“I have a tooth scraper. How do you cleanyourteeth? They are quite brilliant.”
He hesitated. His teeth looked good, but more than a few weren’t the ones he was born with. Veneers felt like a lot to explain.
She rolled her eyes. “If I learn your mysterious secrets of brushing, will I cause some irreversible twist of fate for the whole of mankind?”
“When you put it like that? No.” He took another sip of tea. The drink was okay, in a way anything that warm and wet was, but he’d kill for a protein shake. “We go see a dentist.”
“Den-tist.” She tasted the unfamiliar word.
“It’s a doctor for teeth. And while sometimes people will get one pulled, for the most part, you go to keep them healthy and in place. There is a team of assistants who clean and polish each individual tooth and a dentist who fixes the harder problems.”
“And so, as people get older, do they keep most of them?”
“Definemost,” he said.
“Half?”
“The majority of people where I’m from keepalltheir teeth, and if not, you can get a fake one put in.”
Her brows knit. “I’ve seen people collecting teeth in the poorer areas, hoping to resell to the richer classes.”
“That seems wrong,” he said.
“It must feel very different here.” She pursed her lips. “I’ll have a tooth scraper located for you as well. But I also can’t help but harbor the ongoing feeling that you must be laughing at us.”
“Why?”
“For how simple we must seem. Your world is so different.”
“That it is, yes.”
“Here, now, a woman’s legal identity is absorbed by her husband upon marriage. They cannot own property, enter into contracts, or control their earnings.”
“Yeah, that’s different in my time.” He sat back in his chair. “Women can own their homes, work in any field, and do whatever they want with their money.”
“A woman can get a job like a man?”
“Yes.”
Her brows perked up. “And earn the same amount?”
“Well, no, not always.” He swung his gaze to his plate. “Women often don’t get paid the same.”
“That is odd. In America, you have presidents. How many have been women?” she inquired.
“None.”
Her smile dimmed. “Your country was formed in the eighteenth century and you’ve not had a woman rule even one time?”
“I mean, when you put it that way...” He trailed off sheepishly.
“What other way is there?” she challenged. “What about your sports job? Do ladies do it?”
He brightened. “Women play hockey, sure!”
“On your team?” she pressed.
“No, no. I’m with the NHL, the National Hockey League.”
