Bare Nerves

Part IV

'Rina! Kitchen, NOW!' Dad threw his keys and some shopping bags onto the kitchen table. He clapped his hands loudly, just once, and rubbed them together. I hated when he did that. Not only did the clap always make me jump, but the dry, work-worn skin on his calloused hands made a scratching noise when they rubbed together. That irritated me more than the fright. Rina hurried into the kitchen and Dad lifted a kitchen chair away from the table and put it down next to the countertop by the sitting room door. 'Sit.' he ordered, rifling through the bags on the table. She sat down and nervously scratched her nails on the coarse, jute upholstery. He pulled out a box of disposable latex gloves, a small, brown, glass bottle with a black dropper lid, and a sewing kit. I breathed a sigh of relief. He was just going to use thread to pull the tooth out. I immediately felt my dinner settle better in my nervous stomach. That was short lived.

   Rina sat on the kitchen chair and waited patiently while my dad got everything set up, like a surgeon would, on the counter next to her. The little brown bottle, a spool of white thread and a pair of tweezers from the tool drawer. He put on a pair of the latex gloves and went over to the cooker. He turned on a ring to the highest heat setting and put the tweezers on it.
   'Did you brush your teeth and use mouthwash, like I asked you to?' He forced her head back and her mouth open. He tried to move her jaw so that the overhead light illuminated her mouth.
   'Yes, Dad.' Rina answered as best as she could. She didn't dare try to form her words correctly while he was trying to see her tooth.
   'It's no good. The lighting in here is shite.' Dad roughly let go of Rina's chin with a shove.
   'Joey, hold your phone torch over here, so I can see the fecking thing.'
   'Huh? Yeah, sure. Hang on.' I replied. My heart was pounding. I had an idea. I opened my camera, selected video, and turned on the flash. I didn't really know why. Dad's vibe was just really off. Even more so than usual. I stepped up close to Rina, with my hand covering as much of the screen as I could manage. 'How are you gonna do it, Dad?' I hoped that if he had anything bad planned, and he said it on video, it'd be enough to incriminate him. Then I could try to stop him, before he actually hurt Rina.
   'Well. I've been thinking.' He began, taking his penknife from his pocket and pulling out the pliers. 'What concerns me, is that if we just try to pull the tooth out, it might break in the gum.' As he said this, he gripped Rina's loose tooth with the teeth of the pliers and wobbled it back and forth. Then he took out the blade of his penknife and stuck it under the tooth, prying it upwards slightly. 'Yup. I think we gotta cut it out.' Hearing those words said so casually sent shivers down my spine. I cleared my throat and hoped that my voice didn't shake.
'Oh yeah? With what?' I slowly tilted the camera to try and get Dad's face in the shot, momentarily forgetting that the flashlight was on. Dad flinched and grabbed my phone. I held onto it tight. I tried to maintain eye contact with him. One sideways glance, to make sure my hand was still covering the screen, could tip him off. My heart was in my throat.
'Hold the fucking light right there,' he growled, clenching his teeth. 'LIKE THIS!' he added, twisting my wrist roughly.
'Ow!' I cried out, for the benefit of anyone who would be watching the video.
'Oh don't be such a pussy.' Dad rolled his eyes at me. 'Shit. We'll need a towel. Don't wanna get blood on your school clothes.' Dad wandered off to find an old towel in the airing cupboard. This was my only chance to talk Rina out of co-operating.

'Rina, you can't let him cut your tooth out.' I whispered, quickly.
'It's okay, Joey. Dad says it'll break if he just pulls it.' It was so frustrating that Rina still trusted our Dad, in spite of everything. I bit my lip and dug my fingernails into my palms.
'Fine. If you change your mind, let me know. Scream for me or something.' I thought about what Rina was about to go through and I shuddered. 'I can't watch this. You can hold your own light.'
'No, Joey, please!' Rina grabbed my sleeve. 'Don't leave, I'm scared.' Rina begged, not letting go of my arm.
'Fine. Tap the leg of your chair with your foot if you want it to stop.' I didn't like seeing blood. It made me uneasy and nauseated. However, seeing Rina looking up at me, her eyes wide with fear, I knew I had to stay.

Just then, Dad returned with a threadbare, faded, orange towel and tossed it at Rina's face.
'Tuck it into your shirt collar.' he said, unraveling a length of the white thread and wrapping it around his index fingers like dental floss.
'I thought you said you were going to cut it out?' I asked, puzzled.
'I am.' he said, as he placed the thread behind Rina's tooth and began to slice into her gum with the thread, moving it side-to-side in a flossing, sawing motion. Blood engulfed Rina's mouth, mixing with her saliva and staining her teeth bright red. I imagined the fibres of the thread, creating a burning friction in her already-sore mouth. It made my skin crawl. I kept an eye on Rina, and waited for the signal, but she barely moved. Her hands were gripping so hard to the seat of the chair, that her knuckles had turned white. Blood began to trickle over the top of Rina's lower lip, and down her chin.
'Swallow.' Dad ordered, removing the thread. Rina complied, and Dad went right back to it. I couldn't watch anymore. I just hoped that my phone was still recording. When the thread snapped in Rina's mouth, Dad shook it off his fingers, and unwound a new string from the reel on the counter. He continued on. I couldn't fathom how my little sister was enduring this abuse without making a sound. Just then, Rina let out a soft whimper as Dad suddenly yanked at her tooth. It was out. With slivers of her gums still attached. A fresh flood of red gushed from the wound.
'Swallow.' Dad ordered, again, wiping her face with the shabby orange towel. He snatched up the kitchen tea towel from its spot on the radiator and turned off the cooker. Using the folded tea towel to protect his fingers, he picked up the searing hot tweezers. 'Open wide.' he said, approaching Rina. I gave her foot a nudge with mine, and caught her eye. She shook her head slightly and pulled her foot away. She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, as Dad pulled her cheek further to the side to open her mouth wider.

   The hissing sound of cauterising oral tissue is branded into my memory along with the heartbreaking sound of Rina's stifled scream. I flinched away and gagged in my mouth as the smell of burning flesh reached my nostrils.
   'All done. Now, take a mouthful of this and rinse your mouth out.' He sounded sickeningly cheerful, as he handed her the vial of clove oil. Rina stood up and shuffled to the sink, looking woozy. She cautiously took a small amount into her mouth and immediately spat it out with a groan.
   'Daddy, it burns! Please, it's so gross.' she exclaimed, spitting again.
   'RINSE!' he shouted, waving a hand dismissively. Rina sniffled, and did as she was told. She dry-heaved into the sink and groaned again.
   'Now, sit back down here, so I can see how it looks.' Rina sat back down and I could see the pain and fatigue in her face. 'Nice, neat job. Not bad at all, if I say so myself.' He examined the tooth he had just cut from my sister's mouth. 'Stubborn little cunt.' he grunted, and dropped it into the pedal bin. 'Now, I know there was another loose tooth in there somewhere.' he hummed, poking at Rina's other baby teeth. Rina's eyes flew wide open with panic, and she kicked the leg of her chair frantically. Taptaptaptaptap!
   'No! Stop it, Dad. That's enough.' I said, loudly and fearlessly. Dad ignored me, like he couldn't even hear me. 'Dad? You're done. Leave her alone!' I felt the anger bubbling up in my chest. Again, my father ignored me, so I grabbed onto his wrist with a firm hold. Dad stopped and turned to face me. He stood up straight, towering over me. For the first time in my life, I stood my ground and stared back into his cold eyes with contempt.