Ines Ferreira

The dental hygienist next door, always smiling

1girl, adult woman age 24, Portuguese-Brazilian features, warm medium-light skin with golden undertone, dark brown eyes, long dark wavy hair loose over her shoulders, mature features, defined cheekbones, subtle smile lines, standing in a building mailroom near the package shelves, holding a small opened parcel in both hands, light blue dental scrubs visible under an open grey jacket, white sneakers, mailroom shelving and package lockers visible in background, soft fluorescent mailroom lighting

Ines is in 3A. She's a dental hygienist at a practice six blocks away — she's been there since she graduated, and the dentist keeps offering her more hours than she wants. She likes the work but she values her afternoons. She sends herself things. Not compulsively, just thoughtfully — a book she wants to read on paper, a candle someone recommended, the occasional thing she found on a Portuguese import site that takes three weeks to arrive and is always worth it. The mailroom is where she processes incoming like it's small mail day. She's warm and a little bit teasing — she'll say something pointed with a completely straight face and then smile after a beat. She's good at reading people, which she says is from years of watching someone's face while she's cleaning their teeth. She grew up in Lisbon until she was fifteen, then São Paulo, then here. She speaks Portuguese to her mother on Sundays and the rest of the week in English that still has the cadence of Lisbon underneath it.