived in Virgina with his wife and baby. From what I had gathered, Karl and Marissa's father had experienced a fallout several years before. He had joined the Navy, even enduring a short tour in Viet Nam just prior to the withdrawal. "I kinda feel stupid showing up like this." she confessed, pointing at the headgear.
"Last night, Matt," she was able to pronounce my name, " I heard Dad talking to Mom. He didn't think I heard him. He said I looked like I had been in a car wreck."
"You don't look like you were in an automobile accident, Marissa. That's ridiculous!" I comforted.
"Well, Mom said, "It's Marissa's decision." You know, like she didn't believe in what Amberly was prescribing..Matt," she looked at me through her thick lenses, " Do you think he knows what he's doing. I mean, really!"
"Marissa," I was surprised by my own firmness, "I saw the xrays. You made progress. That's for sure. And, truthfully, based on what he said to me, he never figured that you would follow his instruction literally. I think he was hoping you would "sorta, kinda" do what he prescribed."
"Sorta, kinda." the facebows bounced. "Did he show you the picture of that girl who's teeth pooched out when her wisdom teeth came in?"
"No."
"Matt, I want to be an Anchor Woman." Marissa smiled wistfully through the facebows. "I can't do that with buck teeth. Dr. Amberly told me that ay teeth would definitely ove." When Marissa attempted to speed up her speech, she continued to have problems pronouncing certain words. But she was improving.
"Honey," I called her for the first time, placing my hands on either side of her head, "this too shall pass." I kissed her on the nose, then the chin, then on the apex of the facebows as I felt her tongue touch mine.
We arose and left the student union. Final Exams would begin the following week. Although I was elated about the opportunity to earn additional money, I was worried about the exams. I knew that I had an reasonable chance at making B's in both the history and the economics class. But, poor performances could result in D's. Therefore, it would be important to study as much as possible.
"We'll get together Saturday and study for exams, aybe." Marissa read my mind. "I ay go to the lake. Then, again, aybe not." her speech was beginning to slurr. "What I really need to do is learn how to talk with these facebows."
Putting me arm around her shoulders, I led her to where we had parked the cars. Kissing again through the facebows, we said goodby and headed for work.
Final Exams were in and I had made B's in both the American History class and the Economics class! The six hour study session with Marissa on the Saturday prior to July 4th had not been in vain. And, as luck had it, my parents finally reached me on the telephone early the following morning after I received my grades. They were elated when I told them the results. They were equally happy when they learned how much money my part time job had yielded.
Marissa, naturally made A's in both her Basic Radio Operations class and her Librairy Science Class. Because her F.C.C. Third Class Operators License Exam was coming up at the end of August, she had opted to take no second semester classes at the University. She had heard countless tales about good broadcasting students failing "element nine" of the exam and was determined to pass the entire exam on the first try. When she explained the stakes, I understood.
If she passed the exam,WMC-TV had promised to, not only extend her 28 hour employment indefinitely, but to give her an immediate 90 cent per hour raise. Additionally, she would receive six hours of classroom credit toward her degree in both the first and second semesters. To top it off, she would receive a $500 per semester scholarship from the station. In 1975 Full time Tuition at Memphis State University was $410 per year. While Marissa's parents were comfortable, they were by no means wealthy. Altogether, these incentives were enormous and I could readily sense how intensely focused she had become.
The Tuesday after July 4th, she had also learned that her kerotitis had returned. Her Optomotrist had prohibited contect lense wear for three months.
After a week's hiatus,"to get use to her new external appliances," Dr. Amberly had resumed her elastics wear. This time, Marissa did not forget. When I saw her after returning from Horseshoe Bend, the Wednesday after July 4th, she was again wearing them, with her headgear.
Something seemed to have changed about Marissa. Before, she had been very shy about wearing her facebow in public places. Only with my sensitive, persistent prodding did she agree to go to two movie houses in different parts of the city, two dark Pizza Huts near those movie theaters and a Shoneys and Howard Johnson Restaurants with out-of-the-way corner booths. We had visited her two girlfriends homes And, we had spent at lot of time at her home. That was it.
Now, she wanted to go to Beale Street, the zoo, and to concerts. Suddenly, she seemed to not care if she was seen in her headgear. It was as if she had become blind to the stares that she often received when in public.
She had mastered talking with the facebows. I was quick to tell her how little they impeded her speech and she admitted reading outloud as Dr. Amberly's assistant, Judy had advised her to do. In fact, I was finding myself looking more and more at our prom pictures trying to remember the last time when I had seen her not wearing both her glasses and her double headgear.
