I've had an idea rattling around in my brain for a while. This is more of an intro to a larger story, but I don't plan on working on this one for a while, so you will have to wait until I finish some of my other stories.


Sparkles

By Braceface2015


Chapter 1

“Hello, and welcome to Sparkles. What time is your appointment?”

There are more lines to the greeting, and I’ve been hearing that greeting, or one similar to it for over a month already. I know every line of each of the scripted greetings by heart. The short greetings are accompanied by a smile each time. It’s my job to interview each person applying for a job at our new restaurant, and I’ve been enjoying most of the interviews more than I should.

My job is to manage the restaurant for a company made up of a few friends and business partners who wished to stay anonymous. The best part of my job is interviewing potential staff.

The idea to open a restaurant happened after a class reunion when a few of us went out to eat and catch up on what had happened since we graduated. The place we went to had a sign out front that it was for sale and someone said it was sad that another place was closing. I had to agree. After I graduated, I went to college and trained to be a chef, and added a degree in business management so that I could run a place of my own someday.

After running several restaurants for other people and making them a big success, my bank accounts were healthy. Part of my success was finding the right people to work for me and give me the time to do what I enjoyed, get into the kitchen and create meals for the restaurant to place on the menu to draw in people.

We’d all grown up eating at this place or someplace just like it and knew how good the food was. The idea of it closing didn’t feel right.

We sat there for a couple of hours, talking about what we had done after high school and how our lives had turned out. There was a husband and wife team with a renovation company, one was a doctor, and not surprisingly a woman who had been a cheerleader in high school and had been married and divorced several times.

We had pushed a few tables together so we could all talk, and with everyone throwing in a few bills, the tip was quite large, so the staff was happy to let us stay and talk. After we got caught up on what everyone was doing, the talk turned to things we remembered doing in high school. Someone laughingly said something about me buying the place to keep it open so we could all eat for free. The seed of an idea had been planted, though we didn’t realize it.

I commented that we could do more by showing up at the restaurant each week and paying to eat there to keep it open. Everyone had a good laugh and the conversation moved on to other subjects. As we were leaving, someone else mentioned my comment about eating at the restaurant again and suggested meeting on Wednesdays, just so that we could keep in touch with each other.




I was in the area the next week and decided to stop for something to eat. To my surprise, the couple with the renovation company were there too. They invited me to join them and we had a good time chatting about the things that we did when we were in school. The food was good, though simple, and we decided that we would meet the next week to do it again.

I invited one of my old school friends to join me and the couple brought one of theirs, both of our friends from different years at the school. While we didn't all know each other, we did have some things in common such as teachers and events that happened. We had so much fun that we decided to make it a steady thing.




The group that showed up each week varied, sometimes just a few of us, other times a much larger group. The restaurant started reserving a section of tables for our group and suggested we call our food orders in so they could have everything ready for us when we showed up.

The restaurant wasn't very big and our group was a steady source of income. The old couple who owned the place made a habit of dropping by our table and they brought us a cake for dessert each time. It turned out that it wasn't just the restaurant that was for sale, it was the whole building. The place had been for sale for quite a while, but they hadn't had any offers that they considered reasonable. When they bought it, they had hoped that their children would take it over, but their children had all moved away and didn't want to take it over. The neighbourhood had changed with time and businesses had moved to newer areas, taking the customers who used to show up with them. The old couple wanted to sell it and retire.





The seed of an idea that had been planted the first week began to sprout. The core members of our group were the couple with the renovation company, a real estate saleslady, myself, and an orthodontist. The former cheerleader had been looking for work and the old couple hired her to work for them, more to help her out than because they needed her. Her pleasant greeting and slightly off-kilter smile became a welcome addition to the place. Some of our group started eating there on other days and they brought their friends.

A few of us decided to see if we could help out the old couple by using our skills to make the building more appealing to potential buyers. I created a simple menu with a broader range of foods for their kitchen to cook, the couple with the renovation company looked over the building and made a list of features that might appeal to buyers and let the old couple know what could be fixed to upgrade it for a small cost, and the real estate agent offered to handle the listing for a modest portion of the sale. It didn’t cost us anything except for a little bit of our time.



The old couple was grateful for our help and one day they sat down with a few of us and made us an offer that made us think. They showed us what we had all done for them and they wanted to return the favour by offering to sell the building to us at a good price. We already knew all we needed to know about the property and the offer was a good one.

None of us could afford it by ourselves, but if we bought it as a group, we had the resources to make it a reality. The old couple spiced up the offer by saying they would close the restaurant for one day and provide a meal for the group if we wanted to get everyone together and talk about the offer. The seed of an idea took root and grew.

Most of the group liked the idea, but many didn’t want or couldn’t afford to put money into the idea. Of those that did, very few wanted to get involved other than to put up some money. A few of us decided we could make it work, so we formed a company to buy the place.

I put quite a bit of my savings into the company and agreed to be the manager and head chef. After the sale was finalized, I took over running the place and kept the restaurant running with the old staff.

I like this

Super excited to see where this goes!

I've just read the first chapters of this story and it's a very good one, with an original idea ! Such a shame we have to wait a long time for the next parts but I understand your priorities. Thanks a lot for your work !

Sparkles - The Cheerleader

By Braceface2015


Chapter 1


It’s a bit embarrassing to be riding the bus wearing a fancy dress and heels, but I wasn’t going to miss another school reunion just because my car was broken down again. I’d saved all year to buy a nice dress and new shoes just for this event, and I wanted to make a good impression in front of some of the people I had gone to school with.

I had been a cheerleader and dated the quarterback, every high-school girl's dream. After graduation, he had gone to college on a football scholarship and I followed him, getting a job as a secretary. I figured my looks would get me through life, and it worked for a while. We got married after dating for several years and thought we would be together for the rest of our lives, until he graduated with a useless degree and ended up playing for a bottom-tier team and was injured.

That was my first marriage that ended in divorce. My second one wasn’t much better. I should have known better than to get involved with my boss. A couple of years after marrying him, he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and ended up in jail, and left me with an empty bank account and my second divorce.

My looks had matured a bit and I had struggled to maintain my figure through everything, so I still looked good, but I couldn’t compete with the college girls anymore.

The bus stops across from the school and I put my head up and my shoulders back as I cross the street, determined to do my best to project a modestly successful appearance. After detouring through the parking lot to make it appear as if I came by car, I walk through the people standing around outside and talking. It’s a school reunion, so there are a few people that I vaguely remember from my years at the school. A couple of people wave to me, so I make my way to them and introduce myself, adding what years I attended. It seems they remember me from when I was a cheerleader and they invite me to join them for the afternoon.

After the typical speeches that come with all reunions, we decide to skip the mass-produced meal and find someplace with better food. I make the excuse that my ride has already left and I would like to join them, but I don't have a way to get around, so one of them offers me a ride. It turns out he is one of those kids we all made fun of in school for studying, and has a successful business now.

We all meet at a little restaurant that has been there for as long as we can remember. The food is good, even if it is simple, and the conversation is better. We find that we have a few shared memories, one of them being how much we enjoyed hanging out at restaurants like this. Someone suggests meeting again so that we don’t lose contact with each other and a few people agree, one of them being the guy who gave me the ride.

When the bill comes, he pays for my share, then offers me a ride to my place. I smile at him, something that I haven't been doing much of lately. I've always been a bit wary of how I smile, being accustomed to keeping my teeth covered, but it feels g to have a guy treating me nice for a change and I give him a toothy smile as I thank him.

I’m a bit ashamed of where I live, so I ask if it would be okay if he drop me off at the mall so I can catch the bus instead. I give him my cell number and email, saying that I would like to hear from him again.

