Marcy had a too-big nose. And when I say she had a too-big nose I don't mean that as soon as you saw her, you'd think, "Wow, what a large nose," but the largeness of her nose was something you had to notice over time. However, once you noticed it, you could not un-notice it, and you were forever thereafter aware of the fact that Marcy had a too-big nose.
The rest of her was average size. Nothing was wrong with Marcy. I didn't think of a too-big nose as something negative in and of itself but I also never told her that she had a too-big nose. Marcy was too sensitive, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings. In a strange way, I liked her, and I wanted her around from time and time, but I thought that if I pointed out her too-big nose she would never walk in, nose-first, again.
But once she made a comment about my teeth, and I thought she might've been joking but I was not sure, and in any case I was mad she had said anything about my teeth at all. I already knew they were big and did not need her to tell me, but she did, and so I said, "Well, what about your big nose?" And she touched her nose but said nothing again that day.
She did not stop coming to see me, but everything we said after that had a strained quality to it, and she never quite looked at me nose-on again. However, I still often look at her nose, whether we are talking or not, and I believe she is always looking at my teeth. And I have begun to wonder if it is not that her nose is too big but that her face is too small.