It’s Stupid That Adults Are Afraid to Tell Each Other These Truths

You have a little something on your–

Jill Francis
6 min readAug 24, 2022
Woman in a bathroom mirror using a tooth flosser.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki

One night about a week ago, my husband and I were taking a stroll around town after dinner and we ran into friends that we haven’t seen in a while. While exchanging greetings, the husband smiled, revealing a canine tooth that was shrink-wrapped in a splendor of verdant foliage. I don’t know if it was basil from his dinner or if he had stuck his face in a philodendron, but it was not subtle. When I say not subtle, I mean like, visible from space. He chatted along, blissfully unaware of his jolly green grill and when he walked away, I turned to hubs and said. “His wife must hate him.”

Think about it. She either saw the situation and ignored it or didn’t look at him long enough to see it at all. Both options are terrible and I couldn’t stop thinking about whether or not they had a huge fight after he eventually glanced in a mirror and noticed that he had smuggled a side dish home from the restaurant.

Sadly, I am pretty sure they didn’t fight at all. Why? Because we are used to the fact that no one tells us the truth. Forget about the Joe-Biden-isn’t-president liars, the climate-change-isn’t-already-happening liars, the women-know-they’re-pregnant-at-six-weeks liars. It’s worse. I am talking about the people you know and…

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Jill Francis

American immigrant in Italy with too many degrees in Psychology. I write about everything I’m afraid of. jillfranciswrites@gmail.com