Sidewalk

She told the doctor not to touch her. “I’m going to bite you!” she cried through her clenched teeth.
Later, when her boyfriend noticed the scar on under the left side of her jaw, he asked, “How did your parents handle it?”
“What do you mean?” she said. “They took me to urgent care.”
“No, I mean, were they upset.”
They weren’t. They were never upset outwardly. She demanded their calm, hysterical as she was.
“I was the opposite,” he said. “My mom would cry and I’d have to tell her, ‘It’s all right, I’m going to be fine.’”
The doctor managed to cut away the stitches on her jaw without her attack. It was a bike accident, training wheels and all. One wheel caught in the grass, pushing against the edge of the sidewalk as she tried to move forward. A silent moment of shock and then the high wails of an otherwise shy child.