Unravel

Photo by Joeyy Lee on Unsplash

“It’s tricky,” Steph said as she tried to unknot her necklace chain. “I don’t understand how they even get knotted like this.”

“It’s like the knots breed when you put your chains away,” Bert said, looking up from his tablet. “Here, let me try.”

Steph handed the tangled mess to her stepbrother with a sigh. “It kind of is.”

Bert set to work, methodically working through the knots. “My mom always insisted it’s all in the way you hold your teeth—whatever that was supposed to mean.”

“Untangling necklaces?” Steph thought it sounded weird, but she didn’t want to say so, knowing Bert’s mom was a sensitive subject. Their relationship had been strained and Bert hadn’t answered her phone call the night before she died. He still felt guilty.

“Doing anything hard.”

As the final knot came loose, Steph watched Bert’s mouth relax. With a smile, he handed her necklace back. “All fixed. Maybe you should hang them up instead of putting them in the jewellery box.”

“Maybe,” Steph answered. “You know, there may be something to your mom’s saying.”

“Or maybe I’m just better at undoing knots.”

“You hold your mouth a certain way when you’re really focused, Bert. I think that’s what she meant.”

Bert’s smile disappeared.

Steph’s stomach fell as she realized she’d stepped in it again. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” Bert’s smile returned. “I just kind of get tied up in knots myself when it comes to her.”

Steph plopped down on the sofa beside him. “Maybe if you talk about it, you can unravel those knots too.”

Bert looked sideways at Steph. “Maybe. But I think I’ve untied enough for today.”

---

“It’s all in the way you hold your teeth,” was one of my mom’s favorite sayings. I never fully understood exactly what she meant by it. But it inspired this story, and occasionally I find myself using the expression. Are there sayings that were common in your family?