Chapter 3

A couple of people from our group took a look at the building and gave the couple some advice on how to make the building more appealing to potential buyers. When we first started meeting at the restaurant, someone made a comment about buying the place so we would have somewhere to eat for free, but everyone just laughed it off. It turns out the old couple made the group an offer to sell them the building at a good price, and they are considering it. My boyfriend is one of the people talking about maybe forming a company to buy it.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend asked if I would be interested in going on a date with him, and I answered him with a major kiss. For the first time in longer than I want to remember, I felt a set of lips on mine, and I was very pleasantly surprised when his tongue ran over my top teeth very briefly, before he broke off the kiss. He apologized for going too far, but I pulled him in for another kiss before he could finish his apology.

I also told the old couple that I would like to work for them, as long as I can have Wednesdays off so I can still meet with my group of friends. Having a reliable car to drive helped me to decide to finally change jobs. One of my friends in the group has a dealership and offered to sell me a good used car at a price I can afford. My boyfriend offered to buy the car for me, but I told him that I need to do things for myself. It took me a while to tell him, because I spent quite a bit of time kissing him while I tried to explain to him why I was turning down his offer.

He seems to like running his tongue over my misaligned teeth, and I encourage him to do it by making my mouth available to him as often as possible. I’ve told him I don’t want to be involved in a serious relationship just yet, but I don’t want to miss out on some of the things a serious relationship has. We’re just going to take things slowly and see where our relationship goes.



I fit in with the staff at the restaurant. I had met most of them already, and they easily adjusted to me being there more. My boyfriend began showing up almost every night for supper. He tried sitting across the restaurant from where I was working, but the other waitresses refused to serve him unless he was in my area. Then they would pass by and fill his coffee cup or ask him if they could get him anything.

When the old couple find out where I am living, they show me an apartment upstairs they have for rent and offer it to me at a good price. It is bigger than the place I am in and in much better shape, so I accept their offer. When I try to give them a damage deposit, the owners grin and the lady says, "Your boss gave you a good reference, and we know where you work if there are any problems." After they give me the keys, they tell me I can begin moving my stuff in any time I want to. When I bring the first load of things over, there is a new dishwasher installed in the kitchen and a brand new stacking washing machine and dryer in the laundry room. I begin to feel as if the old couple are using me to try to influence the group to purchase the building, but I'm not complaining. It's kind of flattering they think that I have any say in what the group does. They aren't putting any pressure on me and they haven't asked me to do anything.

My boyfriend told me was going to send a moving company to pick up the rest of my things, but all that shows up is a small enclosed moving truck big enough to hold my smaller items. After loading everything into the truck, he hands one of the movers the keys to my car and takes me to my new apartment. When he opens the door for me, I find brand new furniture in my apartment. I start to protest, but he puts his finger against my lips and says, “My back is sore from sitting on that worn-out stuff you call furniture.” He flips a lever on the end of the sectional and a twin bed slides out. “This is for when you want to have company over or you want to watch tv in bed.”

He takes me into the bedroom and there is a new queen-size bed with cast-iron head and footboards. “I want you to be able to get a good night's sleep instead of tossing and turning on the lumpy old mattress you had before. He picks me up and gently lays me on the mattress, and it feels as if I am resting on a cloud. So far he’s respected the boundaries I have set without any complaint.

I can see the direction this is taking, and pull his face down so I can kiss him. “You’re still not allowed to sleep in my bed, but I might be willing to make an exception if you were to sleep on the couch once in a while.”




I begin to see some of the group coming in for meals on other days I am working. At first I don’t say anything, but when they sit in my section most of the time, I bring it up at the Wednesday gathering. A few protest that they are just doing market research to determine if the restaurant is a good purchase, but they back off when I glare at them. They agree to sit in other sections of the restaurant when they do come in. The place isn’t that big, but at least the other waitresses will get their fair share of the tips.

It’s no secret that I don’t have money to spend the way most of them do, and they keep finding ways to help me out without me feeling as if I am a charity case. All I have to do is look in my closet or my parking spot. Other than the two bags of clothes, I have bought everything else myself, often at a marked-down price or at an employee discount when one of them took me shopping with them.



It takes a while, but eventually a company is formed to make an offer on the building. Most of the group don't want to be directly involved in the deal, but they are willing to invest in it. The decision is made to sell shares at a set price, and anyone in the group can buy as many shares as they want until there is enough money to buy the building. After that, a fund will be set up to renovate the building and manage it. A few members of the group agree to manage the company and form the board.

It takes a while for changes to start happening. The restaurant has a few repairs done and a minor renovation to add a second entrance, this one from the inside of the building. One of the new owners takes over running the restaurant and the menu gets an update. The big change for me is a promotion to the new position of hostess, which the other staff approve of. It’s more of a title than anything else.

I don’t know how many shares my boyfriend buys, and I promise him I won’t ask. For the first time in far too long, I have a small savings account again. I want to get something special for him, but I can’t think of what I can do he can’t just buy for himself if he wants to.

I’ve suspected for a long time that he has an interest in teeth. After the first time he kissed me and ran his tongue over my teeth, I’ve noticed how he likes looking at mine. He’s commented that he thinks I have an almost-perfect smile. In a roundabout way, I’ve managed to get him to admit that there is a way to make my smile perfect, but he won’t tell me what it is.

Each of my stories is different. None of them is completely about braces, they each have more to the story.

I've said it many times, the stories I write are to entertain myself. If other people enjoy my stories, that is a bonus.

I've been tossing around ideas along that line, and there is plenty of opportunity to add more characters whenever I want to. I haven't done anything with the orthodontist, and there are plenty of restaurant staff with stories I can tell.

I haven't done anything with the orthodontist, and there are plenty of restaurant staff with stories I can tell.

I was wondering how it all fit together. Does that mean that “Charlene” and “The Cheerleader” are restaurant employees? Anyway, it’s a good story, even if we aren’t to the braces part yet.

Chapter 4

One of the new owners took over running the restaurant after the sale of the building and has been making changes to the restaurant. He’s had lots of experience running successful restaurants for other people and is making changes to ours to improve it. He has an office on the second floor and spends part of his time in the kitchen working with us.

The restaurant opens for breakfast now and stays open a little later in the evening to attract a larger range of people. The menu has also changed a bit and he has added an evening menu with some more-expensive dishes. With the extended hours, he hired a few more people to work, and all the original staff got a bump in pay. My raise came with a title change to head hostess and I am in charge of hiring and training the new staff. Most of the new staff are younger and I work the weekends so I can train them, taking time off during the week.

The girl with braces asked to work evenings so she can get more hours and I am training her to be a hostess. I start work in the morning with the breakfast crew and she starts in the afternoon, giving me the time to train her and the new floor staff. She's been telling me all about what it is like to have braces and how much it has affected her life.

My boyfriend has stopped eating at the restaurant as much with my new hours and responsibilities. Instead, he frequently comes in just before I finish work for the day and we have supper in my apartment. He always says hi to the new hostess, and I see how he checks out her braces each time. Whenever there is a change to them, he comments on it.



Most of the old tenants moved out when the building sold and some of the new owners are moving into the empty spaces. The company doing the renovations is owned by a husband and wife from our group and they are opening a new office on the second floor to manage the building for the investors. Most of it is just moving walls and updating the wiring and plumbing.

My boyfriend tells me all about what is happening with the building and he’s told me not to worry about all the changes going on, it is all part of the plan to make money. A few of the investors are going to move their businesses into the building and the money from the rent will be going right back into the investor's pockets as profit after the expenses are taken off.

One of the first investors to move in is an orthodontist, and he invited me and my boyfriend to check out the renovations to his office and give him our opinion. I noticed how interested my boyfriend was as we toured the office and he seemed to be extra affectionate after the tour. Between the building manager's new office and the company offices is a new meeting room, and the Wednesday group meeting has moved into there and has become an informal investors meeting. Each week the restaurant prepares food ahead of time, and the new restaurant owner has me help bring the food up and has me stay. Even though I don't have any shares, they still include me in the meeting, maybe because my boyfriend bought some.

The restaurant is so busy now that it could easily be expanded, but the investors are more interested in building the new one than they are in fixing up the old one, the thing is they don’t know what theme they want to use. I usually just sit back and listen to them talk.