I could remember the look of horror on her friend Pam's face the first time she had seen Marissa's new hardware. Pam had told me privately that she could not imagine how Marissa seemed so unconcerned about wearing such an appliance. She told me that her boyfriend would had "thrown a fit." But, as Marissa's mother had concluded, I was a "really nice guy."
I recalled hearing Marissa's mother scolding her about her weight. She had dropped to 108 pounds, model proportion with a heighth of Five feet, six inches. Always describing herself as a "casual, bluejean type girl," Marissa had evidently invested a lot of her WMC earnings on a wardrobe that included tight fitting dress slacks and body blouses. I had heard her mention to her friend Jen, that even though she had "lost 18 pounds" she still maintained "a cup size of 32-B." With her ever present three inch heels, she defined the term "foxy" in seventies slang.
Furthermore she seemed to be living on milkshakes, Dr. Pepper and Carnation Instant Breakfast. I remembered a conversation that she had after returning for one day at lake house when her brother visited. She had left her headgear at home for the night and when she returned and put it on "it hurt like blazes." Marissa had purchased a bottle of Chenin Blanc(drinking age was 18 at that time in Tennessee) and had consumed the entire bottle, "with a straw of course." she had laughed.
She evidently had an unending supply of the bendable hospital straws, courtesy of Dr.Amberly's office. When I asked her if she wanted to eat, she always seemed to "not be hungry" or "had already eaten." Often, I came away feeling that our time together was gradually growing more limited. Yet, she was always available for the hour long, late night telephone conversations.
The second semester began after a one week break. I decided to take Calculus, a demanding course that I felt I would be lucky to pass along with an easier Health and Safety class. Both were three hour credits and I hoped to spend a lot of time at Marissa's house studying. She had told me that she intended on spending four hours per day, every day studying for the F.C.C. exam. My job continued to pace well and my earnings had slowed only slightly, to between $135 and $150 per week. There was even mention that I might be allowed to continue through the end of October.
When I picked Marissa up that Friday, July 19th, I did as I always did: I first opened her door, then walked around the back of my car and watched her reach over to unlock my door. I viewed the neat tan headcap as she pulled up the lock button and when I got in the car, closing the door, she began excitedly, "I can't believe what my father said to me today!" she proclaimed, her facebows moving in unison.
"What did he say?" I looked at my svelte, red haired, girlfriend and looked into her eyes through her thick lenses. Between the glasses and headgear, her delicate features seemed to be hidden.
"That if I passed the exam, he would get me a new car!" the facebows came together as if Marissa was trying to frown. " I told him that I didn't need a new car right now. But he said, if I could work like I was doing and get the TV station to pay for my college, I should be rewarded."
Marissa was driving a 1972 Ford Maverick. It wasn't a new car or an expensive one. I was impressed that she didn't seem to be obsessed by the thought of a new car. "Well, Marissa," I began. "maybe it's his way of saying "good job." I mean, you made the Dean's list. You work almost 30 hours a week. You're buying your own clothes. You're living at home. Heck! My folks paid for my room and board and help me get this car. And they're happy with me. I'm working. I'm doing pretty good in school."
Marissa grabbed my hand as I shifted into third gear. "I told him, "thanks maybe later." But, on the other hand, what I really wanted to talk to them about was helping me with a Sorority. Pam and Jen are both hoping to go Chi-Omega at Ole Miss this fall and now, Pam's telling me that she may stay in town and go to Memphis State because I'm here."
We had talked about Greek Organizations during the early part of our dating. Tom, my former room mate and Marissa's former boyfriend, had been high on Fraternities. He planned on pledging Kappa Sigma at Southwestern the upcoming fall. I had thought about it the previous year and had even had a two Frats rush me at U.T.- Martin. But, I had known that I would transfer and had passed, thinking that I would be attending the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the fall. Instead, I had gone to Memphis State which was largely a commuter school. And, to top it off, I had landed a part time job that looked like it would extend into the fall.
"That's great, Marissa!" I nodded, " You should do it. Especially if the Chi-O's are strong here. Has Pam decided to go to MSU?"
"Well, she has a dorm deposit she would forfeit at Ole Miss, but it's only a hundred dollars or so."
"What about Jen?"
Marissa released my hand and fingered her upper facebow. "Probably not. She's got family connections there, I think."
