Give me a bright smile

My bucktoothed boyfriend gave me a welcoming smile at the city’s airport.

I usually go back to my home country once a year, which is the only time I travel by air. Maiyuu meets me in the same place, the right of an escalator, every time.

As I turn on my phone while I wait to collect my bag – a single suitcase, to complement the backpack I take into the plane – I know there will be a message from Maiyuu waiting.

‘I am at the airport, standing in the usual place,’ his message read, which was similar to the one he sent me the year before.

I enjoy returning to the routines of my life in Bangkok. I was looking forward to seeing Maiyuu, with whom I had spoken by phone a day or so before.

Other than email, it was our only contact for the 12 days I was away.

Maiyuu spent most of the time with friends in Sataheep, his birth town in Chon Buri. One friend, Bic the transsexual, took him to see a roadside dental technician, who made him a set of nine false teeth.

All but one of Maiyuu’s front row teeth have fallen out. When he goes outdoors these days, he tries to avoid smiling, to avoid attracting attention to his gaping mouth.

His friends must have felt sorry for him, so took him to the dental technician, who charged a small sum for each tooth. The total bill came to a little over B2,500, but his dental plate looks too perfect and sticks out from his mouth.

When he is at home with me, he takes out his teeth. Before he goes out, he puts them in again. He has yet to learn how to eat with them, so wears them mainly for show.

I know the teeth have given him more self-confidence when he faces the world, but I hope that he is willing to save the money necessary to get proper dentures made.

‘Try not to laugh,’ he said, as he met me in arrivals. I kissed his mouth for the benefit of anyone watching. No one noticed, or if they did, I didn’t care.

‘They look terrific!’ I said excitedly.

I had been looking forward to inspecting his teeth since he told me about them several days before. However, I must confess I was expecting a less conspicuous job.

Maiyuu knows, as I do, that real dentures shouldn’t stick out so much.

‘They are cheap, and are designed for poor people who can’t afford to see the dentist,’ he said cheerfully as we made our way back in the taxi.

We’re not poor, but we have never quite managed to find the money needed to get custom-made dentures crafted and fitted by a dentist.

Now that he knows what’s involved, perhaps we can start the savings plan again.