The Severis Tales 9: Elcra Needs a Dentist

The Severis Tales
9: Elcra Needs a Dentist
(C)2021.2 Patrick Rivers

There are times in our lives when we have that one moment of panic, a moment where our brains forget how to work or figure a problem that arises at a terrifying and sudden moment. Our conscience goes, “What the hell do I do now?” We struggle to come up with a solution to the problem at hand, almost certain to come up with nothing. This is certainly true when the said problem has occurred before; we fear the outcome because we revisit that terrifying memory for said solution.

A similar incident occurred on the morning of Wendel, the tenth of Jus, 1104, at the Winterbottom farmstead. Elcra and her parents—Berton and Clara Winterbottom—sat at the table, eating breakfast as usual. A typical Winterbottom breakfast includes muffins or bagels with creamy oatmeal, served either with water or a hot cup of coffee or tea on the side. Bread is an important staple of the Winterbottom family—after all, their farm is one of the major suppliers of wheat and oats in the east end of Barlett, serving many cafes and shops, including Barlett College.

And so, the morning went on as usual. Elcra took a bite out of a hard piece of bread, followed with a spoonful of oatmeal, followed by another bite of hard bread, then followed by more of that delicious oatmeal. She went for that last one bite of hard bread, and that was when she felt something most unusual. A feeling most unpleasant, one that felt like a bolt of lightning flowing through the ride side of her face and into her shoulder, as if a nail was driven into her mouth. She dropped the spoon into her oatmeal and threw her hands up to her mouth in horror.

Berton looked up at his daughter. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Said Elcra nervously, “Nothing! Why, does it look like something’s wrong?” She lied because she did not want to tell the truth, the terrible truth that she had not been taking care of her teeth. Now, she is paying the price for her self-betrayal. She abruptly got up and pushed in her chair. “Excuse me,” she said, running off to the bathroom.

“What was that about?” Berton said to Clara.

Clara rested her head in her hand. She looked over at Elcra’s bowl of oatmeal. And there it was—the broken tooth, shining like a jewel in the morning sunlight. “Uh-oh,” she blurted. Of course, she predicted the events to come, adding, “How long has it been?”

“Uh-oh indeed,” he said simply, staring wearily at the empty chair.

#

Elcra pulled the lower right of her cheek and gazed into the bathroom mirror. It was a proper shiner, the black eye of broken teeth. The cavity formed on the base on her lower gum. It was already on its way out—it was the piece of bread that finally broke it apart, and mammy did it hurt! She breathed in, and the air moved past the broken tooth, causing her to howl and cry with pain.

This was it, the moment she dreaded since she was six years old. “Oh my god, what do I do now?” she screamed into the mirror. “Stupid Elcra, how are you going to fix this?”

Now, the obvious solution, even on a world of lesser medical and technological levels like Algenon, the procedure is similar here, on Earth—you see a dentist. If you or I get a cavity, we get a filling and some medicine. Professional dentists of Algenon use drills and freezing and other anesthetic to ensure the process is smooth and painless. We pay an invoice at the end, thank the doctor, and be on our way.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for poor Elcra. She got her first cavity when she was six years old. Berton took her to see the resident east end dentist, Doctor Tenpoth Landley, a bipedal dragon who specializes in teeth and gums for the elves and dragons and half-dragons of Algenon. Dr. Landley is an expert in his field, and he has come a long way since he immigrated from the other side of the world over forty years ago, arriving in Caldore with as little as twenty words of English in his vocabulary.

Elcra’s memory of her visit is still fresh in her mind—her imagination ran wild, and she put up a real fight with the good doctor. Though her tooth was fixed, Dr. Landley put the fear of the gods into her. She has not been back since, promising herself to take care of her teeth forever, and to never, ever find herself in that dreaded dentist chair again.

Indeed, Elcra kept her teeth in pristine condition; but recently that has changed. Now, twenty-one days before her twenty-first birthday, she is facing the ultimate test: either fix the tooth herself, or face Tenpoth Landley and her phobia of dentistry.

Clara knocked on the bathroom door. “Elcra?”

Elcra opened the door and peered through. “It hurts,” she wept.

Clara pulled her mouth wide open and examined the broken tooth herself. “My goodness, that is bad! I know you don’t want to see a dentist, but you need to have that fixed!”

Elcra blushed. “I do?” she said.

“Of course,” said Clara, nodding intently. “Your father is on his way to see Dr. Landley to schedule an appointment while he goes about his meetings.”

Said Elcra with her eyes closed and with expected arrogance, “I don’t need a dentist. I can take care of this on my own.”