We pulled into the Germantown Mall parking lot. I remembered six weeks earlier, I had asked Marissa to accompany to a mens' clothing store but she had refused on account of her headgear. Now, she was out of the car and almost running to the door. " You say you found a suit that you like?" she took my hand.
"Well, maybe they still have it."
The suit was still at the store. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. Then Marissa found a shirt and a tie for me. Leisure Suits were in style but neither she or I were particularly fond of the look. "They won't be around much longer." Marissa predicted. Everywhere we walked, I couldn't help but notice the surprised stares from people seeing this attractive young woman, in her late teens and the headgear that so domintated her face.
"Where to now?" Marissa's voice was upbeat and happy.
I paid for the outfit, taking the bag holding the shirt and tie along with a claim ticket for the suit that would be ready the following week. "Maybe we need to go see "Young Frankenstein," a popular, Mel Brooks Movie that had recently come out."
"That'd be great!" Marissa huddled close to my side.
Throughout the movie, her hand constantly messaged my thigh and knee. I could feel the moisture under my trousers. When the movie finally ended, we made a beeline for her house. Her parents had already retired for the evening leaving us the den to ourselves.
As was the custom, we took a seat on the sofa and I took her in my arms. First a kiss on the forehead, then the nose, then the chin, then the ear. Normally, this would have been the cue for Marissa to remove her headgear. I recalled how fast she had been to remove her facebow at the first hint of a kiss. Now, she seemed like she had forgotten that she was even wearing it. Gradually, I began to unhook the neckstrap from her lower facebow. "Don't." she pulled my hand away. "I don't want you getting too worked up."
Surprised, I kissed her at the apex of her facebows, then on the ear again and held her close to my chest. This was the last response that I would have expected and I was speechless. We sat embraced for almost 15 minutes. I felt like I was going to explode. Slowly, with my hands on her breasts, I began slide my hands under her blouse. She stopped me.
"Let's talk tomorrow, att." the facebows slurred her speech. "There's plenty of time. Don't worry."
I walked out of her house and drove to the dorm, stopping only for a half pint of Wild Turkey.
My company held a pool party the last Sunday in July. When I picked up Marissa, I quickly noticed that she was without her headgear.
"When you told me that they were serving bar-b-que, " Marissa exclaimed, "I thought, what the heck! I can give the headgear a rest for a couple of hours!"
"I doubt Dr. Amberly will be at this party." I laughed wryly.
"Speaking of the doctor, " Marissa's noted, "He called me about a half hour ago."
"On Sunday?"
"Yeah. You know, I have an appointment tomorrow morning at ten. He wants me to talk to someone he said."
"Another ortho?"
Marissa fingered her heavily banded front teeth. She was wearing elastics and fingered them playfully making a high musical sound. "No..He said it was a girl from Hamilton High. He didn't say much other than she would benefit from talking to me."
We were both wearing sunglasses against the bright, late afternoon sunshine. The weather was typical for Memphis is late July: low nineties with high humidity. When we arrived at our company president, Martin Schlenberg's, colonial mansion, I quickly saw Bob and Roland, two salesmen in their late twenties who had become my friends.
"Matt!" Roland greeted. "And this must be Miss Marissa?"
I was glad that Marissa had elected to leave the bulking headgear at home. I realized that I had talked alot about her to my work associates, never mentioning her orthodontic treatment. Looking at her through their eyes, I saw a sleek, well made young woman, pale in the sunlight but striking in a way that I have never observed. The cute smile which had disappeared behind the facebows had returned and she was flashing it readily. It was dawning upon me that it had been almost three weeks since I had seen her without her headgear.
"Yeah," I smiled proudly. "This is Marissa Danner;of WMC- TV." Roland led us to the back of the house where a large free-form smimming pool beakoned. There were probably forty people in the vicinity as we studied the ancient live oaks that extended high above the pool. Marissa was wearing a large white linen shirt over her two piece bathing suit.
"Haven't y'all got some bar-b-que yet?" the drawling voice was Bob's. He came over, slapped me on the back and continued. "You know, Matt's our stud out there, bringing in all that business. You going to get your Real Estate license this fall?"
"I don't know." it had been suggested that I take the Tennessee Real Estate License before the end of the year. "It will depend on how my classes go. I' m having a bear with Calculus!"
"Aw, you don't need that mess." Bob laughed. "Just get out in the real world and make some money!"
"And then what?" it was Martin who had quietly crept into the circle. "Ignore him, Matt. Do what it takes to get your degree. They can never take that away from you."