The plans for the new kitchen are underway and there is a mockup of it on the main floor beside the elevator shaft. The plan is to have it big enough to handle cooking for the new restaurant and be able to handle a takeout menu as well, without needing to be expanded. The old coolroom and freezer have been replaced by new, larger rooms and the kitchen staff are thrilled with the added space they have to work with.

With all the renovations and the expanded hours to the restaurant, coupled with the braces-friendly menu additions, I've been noticing an increase in the number of people with orthodontic appliances. It isn't just the customers either, it seems as if the younger members of our restaurant staff are included. The new chef handles most of the training for the kitchen staff, but there is some overlap with the dishwashers and busboys. I do the training for the waitresses and waiters, and a few of them are somewhere in their orthodontic treatment. A few have switched to the orthodontist upstairs because of the convenience of being able to schedule their appointments for the days they are working, and I have been hearing nice things about how much they like how they are treated by the orthodontic staff.

Part of my job as the head hostess is to connect with the customers and find out what we can do to make their experience in the restaurant better and what they like about what we are already doing. The new menu items are popular and not just with the people who have braces. One thing I have been hearing is that the evening customers would like it if the restaurant had a more intimate atmosphere to go with some of the more pricey items on the menu.

I've also noticed that the serving staff with orthodontic appliances are getting better tips than the staff without. And I'm seeing a trend for when my boyfriend shows up early for supper. Whenever I am training someone with braces, he's early, and he is always polite to them when he greets them by name.


The orthodontist drops by the restaurant each morning to pick up a large thermos of coffee for his office and he usually stops to say hello to me. He’s started offering a discount to employees of the company, and that includes the restaurant. A couple of the older waitresses have been to see him and one is talking about how thrilled she is about her upcoming appointment to get her braces. She’s an older lady, in her late 40s, and mentioned she is doing it because her husband has been encouraging her to do it. It seems he has a thing for women in braces.

Each Wednesday, when I bring the food to the investor's group, we include a new menu item for them to taste test. After the group is updated on the latest company issues, the plans for the new restaurant come up and I have become more involved in the discussion. They seem to value my input and my suggestions have been appearing on the possible floorplans for the new restaurant. The orthodontist has been asking for my opinion on what items are popular on the new braces-friendly menu and which ones need to be changed.

Each time I tell him that I am probably not the best person to ask, because I don't have braces, and he has begun jokingly replying that I should get them so I could be better equipped to try out the menu. My boyfriend has been around a few times when I have been talking to the orthodontist, and he's been a bit more affectionate each time after hearing the comment.




The older waitress left partway through her shift to get her braces installed, and her husband came to take her to her appointment. I have a good view of the stairs to the second floor, and there is a space on the far side of it that is semi-private and is partially blocked from view by potted plants. When she came down the stairs after her appointment, he guided her into the space and they engaged in some heavy kissing. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was a couple of young people sneaking off behind the stairs. Judging by the smile on her face, and her slightly rumpled clothing when she returned to work, it seems as if I wasn’t that wrong.

I’ve begun to think that I have an idea for the new restaurant, but it seems too wild to be practical. I’ve also begun to think about what kind of present I can get for my boyfriend, but I really need to think about it some more.

My suggestion to have the new restaurant broken up into sections has been put into the plans and a model has been made for the investors to look at. One section has small semi-private rooms for a couple to enjoy if they are on a date, and they can hold up to six people by adding more chairs. Another section can be arranged to seat small groups and if needed, rearranged to create a table to accommodate a large group easily. The last section is booths for groups of six to eight people, depending on how cozy they want to get.

The orthodontist asked me to come up to his office for a dental checkup. He had heard that I hadn’t had one in far too long and offered to do it for free, including doing impressions of my teeth. It’s part of the new package he is offering to all the employees of the company. I booked it for one of my days off, and I enjoyed my appointment. Having impressions done was a new experience for me, but he was very competent and he prepared me for the way the goop would squeeze out against my palate.

He had me come back a few days later and filled a couple of small cavities that were starting and complimented me on my good hygiene. He also said that he took a look at all my X-rays and the models of my teeth and had a treatment plan if I ever wanted to fix my teeth. I thanked him for taking the time and said I would give it some thought.



I look at my bank account and see that I can afford to start treatment if I take the money I have saved for my boyfriend’s gift. If I pay the rest of it off in installments, I can finally get my teeth fixed, but I still want to get my boyfriend something special. His birthday is coming up soon and the anniversary of our first official date is just about the same time.

My boyfriend's business has been doing very well and he has expanded to other cities. He's taken me on a few trips to check on the new offices, and each time has been so much fun. We fly each time, and a few times he has pointed out when he sees someone going through the metal detector wearing braces. He likes to take me to restaurants to try out different meals and often asks if it is something that could be served at the new restaurant and if I thought it was something to add to the braces-friendly menu.

I keep telling him that I am not the best person to answer that, but he just smiles and kisses me, running his tongue over my teeth each time. He never says anything about my misaligned teeth. It’s almost as if he doesn’t mind having a girlfriend without a perfect smile.

I have a few chapters ready to post. I'm spreading them out a little to give everyone a chance to read them before they move too far down in the posts.

Chapter 2

After our daughters got married, he merged the company with another company and semi-retired. I no longer had to work and found I had a hard time adjusting. We moved into town and I tried to find ways to keep myself busy. I had more money than I knew what to do with, so I didn’t need to work, but I decided to get a part-time job. I had enjoyed waitressing before we got married, and found a place that needed a waitress part-time. I was a little rusty after all the years, but they were patient and it all came back to me.

My husband couldn’t stay idle either, and built a greenhouse to grow flowers. He hired a company to design and build it, but he got right in there with the rest of them and got dirty. He hired good people to work with him and soon I had fresh flowers on the table each morning. In the afternoon, he drove me to work. At first, he would just drop me off and make a few deliveries.

The move into town gave us a chance to work on our relationship, and I made a real attempt to win him back. I started with simple things, like asking him to walk me into the restaurant at the beginning of my shift and come inside a little early to pick me up after work. The old pickup truck with my name on the seat had been parked many years ago and had sat in the barn. I had it repaired and intended to give it to him as an anniversary present. One change I made was to have his seat recovered and his name stitched into it to match what he had done for me all those years ago.

Him walking me into the restaurant turned out to be a good thing, but not in the way I expected. The building the restaurant was in had been sold and the new owners had made a few changes to give it a new look. When the chef heard that my husband was growing flowers, he gave my husband a contract to supply flowers to the restaurant. On the days I was working, he delivered them himself when he dropped me off, and hung around for a while and talked to the staff. One of the waitresses was just a bit younger than our daughters and still had braces. And he made a point of saying hello to her whenever she worked the same days I did.

The things I was doing worked and our relationship improved. It wasn't the same as it had been before. We were both older and some of the things that seemed so important back then just weren't anymore. I didn't realize just how important watching the sun go down together was to me until he took me out to the edge of town one evening. So many memories came back to me and I did something we hadn't done for a long time. I moved over beside him and slowly kissed him the way I used to before we got married.

It took a few more trips to the hill and a blanket on the grass before he responded the way he used to, but I finally felt his tongue run over my teeth the way I had been accustomed to. When I began to cry, he asked what was wrong and it took me a while to explain to him how much his old way of kissing meant to me. The next weekend was our anniversary, and I gave the truck to him. I explained to him what it meant to me and that I was determined to live up to the logo on the door and treat him like the ‘spoiled rich kid’ he deserved to be.

We took the truck to the hill and watched the sun go down while laying in the back on a mattress. As the last rays of the sun disappeared and the stars came out, he kissed me the way he used to and ran his tongue over the gap between my teeth. Then he pulled back and said, “I haven’t asked you this before, but I want you to do something for me. I want you to get braces. I don’t care if you don’t get your teeth fixed, and I would be very happy if you didn’t get them fixed, because I like how they are right now, but I have always wondered what it would be like to kiss you with braces.”

