She wouldn’t obey. Muscles did what her brain demanded, not the other way around. Or maybe all parts of her would do as they pleased. That nervous squirm shot down her spine and struck between her legs.

Ruby flinched. “What was that?”

Yaya craned her head back. “It’s not my Kegel exercise.”

“This can’t be.” Ruby leaned in again, exploring more carefully. “I’m sorry, bewilderment isn’t very professional.”

“Is it teeth?” Yaya asked. Someone had painted the ceiling an ugly orange.

Ruby took her pregnant pause to late term. “It is. But I shouldn’t be able to tell that from the outset. Embryonic tissue that forms a vaginal dermoid cyst should be covered by more tissue. These are open teeth. Do they hurt?”

“They don’t.” Yaya had to yank her voice out of her throat. The question was terrifying. “Tumors, right?”

Ruby’s fingers pressed folds to each side. “I’m no dentist, but it looks like a full-formed set of teeth. Upper, lower. Incisors, canines, molars—the works.”

Another squirming wave made Yaya clench her toes. Something rippled between her thighs.

Ruby twitched. “And they snapped at me. Control them, please.”

“I don’t know how.” Yaya regretted coming here. She peered down at Ruby, facing the top of her head. “Can you get them out?”

“They aren’t loose teeth, Ms. Betancourt.” Ruby couldn’t stop staring.

“They shouldn’t be able to bite. There shouldn’t be any jaw bone, tendons, muscle—”

“I’d like to close my legs now, if you’ve got your eyeful.”

Ruby slid back and let Yaya slip her legs together from the stirrups. “I’ve never seen anything like this. Genuine vagina dentata is impossible.”

“That’s what everyone says about me. ‘Yolanda, you’re impossible.’ You get used to it.” Yaya twisted off the seat and started pulling off the gown. Ruby and Nurse Nameless could watch if they liked.

Ruby snapped off her gloves. “You don’t have to leave yet,” she muttered.

“I got a whole mouth in my vagina and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Yaya said.

“We’d like to collect samples.” Ruby nodded at the nurse. “Could you get a

work kit? And we’ll want to schedule a blood test across the hall.”

Yaya dug her phone out to check the time. They had already made her wait.

A text message stole her attention. No name, only numbers. Fun last night, I would love to see you again, hope I’m not reaching out too soon. Last’s night hookup must have asked for Yaya’s number, and in her half-drunk haze, she’d given the real thing.

She swiped the text away, eyed the time, and then turned back to Ruby and Nurse Nameless. “I’ll be late for work if I hang around any longer,” she said.

But deep down, she really didn’t want to be touched again.

3

Yaya grinned at Jumpies customers as they stepped into the 24/7 corner store, as if showing teeth while she manned the register might erase the teeth, teeth, teeth chant from her head.