Now, Clara normally lets her daughter do whatever she pleases, but within reason. Sometimes, she questions how she brought up her only child. This time, she was having none of it. None of that stubbornness for the sake of a broken tooth.

She raised a curious eyebrow. “Oh, really, now? Don’t be silly, child,” she said in a firm, direct and authoritative tone. “Listen here—there ain’t no magic cures or potions that will fix that tooth. It will get infected. You need to see Dr. Landley, and you are going to see him. No excuses!”

Elcra whined. “But…”

Clara burst through the door. “I said, no excuses!” She mixed up a tonic of warm, salty water and placed it firmly in Elcra’s hand. “Now, swish this around your wound. It will keep the dirt out and calm the pain while you wait for your appointment.”

Elcra became agitated. The irrational fear of the dentist and now the fear of time itself has gotten to her head. She put the glass on the sink, curled up onto the floor, then cried. “Leave me alone!” she snapped back.

Clara obliged and left, closing the door behind her. She listened in, and, amid Elcra’s weeping, heard the gargling of the warm salt water, followed by the solution falling into the sink. Good girl, she thought. Elcra can be stubborn, but Clara is her mother, and she knows how to get through. As she went down the stairs, she thought of all the stress and drama that would follow if Elcra, her only child, were to perish over such a trivial obstacle like a broken tooth.

Like Elcra, Clara is strong-willed and strong-minded, but incredibly stubborn. Though she would never suffer over the agony of such an emergency, she remembers being plenty difficult to deal with when she had arguments with her parents over trivial things. She simply shook her head and shuffled down the stairs, her dark brown hair bouncing over her head with every forceful step.

 #

The dinner table was lonely without Elcra. Her cheek swelled as the night progressed, becoming very irritable and rude to her parents and the other farm employees. She also lost her appetite—Clara brought her a soft dinner of mashed potatoes and soft bread on a tray and left it at her bedroom door. She also fixed a get well soon card to the door and left her in peace. While the card disappeared from the door, the food stayed on the tray.

Later on, Clara was sitting on the sofa in the sitting room, depressed. Initially, she was not so bothered about her daughter’s predicament, but as the hours waned by, her mood sulked and she became worried, even teary-eyed. Elcra always did what her parents asked of her. Perhaps it is the fact she is growing older and her attitude is changing. Perhaps what is bothering her is the innocence of childhood slowly unwrapped by the passage of time. They are too busy running the farm these days—Elcra is their only child; they cannot afford to bring up another, and after consideration of today’s events, that pained her the most.

Berton, back from his meetings with their customers, sat down next to Clara with two cups of hot chocolate. “How are you doing?” he asked her.

“Terrible,” she replied. Clara reached over and took her husband’s arm. “I cannot imagine how she feels right now. She hasn’t eaten since this morning, and she won’t come out of her room. And now, that she refuses to go to the dentist out of fear…I just don’t know,” She put her head on her husband’s shoulder. “Did you make an appointment?”

“I did,” he said, putting his cup on the coffee table. “Nine o’clock on Fridas. He cleared his schedule the moment he saw me walk through the door. He remembers from the last time.”

Clara looked up, puzzled. “But that was you. You cried through your entire appointment!”

“I was in pain! You try getting a horse’s hoof across the face!” he protested.

She didn’t smile. Instead, she looked down at the floor. “One way or another, she is going. The consequence is not worth thinking about.”

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.

“Who could that be at this time of the evening?” she said, getting up to answer the door. When she did, a familiar face smiled back. “L-Leena?”

It was indeed Leena Severis. She looked curiously over her shoulder and down the path to the road. “Was there someone else you were waiting for?” she asked.

Said Clara, shaking her head, “No, sorry. Just having a bad night, that’s all. What can I do for you?”

Leena held up a dark rectangular-shaped pouch. “I just came by to bring you this. It’s the deposit we owe you.”

“Thank you,” Clara said, taking the bag.

“How is Elcra doing?” asked Leena.

Clara unexpectedly wiped a tear from her eye. “Stubborn as usual,” A second later, they heard a muffled but very colourful expletive from Elcra’s bedroom. “See?”

Leena was understandably sympathetic. “Poor girl. What she needs is some good sleeping powder to knock her out. A good night’s sleep will give her a chance to relax,” she said, scratching her chin. “Sometimes I need the stuff myself, otherwise I get cranky at my own customers.”

The embittered farmer shook her head. “I know what you mean…wait, what?” The idea hit her like Elcra’s toothache. An idea so devious and risky, it may just work. May the gods and goddesses of Algenon forgive her, but she is desperate, not just for well-being of her daughter, but for her own sanity. She smiled inanely at Leena, then she giggled.

