Bad Teeth Bradley's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

Bradley sat in a chair near the window and watched the woman in the pink vest pack up her candy display across the street. His hands had stopped shaking. The waiting room smelled like mint and something sharp that made his eyes water a little. A man in a gray jacket sat down next to him. Bradley didn't look up, but the man kept staring. Finally he spoke. "You're the one who leaves the wrappers," he said. He pulled something from his pocket — a crumpled pile of candy wrappers, pink and yellow and blue, twisted into bright little knots. "Found these all over the trail behind my house. Same ones you've got falling out of your coat right now." Bradley looked down. Three wrappers had slipped from his pocket onto the floor, the colors catching the light. His face went hot. The man wasn't angry, just tired. "My kids collect them," he said. "They think someone's leaving treasure. But I know what they really are." He dropped the wrappers on the chair between them and walked to the coat rack by the door, hanging his jacket on one of the curved hooks. Bradley stared at the pile of wrappers. He recognized every color — the pink twists from the sour ones, the yellow squares from the lemon drops, the blue spirals he'd eaten yesterday. Or maybe last week. He couldn't remember. But someone else did. Someone had been collecting the pieces of him he left behind, turning his problem into their kids' game. He reached for his pocket, felt the candies there, smooth and waiting. His hands didn't shake when he pulled them out — five of them, all different colors. He walked to the trash can by the door and dropped them in, one by one. They made small tapping sounds against the plastic. The man watched him from across the room but didn't say anything. Bradley sat back down and pushed the wrappers from the chair onto the floor with his foot. His pocket felt light and wrong, like he'd forgotten something important. But when the woman behind the desk called his name, he stood up without reaching for more candy first. The man nodded once, small and quick, and Bradley walked through the door to the back.