We sat there for a while looking at the stars, then I rolled over and kissed him again and let him run his tongue over my teeth some more. "If that is what you want, then let me talk to the orthodontist in the office above the restaurant." After a  bit more kissing, I asked, "How would you like to go with me and we can both see what he can do for us." That provoked a reaction in him that had been missing for a while, and we almost got caught by the cop car that drove by patrolling the parking lot. It was the most fun we had in a long time.

As we drove home, so many little things clicked into place in my mind and I asked him, “Did you marry me because of my teeth?”

His response surprised me. “I married you because of who you were. Your teeth were just a bonus. You kept telling me that you wouldn’t date a rich kid and I liked that.”

I couldn’t stop laughing for a long time. When I finally stopped, I managed to say, “I said I wouldn’t date a SPOILED rich kid, I never said I wouldn’t marry a rich kid. Now pull over, I think I need to make up for some lost time and kiss you again.”

I called the orthodontist the next day and we had an appointment that afternoon before I started my shift. I had so much on my mind that the hostess split my section between two other waitresses and had me cleaning tables and helping out.

Our talk with the orthodontist had been very interesting and gave me a lot to think about. Unlike most orthodontists who concentrated on getting the result as fast as possible, he was more interested in giving his patients the look they wanted and took as long as needed to achieve it. My case wouldn't be the first time he had been asked for a less-than-perfect look at the end of the treatment. If we wanted, he could line my teeth up to meet properly and make them look very similar to the way they already looked, including the gap between my top teeth, and if we wanted he could add a similar gap to the bottom.

He could also give me a Hollywood smile and take years longer than necessary to do it. He showed us all the different appliances he could use on me, even those I wouldn’t need for treatment, and I had seen my husband’s eyes light up. Even though the cost of the treatment didn’t matter to us, part of the benefits package I was entitled to was a discount on the cost of the treatment.

We talked about it for the next few days, and I told him I would leave it up to him to decide what we would do. If he didn’t want to tell me, he didn’t have to and I would let him do whatever he wanted without complaint.

I knew that I would be getting molar bands because I had separators installed on the top and bottom, and they had been a part of all the treatment plans, but the rest was a mystery to me. On the day of my appointment, he drove me to the office and went up with me. The orthodontist had a contract for me to sign saying I agreed to the treatment, and even though I hadn't seen what I was getting, I signed it.

The first part was easy. The separators came out and the molar bands went on. I was expecting four, but I ended up with eight. The back molars had tubes on both sides, and the front had tubes on the inside. I knew right away that I would have more going on in my mouth than I expected.

I was relieved when he began gluing metal brackets to the rest of my teeth. One of the options discussed had been bands on all my teeth, and if that was what my husband had wanted, I would have accepted it. My husband had rejected the self-ligating brackets at the first appointment, so I knew I would be getting ligatures to hold the archwires in place. When the time came for the archwires to go in, I closed my eyes and waited until the ligatures were in place.

They asked me if I wanted to see my new braces, but I just shook my head while I ran my tongue over my metal-covered teeth. I wanted to wait until I was at home just in case I had a meltdown. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, my husband pulled me behind the stairs into a partially screened-off area and kissed me for the first with me wearing braces. His kiss was very gentle and tentative at first, and I felt just like a teenager kissing for the first time. When I didn't pull away, he got a little more daring and explored my braces with his tongue, and I really began to feel like a teenager.

All of the old feelings came back in a rush and I knew I had done the right thing by getting braces. My husband was back in my arms and we had the rest of our lives to be together. I knew it for sure when he called me Charli, something he hadn’t done in far too many years.

I was supposed to work a shift that afternoon, but the hostess knew I had more important things to do and understood when I told her I was taking the rest of the day off.

Chapter 5

I've told the orthodontist I appreciate his offer, but I don't think I can afford to fix my teeth just yet. He's told me I can spread out the payments more and pay a small installation fee to get me started if it would help.

I look at the smiles of the women at the Wednesday investor's meeting and see how nice they look with straight teeth. It would be so nice if I could have a smile as nice as theirs for my boyfriend to enjoy. I’ve seen how he looks at women with braces and I feel that he is picturing them with straight teeth.

Whenever I get a chance, I talk to the hostess with braces and get her opinion on what she thinks I should do. The waitress with new braces has joined us a few times, and her opinion is that I should do it. Her husband is enjoying having her in braces and is very supportive when her teeth are sore. They both say that their braces aren’t an inconvenience, and the soreness doesn’t last very long. It’s given me a lot to think about.

Every time I brush my teeth and look at them in the mirror, I picture myself with straight teeth. The more I think about it, the more appealing the idea of fixing my teeth becomes. I’ve looked at the treatment plans the orthodontist gave me, and each time they look a little bit more affordable.


I’ve booked an appointment to talk to the orthodontist about fixing my teeth. There is enough in my bank account to start, and the monthly payments are low enough that I can afford them.


After talking to the orthodontist, he told me that there are three treatments he can recommend. The first would be surgery to move my jaws into place and then a short treatment to align the teeth. It would involve me taking some time off to heal. I told him that wasn’t an option. Even though I wouldn’t be in braces very long and I would have a perfect smile, I still can’t afford the time off.

The second option would be to have a few teeth removed to allow the rest to move into place. We both didn’t like that option very much. He said he doesn’t like removing healthy teeth if at all possible. I didn’t like the idea of having big gaps in my smile while my teeth are moving and told him so. I would be in braces longer than the first option and he told me the result wouldn’t be as good in the end.

The third option he gave me was a bit scary at first. It involves widening my arches and shifting my teeth into place. When he told me everything that was involved, I almost told him to forget it, but he explained how everything works, using the models of my teeth to show me and put an estimation of how my smile will look in the end, on his computer.

The first two options would be more expensive because of the cost of the surgery and the time I would miss from work to recover. The third option will have very little time away from work, and I can schedule my appointments for whatever days are convenient for me.

I talk to my two friends in the restaurant and show them the treatment plans, and they encourage me to take the third plan, even though it will be a longer treatment.


My boyfriend tells me that he is going to have to take a trip to reorganize one of his offices. He’s going to be gone for a week and he’s bought me a new computer and camera so he can talk to me every night while he’s gone. I’ve become so used to cuddling with him on the couch and getting a goodnight kiss from him. Most weekends, he sleeps on the bed in the couch, and he does it without complaining about the boundaries I have set for our relationship.

Before I can change my mind, I make an appointment with the orthodontist for the Monday he is leaving. I don’t want to tell my boyfriend what I am planning to do, so I have an appointment on Friday to have the spacers installed.

I’ve let my friends in the restaurant know what I am doing and have asked them not to say anything to my boyfriend about it. All week they’ve been smiling at me and I’ve been looking at the braces in their smiles and thinking, “That’s going to be me soon.”


I went up to the orthodontist's office during lunch and they installed the spacers between my back teeth. By the time my boyfriend arrived for supper, my teeth were sore and I ordered us food from the braces-friendly menu, after asking my friends what I would be able to eat.

He makes a couple of jokes about my selection of food, which I half-heartedly respond to. After supper, we cuddle on the couch and watch a movie. I tell him I’m not feeling well and ask him if it will be okay if he doesn’t spend the night. He’s a bit concerned when I cut our goodnight kiss short before he can get his tongue into my mouth, but I tell him that I will be okay when I take a couple of Advil and get a good night’s sleep.

Before he leaves, I tell him that I have scheduled myself to work late the next two nights and train some new employees, so he shouldn’t come around. It’s not a lie, just not the complete truth.



Monday morning, he drops by the restaurant on his way to the airport. We sneak out to the area behind the stairs for a quick kiss before he leaves, and I don’t let him get his tongue far enough into my mouth to feel the spacers. He doesn’t know it, but this is the last time he will be feeling my teeth without braces on them, so I give him plenty of time to run his tongue over them.

The older waitress with the new braces is filling in for me as hostess, and she gives me a big smile as I leave for my appointment.