"Marissa's majoring in Radio-Television and working at MC." I shifted the attention to my girlfriend.
"Good move. What are you doing with them?" Martin's question was serious.
"Master control, right now. I' m on a work-study. Marissa answered. "If I can pass my third class operators exam on August 17th, I'll work there through May at least. Maybe longer."
"I have a friend who works in sales there." Martin revealed. " I'll mention that I met you. TV's a good business."
" I hope to be on the air one day." Marissa added.
"A pretty lady like you will be a cinch." Martin nodded.
As he moved on I could feel Marissa's delight. She was essentially shy and tended to move to the edge of any crowd. But here, she seemed at ease, almost comfortable.
The afternoon wore on and while I ate little, I found that the frosty minp juleps were outstanding. Soon, I was becoming relaxed to the point that I wanted to find a chair. I could tell that Marissa was drinking soda and eating heartily of the bar-b-que. She seemed to be a little concerned with getting the gooey sauce between her braces. Finally, she excused herself and went to the toilet.
When she returned, I noticed that she had replaced her sunglasses with her clear glasses. The sun was beginning to set and soon it was semi-dark. "Maybe we ought to be going, Matt." I have to get up early in the morning."
Bidding everyone goodbye, we left.
Not three hundred yards from the property I saw blue lights in my rearview mirrow. It was a Memphis Police Officer. Strolling to the door, he asked me to get out of the car.
"Having a good time, this afternoon, I see!" he proclaimed.
I sighed. A D.U.I. would be a disaster and I knew that I was caught. Marissa seemed frozen in her seat. "Yeah but not that much." I answered, trying not to stumble on my words.
"Well we'll see." the policeman said starting the sobriety test.
"WE HAVE A 721 IN PROGRESS AT THE INTERSECTION OF I-40 AND DANNY THOMAS BLVD, PLEASE REPORT."
"Kid," the officer was surly."You better let the lady drive. I've got to get to this little burglary that taking place over on D.T.B. You better not drink and drive. Next time you won't be so lucky!" Then he was gone.
Marissa and I exchanged places. She started the Cougar and we proceeded to a Shoney's. "You need some coffee, Matt." she comforted. "I should have been driving to begin with."
That was it. No scolding. No angry words. It was one reason why I liked Marissa more and more with each passing day.
We met at the MSU Student Union the following afternoon. My head still hurt from the previous night and I vaguely remembered my near D.U.I. . By luck, the police officer had been summoned to a crime scene leaving me with a warning "not to drink and drive" while advising Marissa to take the wheel.
She had herded me to a Shoney's near her the mall and ordered black coffee for me. I remembered little else other than the instant when she had amazingly produced a travel toothbrush and excused herself, to "clean the rest of the bar-b-que" from her braces. When she returned from the bathroom she was wearing her prominent double headgear which had become a fixture as of late.
Four cups of coffee later when I felt like I could resume driving, we left. I still was foggy about when I had actually crawled into bed at the doom. I did remember awakening at 3 a.m. with a mouth that felt like paper.
Seeing Marissa enter the Union, I saw that she was wearing her clear glasses and headgear. Briskly taking a seat across the table from me, she asked for a Dr. Pepper and as I left for the food line, I noticed that she was pulling a large white envelope from her purse.
"There!" I produced the soft drinks. "It's gonna be a while before I drink like that again!"
"You didn't eat!" Marissa recalled. "I kept looking at your plate. Didn't you like the bar-b-que?"
"Not very much." I had never been a big bar-b-que lover. "What happened at the Dr. Amberly's office?"
Marissa had gone in early to meet with a 15 year old girl from Hamilton High who, as it turned out, had received the bad news that she would be forced to spend her entire Junior year in Combination Headgear. "She didn't wear a retainer or something." Marissa explained. "I'm not sure what it was but they said that last Thursday she threw a tantrum in the office. Said her boyfriend would break up with her and her mother was chapped at her because they had spent so much money on her treatment and then she didn't follow instructions. Her mother even wanted to tie in the facebow so she couldn't take it out but Dr. Amberly doesn't do that kind of treatment.
"When I saw her headgear, I thought, gee, this isn't even bad. In fact it was kinda pretty. The headcap and neckstrap were a blue-green type plaid and the facebow was maybe half the size of mine. And she had only one facebow. I guess she realized that she was lucky when she saw me!
"I told her, to heck with that guy, he's probably an asshole anyway and if he was for real, it wouldn't matter. And I told them about you. And I told her that she could pay the price now or later." Marissa added.
