This morning, while Joe was napping, I burnt some bacon, set off the smoke alarms. He woke up crying and confused, what was that sound and what are ears and was I sleeping, and WHAT IS BACON and WHY DO I NOT HAVE TEETH? I held him for a while until he stopped crying, and then I cried. Because bacon? No, parts were salvageable. Because it was the first time I’d scared him. Because loud sounds wake us up and that’s the world, sometimes they’re there to protect us but sometimes they’re the danger, and I can’t protect him from them. Because there are things I can’t truly protect either of us from. He lay against me, growing teeth.