It’s a relief to have the spacers out of my mouth, even though it is short-lived. The orthodontist numbs my palate before he starts installing the top expander. He’s told me this is going to be the unpleasant part of having my braces installed, and he’s right. Fitting the bands around my teeth with the expander connected to them takes a while, and more of my teeth have bands than I expected.

Once he has it in place, he takes a break and gives me a chance to brush my teeth to remove the chemical residue from my mouth. I hesitantly smile at myself in the mirror, expecting to see nothing but metal, but there is nothing to see, until I smile like a clown and the bands become visible on the inside of my teeth. My top jaw has bands on the back three teeth on both sides. So far, things are going fine.

He prepared me for the next part before I agreed to the treatment. The reason he numbed my palate is so he can insert screws into the bone to aid in widening my arch. The expander can’t do what it needs to without moving my arch out and the screws are to anchor it to my jaw and spread the bone. The bands are to keep my teeth in place as my jaw widens, and to shift them into position. All I feel is a little pressure as the screws go into place.

He asks if I want another break, but I just say, “No. I’m fine so far.”

He asked me if I wanted ceramic brackets on top, and he would have used them if I wanted, but they would have cost more and he said he prefers to use metal because he has better control. With the screws in place, he begins glueing the top brackets into position. When he is satisfied with the placement, he cures them using a UV light.

I had the option of waiting to have the brackets put on my bottom teeth until he put the bottom expander in. My top palate needs to be wider before he can do the same to the bottom, and the bottom jaw will move faster than the top, so he wants to wait for a while. He could have done both at the same time and waited to expand the bottom one, but he felt it would have been too much going into my mouth at the same time.

The bottom brackets could have waited a while too, but I choose to have them installed at the same time as the top. It doesn’t take him long to finish my bottom jaw, and then he gives me a break to relax my jaw.

I take the time to go to the bathroom again and take a good look at my new smile. The brackets feel so big and rough without the archwires, and my lips catch on the edges of them as I smile in the mirror. I tilt my head back and try to look at the expander on my top palate, but the angle isn't quite right and I can't get enough light inside. He asked if I wanted self-ligating brackets, and when I saw the difference in size between the older brackets with ligatures and the self-ligating brackets, I chose the older style.

The hostess with the braces has self-ligating brackets and the waitress filling in for me has the older style. After comparing the two styles, I chose the older style because of the look. My friends in school had them and they are what I grew up seeing.

It doesn’t take him long to fit the archwires, and he already knew I wanted grey ligatures to start. He shows me a piece of the archwire and bends it in a loop as he tells me I shouldn’t feel much pressure until he changes it at my next appointment. After giving me instructions on how to brush and take care of my teeth, he gives me a goodie bag with supplies to get me started.

I stop at my apartment and take a good look at my teeth. Having three mirrored doors makes it easy to see into my mouth and check out the expander screwed into my palate. I have another appointment on Wednesday for him to check for infection from the screws and start turning the expander.

My friends all want to see my new smile when I return to the restaurant, and several customers come over and take a look too. I’m the center of attention for the rest of the day, and a few male customers give me a tip as they leave the restaurant.

My boyfriend gives me a call in the evening and tells me how his flight was. I let him do most of the talking, adding short comments when I have to. The expander is giving me a slight lisp, and it has decreased as I have talked in the restaurant all day.

This is a really interesting concept. I always like multiple POV stories, and this is a good take on it.

Chapter 7

It takes a while, but the architectural drawings for the floor plan for the new restaurant are finalized. The new kitchen fixtures have been ordered and all the permits are approved. The staff in the restaurant all want to know what is going on, but I’ve been asked to say as little as possible for the time being. I tell them that they are not going to lose their jobs, and that nothing is going to change for quite a while yet, and leave it at that.

Since it was my idea, I’ve been given the responsibility of designing new uniforms for the staff. The first designs I come up with don’t meet with the approval of the staff in the restaurant, so I hold a staff meeting in the board room upstairs and we discuss ideas, coming up with better fitting scrubs for the kitchen staff. We do a test of the new uniforms in the kitchen. The better fit is partially a safety issue in the kitchen, but they like the way the new uniforms look.

After seeing the new uniforms on the kitchen staff, the waitresses come up with a few ideas for the staff working on the floor. The final design is similar to the kitchen uniform, but to distinguish them from the kitchen staff, they add lace in a few strategic spots and trim to make them more visually appealing. The plan was to wait for 'Sparkles' to open before starting to use the new uniforms, but the waitresses didn't want to wait that long and insisted that they be able to 'test run them to get a feel of how they will work'.

Something else we are doing is creating a set of greetings to use when people come to the new restaurant. We are using the phrase ‘appointments’ rather than reservations, and are working on ways to use the orthodontic theme throughout the restaurant. Even though I didn’t think of it, I have been given credit for the suggestion to have an ‘assistant’ outside the bathrooms to hand out toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss to anyone who wants them.

I’ve found a seamstress to make our uniforms. She said she can make them for us cheaper than if we buy premade scrubs and she has to alter them, especially the waitress's uniforms. The company was going to offer to rent her space on the second floor to have a shop, but after talking to her, I suggested they renovate one of the empty apartments on the third floor and have her on-site. I find living so close to work is so convenient and I can get more work done than if I have to run back and forth all the time. If there is a problem in the restaurant requiring my attention, I can deal with it in no time and be home again in minutes. Even though she is technically a contractor, she is still considered an employee of the company and is entitled to the same benefits everyone else is.

While they renovated the apartment for the seamstress, they did a second one for me, creating an office for me to use and adding a second bedroom. I’m pretty sure my boyfriend had something to do with the floor plan for my new apartment, but he won’t admit to it. Whether he did or not, he has been suitably compensated for the new apartment. My furniture has been moved in and a bed added to the second bedroom and we broke it in suitably with an extended session of kissing. I haven’t formally said that it is his bedroom, but we both know that it is. The clothes that have been slowly accumulating at my place have been put away in the closet and dresser.



We went to pick up my new ring, and he made a change to the design. When he points out the change to me, it takes me a while to stop laughing. The settings holding the stones look like orthodontic brackets and rings of lighter gold look like ligatures holding the stones in place. The engraving on the band is a string of brackets on an archwire. The stones are only semi-precious, but that doesn’t matter to me.

All the waitresses have been waiting to see it and I can’t wait to see if any of them spot the unique features on the ring.



As the new restaurant takes shape, I spend less time in the old restaurant and more time interviewing for new staff. Besides the two former waitresses with braces I trained to be hostesses, I have hired another woman to train to work as a hostess. Once she is trained and has worked for a while, she will be able to take advantage of the benefits package, and the other hostesses have mentioned what is in the package. She seems receptive to the idea of getting braces and has what my boyfriend refers to as a nearly perfect smile.

There are four levels to the interview process. The first level is meeting me to pick up an application. It has to be done in person, and I reject the applicants that don’t fit the look we want. Some I politely tell that they probably won’t be called for an interview even if they fill out the application, while others just have their application filed in the square cabinet behind my desk. It may sound cruel, but I use my boyfriend's definition of a nearly perfect smile as one of the hiring criteria.

The people I think have the right look begin their interview when they return their application. Those people who make it past my interview are referred to my boss, the head chef, for a second interview. He rejects some of those, before referring the successful applicants to the orthodontist for an orthodontic exam and the final selection.



The whole building has been wired for high-speed internet with wifi. My boyfriend insisted on it, and I know it is because he wants to be able to contact me whenever he wants to video-chat with me. He bought me a top-of-the-line cell phone and a new laptop for my office. We’ve been having fun testing it out all week. He’s going on another trip soon and we want to see each other whenever we want.

The sign for the new restaurant went up on the building, and even though it isn’t open yet, the hostesses have started using the new greeting when guests arrive at the old restaurant. The current restaurant staff have been asked if they want to work at ‘Sparkles’ and understand they will have to wear some form of orthodontic appliance when they do. The orthodontist has been busy doing exams on those that have asked to transfer to the new restaurant and the seamstress has a long list of uniforms to make.

