(HYBRID PROSE)
BRUSH YOUR TEETH
ANNA WAGNER
BRUSH YOUR TEETH
ANNA WAGNER
Girl Number One still sings in the shower. She loves ballet. She covers up her tummy with baggy t-shirts, and she refuses to wear skin-tight leotards like everyone else in her class. She asks her mother why her thumbs don’t touch when she wraps her hands around her thighs. When she is hungry, she brushes her teeth.
Girl Number Two’s parents are divorced. She lives out of a duffel bag. She steals snacks from the cupboard and eats them in secret. She gets a Wii for Christmas. When she asks for Mario Kart, and LEGO Lord of the Rings, and the Sims, she is handed a Wii Fit and The Biggest Loser. When the girls in ballet call her chubby, she comes home to complete Jillian Michaels’ challenges until her shirt sticks to her back. Her head spins, and her stomach screams, and she brushes her teeth.
A boy in junior high calls Girl Number Three “not fat, just really wide.” And for weeks after, she doesn’t pack a lunch. She eats tic tacs in front of a mirror. Mint fresh like toothpaste. She brushes her teeth before bed and falls asleep praying for a smaller frame. She wakes up just the same and wipes her tears away while she stares into silver glass.
When Girl Number Four is in eleventh grade, she writes a poem for English, turns it in with “sorry” scribbled across the bottom, and gets it back with an A and marks that say, “Suicide is over-explored in high school poetry, but you do it so well.” She wonders why so many teenagers talk about wanting to die. Why she can’t make space between her thighs and why she can’t find anything good to write about. She pins the poem to her fridge and treats herself to hours of eating everything she can find. Her mother comes home late, hugs her before bed, and reminds her to brush her teeth.
Girl Number Five is starting college. She is getting help. She knows Girl Number One and Two and Three and Four like the back of her calloused hand. She has seen their reflections in mirrors and spoons. She has seen their tears drip into toilet water. She has brushed their teeth. She wonders if Girl Number Six will remember them. Love them. Forgive them.
And I do. I do.
Girl Number Two’s parents are divorced. She lives out of a duffel bag. She steals snacks from the cupboard and eats them in secret. She gets a Wii for Christmas. When she asks for Mario Kart, and LEGO Lord of the Rings, and the Sims, she is handed a Wii Fit and The Biggest Loser. When the girls in ballet call her chubby, she comes home to complete Jillian Michaels’ challenges until her shirt sticks to her back. Her head spins, and her stomach screams, and she brushes her teeth.
A boy in junior high calls Girl Number Three “not fat, just really wide.” And for weeks after, she doesn’t pack a lunch. She eats tic tacs in front of a mirror. Mint fresh like toothpaste. She brushes her teeth before bed and falls asleep praying for a smaller frame. She wakes up just the same and wipes her tears away while she stares into silver glass.
When Girl Number Four is in eleventh grade, she writes a poem for English, turns it in with “sorry” scribbled across the bottom, and gets it back with an A and marks that say, “Suicide is over-explored in high school poetry, but you do it so well.” She wonders why so many teenagers talk about wanting to die. Why she can’t make space between her thighs and why she can’t find anything good to write about. She pins the poem to her fridge and treats herself to hours of eating everything she can find. Her mother comes home late, hugs her before bed, and reminds her to brush her teeth.
Girl Number Five is starting college. She is getting help. She knows Girl Number One and Two and Three and Four like the back of her calloused hand. She has seen their reflections in mirrors and spoons. She has seen their tears drip into toilet water. She has brushed their teeth. She wonders if Girl Number Six will remember them. Love them. Forgive them.
And I do. I do.

Anna Wagner is a student at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is studying creative writing and mathematics with a concentration in computational science. She works as a bookseller for Barnes & Noble, a copy editor for the Oracle, and a calculus tutor. This is her first publication, and she is currently working on a chapbook.