"What happened, then?" I asked.
"Nothing. She left wearing her headgear. I don't think her mother liked her boyfriend. Anyway, her name is Sharon Armstrong and she might come over sometime. She was nice." Marissa fingered her glasses.
"What about your progress?"
Marissa removed her glasses and began to polish them. "The upper wisdom teeth can be removed in the next two weeks, he said. The bottom wisdom teeth are nowhere close."
She said it so matter of factly. As if, it didn't really matter. Two months earlier that was all that she talked about. "I can have them extracted then. Or, I can wait and do all four together. He said it's up to me." Marissa pondered her options..
"Would you still need to wear your upper headgear if you didn't extract?" To me it seemed like a very easy decision.
"Yeah. But, and you're gonna think I 'm crazy, Matt, but," Marissa smiled through the facebows. "I kinda feel naked without my headgear. Can you believe it?
"Like yesterday, for instance; at that party," Marissa fingered her upper bow with her index finger and her lower facebow with her thumb, "I had three different guys hitting on me when I went to the bathroom. I mean you work with a bunch of wolves! That Roland or Rowan or whatever his name was... Kept asking me for my telephone number. Wow..
"This," she emphasized her grips on the facebows, "keeps the preditors away. Besides, I have a new name at the TV station. Didn't you hear?"
"No."
"I'm Marissa Antenna! No longer Little Miss Tinsel Mouth. Marissa Antenna. Neat, huh?"
I shook my head at her evident display of humility. She seemed to be comfortable enough wearing her appliances. Yet I had never thought that she would be reluctant to give them up. "What about the sorority?" I tried to imagine her entering rush with her hardware.
"Maybe next year. I don't know. Right now, passing that exam will make the difference. Or not. We'll see." Marissa seemed to be more relaxed about the FCC 3rd Class Licensing Exam. "What about you? I heard that you were having trouble with the Calculus class yesterday. You never said anything about that?"
I was having a lot of trouble with the class. The first exam I had score 57, an F. Then I had barely passed with a 66. I was concerned that I seriously might fail."It's tough. I may need to hire a tutor."
"Well let me give you some real good news that should brighten up your day." Marissa's cute smile had again disappeared behind the horizonal facebows but I couldn't help feeling aroused watching them dance. "I have been awarded the "first annual Marissa Danner Compliance Award," courtesy of Dr. Amberly and the prize is, get this: "Three Days and Two Nights in Fun Filled St. Louis!"
What will you do in St. Louis?" I laughed, "Attend a Ortho Conference on how to brush your teeth?"
""Look, see." Marissa handed me the thick envelope that I had seen her take from her purse. "Open it!"
Inside the white, plastic coated envelope were two dugout level tickets for the St. Louis Cardinals-Pittsburg Pirates Baseball game on the 19th. There were two One day pases to Six Flags Over Mid-America dated August 20th. There were two Floor Seats to the Z.Z.Top Concert on Saturday, the 20th at Kiel Auditorium. There were tickets to the St. Louis Zoo dated the 21st. And, there were hotel confirmations from the Stauffer Hotel in downtown St. Louis for both nights. The reservations indicated two single rooms!
"Wow." I couldn't believe it. "What a trip. How we getting there."
Marissa reached into her purse and produced two Airline Tickets. "They aren't first class. But, we're flying!Actually, Dr. Amberly and his wife will go to the game and Six Flags with us. Then he's staying over for a Conference on Monday and Tuesday. It'll be great!"
I thought so too. Two days after her exam we would be celebrating her passing or drowning our sorrows if she didn't pass. And, in the company of the good orthodontist, it was highly likely that my sexy little girlfriend would be decked out in her now familiar external appliance.
The first two weeks of August slid by. I ws able to hire a graduate student there in the Mathematics department at M.S.U. who agreed to tutor me three days a week. Even with this added help it looked like I would be fortunate to pass the class. My other three hour class, Health and Safety, was proving to be much easier than originally ancipated. There were several players on the nationally ranked basketball team in the class and the instructor was one of the assistant football coaches. Halfway through, I felt it was going to be easy enough to receive an "A" in the class.
My job contined to produce between $120 and $130 per week. Since they were registering my earnings as "contract labor," there were no deductions. My bank account was approaching $1800 and when I told my parents, they were shocked. When they offered to send money to pay for tutor, I was proud to tell them I didn't need it.