Probably the biggest change for me is that I am now a voting member of the company. At the last investor's meeting, everyone agreed to give me a voting share in the company as a bonus for all the work I have been doing. I’m not rich by any means, because the vote is more valuable than the share if I was to sell it.

The books show the building is supporting itself, but just barely. My boyfriend tells me it is that way on purpose. There is a complicated system in place to keep money flowing through the company to finance all the renovations and put money back in the pockets of the investors. It seems that my braces are now completely paid for without me having to pay for them from my bank account.

My boyfriend went with me to my appointment to have my bottom expander fitted and we explained to the orthodontist how we wanted to prolong my treatment a bit. He agreed to do it for the parts that could be slowed down, the expanders being the one area he can’t slow down. With the bones in my palates separating as they are supposed to, he wants them to move to where he wants at a controlled pace.

Each time my expanders need to be turned, my boyfriend does it for me. I have a cute gap between my top front teeth and he likes to run his tongue over it when we kiss. I’ve asked the orthodontist to leave it for a while, and I noticed a small gap developing on the bottom as well. My boyfriend loves how my teeth look and tells me I have a perfect smile at least once a day.

There are going to be some discrepancies between the timelines and events in the stories. Some of them are deliberate, some not. If you feel that any of them need to be fixed, let me know and I will take a look at them.

Keep in mind that each story is from a different character's point of view and not all events happened quite the way they seemed to.

Chapter 2

A week later, she shows up at my door with another bottle of wine, an invoice pad and a big smile on her face. The wine I am expecting, the metal glued to her teeth I am not. She sees me looking at her mouth and turns from side to side, giving me a much better look at her enhanced mouth. The bends in the archwire highlight just how misaligned her teeth really are.

When I finally manage to shift my gaze away from her teeth, she hands me the wine and says, "So dazzle me, show me what design you have come up with for the uniform."

I grin and say, "I couldn't just do one. It didn't seem right to limit my options, so I did a couple." I watch as she slips on the first one, seeing all the little adjustments that should be made to make it fit better. They still look like scrubs, it's just that I've added lace on the chest to show a hint of her cleavage and accents along the seams to show she has a figure underneath it.

The next outfit is my vision of what a waitress might want to wear in an old-fashioned diner. It's a blouse and skirt combination, rather than pants. It has a little more lace strategically placed, and with stockings and low-heeled shoes, will look good on just about any shape of body. On her, it looks very nice. She spends quite a bit of time in front of the mirror checking it out from all different angles. It still has the look the scrubs did and looks like a uniform, just more visually appealing and comfortable.

I spend the time checking out the braces on her teeth and feeling a bit envious. I've never admitted it to anyone, but I always missed having the chance to get braces when I was in school, not because I wanted to get my teeth fixed, but because I thought they were a cool fashion accessory.

I'm a bit surprised when she decides to keep the blouse and skirt combination on. We sit and talk for a while and I find out a little about her latest job. It sounds as if she is doing well and is moving up in the place. She has me fill out an invoice for the cost of the material and the work I did on the uniforms, and insists I show how many hours it took me.

I'm more fascinated by the braces on her teeth than I am by what we are talking about and don't pay as much attention as I should. Before I realize how much time has passed, she is saying goodbye and walking out the door with my creations in her bag, without paying me for the material.


A few weeks later I get a check in the mail with a copy of my invoice. On the line where I listed my hours is a number I never expected to see. Attached to the invoice is a note to call the number at the bottom. My friend answers and says to check my email in a few minutes and call her back. At the top of the email is a smiley face emoji wearing braces and an attachment for a document to download. The document is one page long and is a contract to make uniforms for the restaurant at a cost to be negotiated. I call her back and ask, "Is this a joke?"

I hear her laughing and she says, "Why don't you come and visit me and we'll talk about it. I think you'll like what I have to say, and this time, stop staring at my teeth so much and pay more attention to what I am saying."

I follow her directions and find myself on the second floor of a building being renovated. After calling her to let her know I am waiting, she steps out of what looks like an office door and I find myself walking up another set of stairs. Most of the space upstairs is empty except for an area with a few couches, chairs and tables.

I can't believe the size of her place. Her living room is bigger than the basement of my parent's place and much better furnished. She has a pot of coffee on a warmer and we sit at the table sipping from our mugs as she explains about the contract. She showed the people in charge of the restaurant what I had created for her, and she recommended I be hired to do all the uniforms.

It turns out there is a bit more to the contract than I am aware of. The contract has an option for me to have space designed for me to work right in the building. I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the information coming at me, and she sees the dazed look on my face and suggests we take a walk around the building while I think about the offer.

There isn't much to see on the third floor, and we move to the second floor quite soon. Despite obvious signs of ongoing renovations, the area is clean and has a walk-up coffee bar. Beside that is an orthodontist's office and she tells me she is a patient there. At the far end are a few offices and she takes me into them and introduces me to the people inside. Everyone seems to know her and I begin to get the impression she has more authority than I first thought.

The last office she takes me to has several large screens on the wall hooked up to computers. After introducing me to the couple sitting there, she tells me to explain to them what kind of space I would need for a place to work in. Rather than interrupt my rambling explanation, they take turns entering information into the computer and 3D models form on the screens. As I make changes, they appear on the screens as well.

When I take a break and stop talking, the lady says, "That's your workspace. What about where you're going to live? How do you want your apartment laid out?"

I look at my friend with my mouth open. She smiles at me and says, "I haven't told her about that part yet. She's still trying to deal with the idea of having her own shop to make the uniforms in. I was going to wait until she signed the contract to explain what all is included. For now, just put in a bedroom, kitchen and living room of adequate size and we can make changes later. Right now I want to take her to the orthodontist and have her records done."

She gently closes my mouth and leads me to the orthodontist's office. I sit where she places me and look around. My brain is still trying to process everything that is happening, and is failing at the task. Time starts to do funny things. I blink and find myself in the treatment chair with my teeth sinking into pudding-like goop. Then time stretches as I try not to gag as the stuff oozes out of the tray toward my throat. Another blink, and I am making funny faces as they take pictures of my teeth. One more blink, and the orthodontist is talking to the assistant in a language I don't understand as he pokes at my teeth with a metal tool. Then I'm sitting in an office with my friend holding my hand. I don't remember them doing X-rays and scans of my teeth, but they are on the computer screen in front of us and the orthodontist is talking about what he can do to fix my teeth.

Very intersting story. I like the ways you take to come to the point where you want to go. I can't wait to read more of it !

I have an absolutely fithy story in my mind right now and have no hope of it being posted here.

I'm still working on more chapters of the 'Sparkles' series, but they're not going to be posted quite as frequently for a little while.

I like the way these stories re-sure the same setting.

Chapter 6

I wait for him to pull up my file before asking, “Can you keep a record of what this is going to cost me for each of the things we discuss? The cost is going to be a factor in what I can do.”

His answer surprises me. “Don’t worry about the cost. The accountant will handle making sure the payments are made on time. You tell me what you want and I will advise you on what I can do about making it happen.”

He puts the picture of my face from the initial appointment on the screen and waits for me to begin. I distractedly run my tongue over the wires on my teeth, something I have been doing a lot of lately, exploring the bends in it. Finally I say, “I want to do something about straightening out my teeth a little. I don’t want them to be perfect, just for them to line up better. I want people to say, ‘Woah, that’s a pretty extreme treatment she is getting.’ Can I start with narrow bands on all my teeth?”

The sketch I gave to the hostess appears on the screen and he asks, “Something like this?” I nod and my face on the screen changes to show my teeth with bands on them. My top teeth stick out a bit more with the additional spaces needed for the bands to fit around my teeth. “I can reduce how much they stick out by removing a couple of teeth first, though I can suggest a better way.” He types in a few sentences and a face-bow replaces the bands. “If we move your top molars back a bit first to give room in the front for the bands, the front teeth won’t look as if they are sticking out. We can start by using a modified retainer to pull all the top teeth back at the same time.” The face on the screen gradually changes to show what the treatment might look like.

