Tuesday, August 26, 2008

retainers

There was a point, not so deep into the woods, along a narrow dirt hiking path, where you could literally step over the boarder that divided Germany from the USA.

Our friends were igniting fireworks, in celebration of some ill-defined holiday. We were walking down the path to join them; our backpacks were gill-to-gill with fireworks of our own. Mostly stuff that was more show than sound.

We were still a few hundred feet out when we saw the cops swarm them. We took off up the path and ran frantically for Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

We went to the very top of the hill until we found a cabin that belonged to our our German friends. It was a super small cabin - just one room boarded by couches. (There was was no bathroom, so we'd long ago concluded that Germans don't pee.) Our friends were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary with family, so the place was filled. Everyone was sitting.

I had my retainers on, and the family laughed at me as a tried to greet them in their own language Guten tag!!! The retainers fit my teeth tightly, so wasn't easy to get the them off.

They continued to laugh at me.

As soon as I had them off, I apologized. Then we had a long conversation, in crystal clear, un-accented English, about the pros, cons, and pitfalls of wearing retainers.

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