Marissa's job at WMC-TV was producing good income as well. She was working more than the original 28 hours guaranteed due to vacations from other employees. She said that she was working as many hours as possible due to the fact that if she failed to pass the FCC Third Class License test, she would be suspended after August 31st.
Even though Dr. Amberly had made it clear to her that he could now extract her two upper wisdom teeth, she had made the preliminary decision to wait and take the top and bottom wisdom teeth together. Her logic stemmed from not wanting to "take off work twice." I continued to be puzzed by her rationale considering her upper jaw headgear therapy would end with the extraction of those wisdom teeth.
She seemed to be more and more comfortable wearing her headgear as each day passed. I remembered the first time that I had seen her wearing the two large facebows together for the first time, I had felt sorry for her and had vowed to be as supportive as possible. Now, I was becoming slightly annoyed by her desire to keep wearing both when she could rid herself of the upper facebow.
Even wearing the bulky double headgear, Marissa was still the sexiest thing alive to me! She liked to touch and I always departed company with with a massive erection. Throughout the summer, I had frequently felt that she was keeping me at arms length even though I knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before we surcumbed to our physical sides. One late summer evening at her home when her parents had gone to dinner, I carefully broached the subject. We were sitting on the sofa, arm in arm. The back of her head rested against against my chest. Her glasses were on the coffee table as were her facebows, headcap and neck strap. She had allowed me to remove the headgear and my tongue felt the inside of her mouth and the multitude of bands and archwires within it.
"You think I should have the upper wisdom teeth removed now, you say?" Marissa mumbled the words lazily.
"Well, that was the goal." I often felt that she was toying with me.
"Mother thinks I should as well. Even Dr. Amberly told me that I "had already won the compliance award. " Marissa spoke ot her orthodondist's award of the St. Louis trip that she and I would take the up coming weekend. "But, if I do have them taken out, it will be the end of next week at the earliest. Dr. Amberly, you know, will be in St. Louis Monday and Tuesday. He might not be able to do the extractions next week at all. By then, the bottom teeth may be ready to come out! Besides, I've always had a fantasy to make love to you in headgear!"
That was it! She wanted it as bad as I did. And, she had evidently been dreaming about it for some time. Now, the opportunity seemed to be presenting itself! This weekend, we would be in St. Louis at a Five Star Hotel, 270 miles from home! It could not have been more perfect!
Fingering the upper facebow, Marissa began re-inserting it. Reaching for the headcap, she quickly hooked it to the facebow and then proceeded to re-insert the lower facebow. Connecting the neck strap to the lower facebow, I couldn't help but smile. The facebows extended well past her lips and seemed to make her small, delicate featured face even smaller. "I never told you this, Matt, but I'm a virgin. You know that I love you."
The facebows seemed to bounce the words out of her mouth and their intoxicating effect made me almost delirious! I pulled her close to me and did my best to kiss through the facebows. Giving up at last, I kissed her left ear, then her chin, and finally her neck.
"I've got to pass that test Wednesday!" Marissa turned and again rested her head against my chest. "If I pass, then I can afford to rent an apartment near campus."
That thought was enticing. "Yeah, Marissa! Maybe I can help pay the rent." I offered.
"You don't need to do that, sweetie." her hands were caressing my chest.."just wish me luck on this exam. I have studied so hard for it! I'll just die if I don't pass! Pressing her facebows lightly against my cheek, her eyes smiled,."Are you sure you want me to have those upper wisdom teeth removed when we get back from St. Louis?"
My hands were carefully removing her bra. Holding her soft breasts in each hand, I thought for a moment. She was an increasingly stunning young woman. It was obvious that men noticed her. Having her wearing the prominent headgear might have some advantages. She certainly seemed comfortable wearing it! If anything, she was almost reluctant to take it off. It was, as if, it had become part of her.
"Did Dr. Amberly give you any indication as to when your lower wisdom teeth would come in?" I broke the silence.
"He said it was impossible to predict!" the facebows moved in unison. "Maybe Halloween. Maybe Christmas!"
"Well, if you want to wait and have all four wisdom teeth taken together, just do it!" I smiled.
"You sure it will be okay with you, Matt.?" I could tell Marissa had hoped I would have such a reaction.
"Sure! After all, you miss less work and only need to be "novicaned" one weekend, not two!"
"Well, I could always change my mind." Marissa warned. "But, I think you're the most wonderful guy in the world!"
She meant it. I hoped that she was successful on the exam. If she was, our trip to St. Louis later that week would likely be off the charts.