He glances at the look on my face, then says.”You don’t like that option, do you? I don’t like how the teeth recede as the treatment progresses either. How about this option? We put ordinary metal brackets on all your top teeth at the start, then replace them with bands as the teeth move back and space opens up between them to keep your front teeth where they are now.” This time, the image on the screen gradually changes to show bands appearing from the back to the front as the teeth move. It’s better, but still not quite what I want.

I point to my front teeth and ask, "Can we create a gap between my front teeth first to make room for bands? One of my friends in school had an expander and she had this little gap between her teeth for a while. I thought she looked so interesting with the gap. Can we do something like that?"

He types in a few words and the face on the screen changes again to show my jaw widening and a gap appearing before bands go around my front teeth. "Like that?"

I smile as the image repeats. "That's almost what I want. Can you make the gap stay longer and have a matching gap on the bottom? And bands on all the bottom teeth too?" The image on the screen resets and I watch as my face gets a bit wider as the requested treatment progresses. The gaps slowly appear and stay until just before the end. "I like that, except the teeth look too well lined up at the end. Can you leave the canines recessed behind the front teeth a little?" This time I really like the way they look.

He looks at the final image and resets it to show the bands on the front teeth appearing earlier in the treatment. This time the bands appear on the front teeth soon after the gaps appear between the front teeth and the canines tilt in behind the front teeth near the beginning of the treatment. "To make this work, I would need to put springs where the canines are to keep the space open and stop the other teeth from twisting. The bands will also work very well to help keep the teeth where they need to be, and I can use a rectangular wire to stop them from twisting. The canines can be attached to the expanders to give more precise control of them."

I realize he is talking to himself more than me, and I can appreciate the process he is going through to design the look I want. He types in a few more sentences and a face-bow appears on the screen again. I watch as my face starts out the way I look right now and changes shape as my teeth move into the position I have asked for. He blinks a few times as he becomes aware I am still sitting across from him. "Sorry about that. It isn't often that I am presented with such an interesting case. I've had difficult cases before, but this is the first time I've been asked to create such an intriguing treatment. Achieving this result is going to take quite a while. Once we start, you are going to have to fully cooperate with the instructions I give you and I may have to use a few different devices I haven't thought about using yet."

The grin on my face can't get any bigger as I say, "Where do I sign and when can we start?"

He looks at the scans of my teeth and checks the schedule on the screen. "I think there is already enough space between your molars to fit bands on, and there is an appointment slot open in a while if you want to fit them today. The bands are probably going to be a bit uncomfortable until your molars shift to allow for them, so we won't start using the face-bow just yet. The expanders are going to have to go in sometime soon and the brackets are going to be needed right away to keep the teeth from moving in unpredictable directions. I'll need to shuffle patients around a little to get all of this done, but I think I can do it all today."

I realize he is talking to himself again and clear my throat to get his attention. "I'll wait until you are ready to start. Just give me the forms to sign."



I let the girl at the front desk know I'm going to be sitting in the coffee shop outside the office and go to the renovation office to get my sketchpad. The lady suggests I take the new computer sketch pad with me and use it too. My mind is more focused on my upcoming appointment and I didn’t think about using it. The whole building is wired for wifi access, and as long as my new computer is on, I have access to the files to run the new sketchpad.

I let my mind wander to the outfit I designed for the renovation lady. I find a file holding revisions I made and locate the version without the changes. She asked me to create something for around the office, but my mind has other ideas floating around. I store the original file as a template and begin working on something for her to wear at home. I keep my design to something a middle-aged woman would want to wear and add simple metal braces to her teeth.

The next design is for something to wear for an evening out. It's elegant and simple, and I spend more time getting the braces on her teeth right and adding coloured ligatures. I do another version with a different coloured gown and matching coloured elastics showing between her smiling lips. They go into a private file before they get emailed to her.



The girl at the front desk comes out to get me and escorts me to a treatment room. I realize I am in the special client’s room because the chair is so comfortable. She stays with me while we wait for the orthodontist. While we wait, she asks if I can design a more comfortable uniform for her. I use her camera to take a picture of her, then use the Bluetooth connection to transfer it to my sketch pad.

As she tells me what she doesn't like about what she is wearing, I make alterations to her picture, adding material to the chest and reducing the material around her waist. Her pants get the same attention, with more material around the hips and less covering her legs. A second version has her wearing a knee-length skirt and low heels. I create a third version of her still in the skirt, but change the shoes to high-heels. I'm really enjoying using the new sketchpad and the convenience of being able to give people copies of what I create, although I do miss the feel of paper against my hand as I work.

The orthodontist walks in as I am finishing the last version and smiles when he sees what I have done with her uniform. "We may just have you do a little work for us when you get your shop open. I don't think that the last one will work, but the other two are a possibility. Now, let's get to work on your mouth. I hope you're not in a hurry, this is going to take a while."

The chair goes back and he begins to work on getting the bands around my back molars. The bands are a tight fit and I can feel the pressure as they begin to shift to accommodate the bands. He gives me the choice between the slightly larger self-ligating metal brackets or the older-style ligatured brackets for the rest of my teeth. It's a tough decision to make and the assistant shows me how they can twist the ligatures to make them more visible. Speed is not an issue for me unless I consider how long I want to extend my treatment, so I go with the older-style brackets. He leaves the brackets off of my canines and tells me those are going to have bands as soon as my expanders are ready. He slides springs along the archwires where my canines are to maintain the space.

He has a small camera mounted on the light he uses to illuminate my mouth and I can watch as he slowly covers my teeth with metal. He takes a few breaks from working on my teeth when one of the assistants needs him to check the work they are doing on other patients and the chance to close my mouth for a while is appreciated. It also gives me a chance to examine what has been done in more detail.

The assistant gives me a package of supplies for my new braces and goes over the information I need to know to take care of them. Before I leave, I have pictures of my new smile to add to their file, taken from many different angles, and the girl at the front desk transfers copies of them to my sketchpad for me.

I take my time walking down the steps, making sure the guys get a chance to look up my skirt and see my shorts with 'Gotcha' embroidered across the ass, and give them a display of my newly embraced smile. It's not just the braces I am showing off, it's how much I am enjoying having them.

I stop by the restaurant and show them my new smile as well, and the staff all want to get a good look at what I have been given. A few of the regular customers come over as well to see what the commotion is, and I get many compliments from them. A few ask if I am going to work in the new restaurant and I explain I will be making the new uniforms. I think some of them just ask so they can get another look at my braces, not that I am complaining. I'm really enjoying the attention they are drawing.

One of the busboys asks if I would like a ride home, and when I accept, gets permission to leave early from the hostess. He's quite excited when I ask if he wants to see my sketches, and his face falls when I pull them out and show them to him. I make it up to him when I kiss him and let him run his tongue over my braced teeth. I think I get more of a thrill from having someone kiss me and play with my braces, but it isn't by much judging by his reaction. He's walking funny as he leaves after I tell him I had a fun first date with him. Even if we never have a second date, it will still be memorable for him.

Sparkles - 4

Each Tuesday, all of the employees and investors get a chance to walk through the new restaurant and see how the space is changing as the walls and fittings go into place. The couple from the renovation company handle most of the questions and take notes of any questions and suggestions.

One question that came up each week was the accessibility of the restaurant for people with different kinds of mobility issues. The drawings, plans and 3D model took into account all the government-mandated requirements and we tried to exceed them. The booths all had wheelchair access and the private rooms had wide doorways and a small storage area for coats, with fittings to hold things like crutches and canes.

A couple of the waitresses asked why there was only one wheelchair-accessible stall and they pointed out they often found the stalls too cramped even for able-bodied use. At their suggestion, all the stalls were enlarged to accommodate a wheelchair and a third washroom was added for people who needed assistance using the bathroom. The third bathroom was enlarged enough to accommodate three people easily and the addition of a changing table made it comfortable for changing a child's diaper.

