Rachel Linton I let him touch them. Like some combination of snake and prehistoric fish, his jaw simply clamps down; like nothing on earth, his saliva sinks in and dissolves. He watches me eat an apple with more bewilderment than appreciation. I try to explain satisfaction. I try to explain why we talk about something having bite , why my favorite song says flash some fang , why the particular configuration of tissue that grows up out of the gum so captures the human imagination. The act of consumption doesn’t do it. They don’t talk about their saliva with the