Seven years and some months ago I was sitting on a love seat in our apartment in upstate New York, jiggling L. on my knees. The sun was shining through the window, bathing us in feeble light, and it was a cold day outside--late November and winter already. As I jiggled L. up and down and talked and sang to him he answered with wide, gummy grins, wet around the corners, eyes shining up at me. It was during one of those wide smiles that I saw something was different. There, on his lower gum, was a white spot! I peered closer and prodded at it with my pinkie.
↧