It was one of the busboys that brought up the issue of the width of the doorways to the kitchen. They were fine for normal levels of use, but when the restaurant was busy, they tended to become crowded. A simple redesign to the layout made them oneway use and widened them. Before changing them in the new restaurant, 'Sparkles Daytime' got a retrofit to test out the idea. With the kitchen being designed and located to serve both restaurants, the idea made sense, and with a little time to get used to the new layout, the staff found things moved more smoothly.

I stand back and admire the growing number of metal-enhanced smiles I see each week. As we hire more employees, the number slowly grows, but it becomes more evident each week as the employees walk around and talk about the changes. The seamstress arrives in a different costume each week, and her smile slowly becomes more metallic each week. Each of her costumes is in the 'Sparkles' colours and is a wild version of one of the uniforms she is working on. They all are more suitable for working in an adult club or wearing to a dance club than in a restaurant, and she always arrives after almost everyone else.



I find myself spending more time managing the existing restaurants and getting things organized for the new restaurant than I do working in the kitchen. It's during one of my increasingly frequent complaint sessions that someone says, "Why don't you get someone to take over some of the routine work for you? Hire yourself an assistant."

I look up at the metal-encased smiles in front of me and grimace. "How am I supposed to find time to do that when I don't have enough time to do the work I already have to do? I need an assistant to find me an assistant."

This time I am watching as Charlene says, “There is already a process in place to handle it.”

The metal braces in The Hostess's mouth come into view as she says, “I’m already handling the interview process for the restaurant staff, adding finding an assistant for you to the list shouldn’t be difficult. What type of person are you looking for?”

It’s not something I had thought about, so I have a confused look on my face as The Seamstress asks, “Let’s start with the basics, male or female? Is age a factor? Do they need to have experience and if so, what kind?”

My mouth drops open as I try to process the questions coming at me. All I can do is shrug as the three of them grin at me. The Hostess takes pity on me and says, "Why don't you think about it for a while, then make a list of things for me to look for? In the meantime, I'll keep an eye out for someone I think might be able to handle the job. I've been doing okay with the restaurant staff so far, especially with the help I've had from Charlene and a few others in the building."

She's right. There are three assistant hostesses to cover all the shifts in 'Sparkles Daytime' and Charlene is in charge of the waitresses. I have more kitchen staff than I need at the moment, but when 'Sparkles' opens, all the staff will have full-time jobs if they want. Everyone she has sent to me for an interview has already been screened by her and all I've had to do is give them my okay and send them to the orthodontist. If I had an assistant like her, I could spend most of my time in the kitchen creating dishes for the restaurants.

The three ladies all laugh as I walk away shaking my head.



I spend over a week trying to put together a list of what I want in an assistant. I started by listing everything I could think of, adding more as I thought of things. Then I tried to narrow it down to what I considered important. The list is still impossible to make sense of when the Hostess knocks on my door and enters. Beside her is a petite female that looks as if she is a gymnast.

“I have someone for you to interview.” The smile on the Hostess’s face says she’s up to something, but I can’t tell what it is. “I’ve already told her what she is going to be doing if she is hired, all you have to do is give her the standard interview. She’s already had her appointment with the orthodontist and has been approved by him.” She places the file with the job application, resume and orthodontist’s records on my desk, then smiles at the girl as she leaves.

I glance at her several times as I read through the file, noting she has a little experience as a waitress and has just finished several courses towards a degree in business management. Her application says she is looking for part-time work, though she is open to a full-time position if it is offered. She waits patiently for me to start the interview.

The impression I had that she looked like a gymnast is confirmed when I read her application and see she lists she was one in school and volunteers part-time as an assistant coach at a local gym. Her application says she has applied to be a waitress, but I can see she is overqualified for the position.

I give her the standard interview, asking her the usual questions. She has a pleasant voice with a heavy British accent and smiles frequently, though she keeps her teeth covered when she does. When I have her stand in front of the screen for the video portion of the interview, I notice that she has a slight limp and her left leg seems a little stiff. It's hard to tell why, because she is wearing a long skirt. As she stands in front of the screen and says the scripted greetings word perfect without looking at the sheet, I have to wonder why she wants to work as a waitress. In my opinion, she's too good-looking to be a waitress and seems very relaxed and confident.

My cellphone chimes with a text from the Hostess saying, "If you know what's good for you, tell her you are hiring her. When you do, tell her I said to smile for you. The orthodontist can't wait to get his hands on her. Text me before she leaves, I want to congratulate her." The Hostess hasn't been wrong with the recommendations she's made for employees so far, and except for a few the orthodontist has rejected, all have been hired, so I take her advice.

Before I let her know she has been hired, I have a few more questions to ask her, so I get her to take a seat in front of my desk. As she sits, she touches the back of her left knee, and I notice that her skirt doesn't lay quite normal.

She notices where I am looking and the smile on her face fades. I ask her the questions about braces and a puzzled look crosses her face until I explain I am talking about orthodontic braces, not about the English variety that goes over the shoulders. Her answers are quite informative and I can understand why she has passed the two interview stages already.

Then I tell her she is hired and give her the message from the Hostess. For the first time since she entered my office, I see her teeth and understand why the orthodontist wants her as a patient. She has the most spectacular set of 'British' teeth I have ever seen. They're slightly too big for her mouth and all are just a bit out of alignment.

While I'm trying to figure out a way to politely ask all the questions I have going through my mind, the Hostess walks through my door and says, "I think you are going to enjoy having your new assistant around. As soon as I saw her resume, I knew she was perfect for the job."

Then she turns to the new assistant I didn't know I was hiring and says, "Why don't you properly introduce yourself to him and answer a few of the questions I know he is having a hard time trying to find a way to ask without being impolite. I also have a few I would like to ask, but I'm not allowed to ask them, so maybe we can get together sometime and have coffee."

My new assistant smiles at me and I get another good look at her mouth. "My name really is Bertha Goodebotton as it says on my application, but I prefer Birdy. I was born in London, but we moved around a lot because of my father's job and I never was able to get my teeth fixed on the NHS plan because we moved so often. I've been into gymnastics since I was a little girl and studied ballet whenever I had a chance."

Then she lifts the left side of her skirt a little and the bottoms of her metal legbraces comes into view. "I saw you watching me as I sat down. I find it easier if I wear long skirts until people get to know me. A group of us were on the train to a competition when there was an accident. The rest of the group was close to the front of the train when the accident occurred and were uninjured. I was at the back stretching my legs and was one of the few with more severe injuries. A heavy goods lorry ran through a barrier and hit the last car, derailing it."

She takes a pause to sip from the bottle the Hostess hands her, then continues with, "My left knee had to be rebuilt and I was told I probably wouldn't walk again. I proved them wrong, though I do need the legbrace to be able to walk. My left leg is shorter than the right and I wear heels to make up for the difference. The alternative is to wear shoes with a built-up heel and sole, which I don't think is appealing."

"My right leg is fine most of the time, but they made me a legbrace from it as well while I was in the hospital. While I was learning how to walk again, I kept spraining my right ankle and it was simpler and cheaper to have me wearing a legbrace than to keep delaying my recovery every time I sprained it." She taps her left leg near her upper thigh and says, "This one is a full-length brace and supports my entire leg. The one on my right leg goes from below my knee to my shoe."

She smiles at both of us and asks, "Does that cover most of your questions?" Then she looks at me and says, "Your question about braces threw me off at first because I thought you were asking about my legbraces. To properly answer your questions, I very much want to get my teeth fixed. The orthodontist already has a treatment plan arranged for me and he's told me he will do it the way I want it done."

"I've never considered myself to be disabled, and I don't want to be treated as if I am. I just do some things differently than many people and move a bit slower sometimes."

I grin at her and say, "Welcome to Sparkles, Birdy. I think we are going to get along fine."