Leena raised a suspicious eyebrow. She did one of those maneuvers cats do where try to keep their eye on you while they snap their head back to look at another potential threat. “Why…why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

Clara stepped aside. “Please come in, Leena—Berton and I have something we would like to discuss with you.”

#

Morning broke the next day, and there was panic at the Winterbottom residence. Elcra was nowhere to be seen. Her room was clean, and it looked as if she dressed for a normal day out, normal as if nothing was amiss. It wasn’t normal, as Clara noted while observing the two mismatched socks on the bed.

“Oh my god, Berton—what if she knows? What if she plans to run away?” said the panicked Clara.

“I don’t think she’s going to run off,” he replied. “I’ll go ask the neighbours and see if they saw her. Perhaps she just needed to take a walk, that’s all.”

Clara nodded. “I hope she’s okay. She’s very sick with that tooth.”

#

Mira Hutter was the one who found Elcra in her “ripened” state. She certainly looked as if she dressed on the wrong side of the bed. Her hair was in complete disarray, and her cheek was swollen like a red balloon. She looked dazed and confused—she wandered about aimlessly, as if she was sleepwalking.

“H-hello, Mira. Luv-ley morning, isn’t it,” Elcra mumbled incoherently.

The look of shock on Mira’s face was, understandably, slack-jawed. “Bloody hell, Elcra! No offence, but you don’t look so good,” she said.

“I’m fine! Just a little oozy, that’s all,” she mumbled. “I needed to just get out for a while. Stretch my legs…leggies…legs…”

“No, really, you need help right now,” Mira said, grabbing Elcra’s arm. “I will take you home.”

Said Elcra, submissively, “Um, okay,” She swivelled around and her cheek hit the side of a tree trunk. The expletive which I shall not say was heard across the neighbourhood. Birds flew away in fear. Dogs and cats scattered from their homes and jumped over fences. Mira went momentarily deaf in her ear.

Berton found them five minutes later. Elcra’s swearing gave out her exact location, but Mira kept her promise and went home with them. It was difficult—Elcra stumbled and groaned, and she laughed and cried for no reason. They soon realized her infection was to blame for her behaviour. The lack of sleep and the poor attempt to cure the broken tooth had the prophesied repercussions, and she was now in trouble.

When they got home, Elcra smiled, giggled, then vomited. Mira saw the whole event; she could not help herself, and she too vomited. They convinced Elcra to eat something, and while she was sick with nausea, she felt better. Not only did she feel better, but once Clara helped her clean her tooth, she fell asleep. They thanked Mira for sticking around and said nothing of being sick.

It must be said Clara is not angry with Elcra. Rather, she was relieved that her daughter is safe. Elcra woke up in the evening and they chatted about what happened. Elcra wanted to relieve her frustration and take time away from her tooth, but she wandered too far from home and the delirium set in. It was a miracle she ran into Mira. When Clara enquired about the dentist, Elcra still refused. With the plan in hand, Elcra will not have to worry about it anymore.

#

Fridas morning. Dentist day. As expected, Elcra reaffirmed her decision and went about eating her oatmeal, albeit carefully and slowly. Clara and Berton pretended nothing was different, and they ate in peace, while Elcra remained silent. Although Dr. Landley gave them permission for this plan, he had not asked how she would cooperate. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to ask.

No one was feeling as shameful as Clara, however. She convinced Leena Severis to give her the sleeping powder. Her guilt was most noticeable as Elcra bobbed back and forth, her eyes pointing in different directions. She mumbled something incoherent, and that was that. Berton watched in awkward silence as Elcra’s hair whipped over the table as her face splashed into the cold oatmeal.

It was too late to say anything now—they cleaned up Elcra and brought her to the carriage on the side of the road where Dr. Landley waited. Clara watched them gallop down the road and into town. I’m going to have to confess this at the Deacon Church, I reckon, she thought. Forgive me, Elcra, but this is the only way. With a heavy sigh, she went back inside and tended to the farming business at hand.

#

Elcra had a terrible nightmare. Deep, demonic voices laughed at her as she tried to escape the darkness. She screamed for help, but no one answered. An endless maze of artwork of bad teeth and infected gums, Elcra would distance herself from the laughter, and just when she felt safe, the over-imagined grotesque figure of Dr. Tenpoth Landley with his large syringes and gruesome drills would swing around the corner, forcing her to run away again. After all this running, she thought she had seen the exit of this terrible dream, when the ground gave out beneath her, causing her to fall into the abyss that was her broken tooth, never to be heard from again.

Then she woke up, her heart pounding like a hummingbird.

In a panic, Elcra turned her head in all directions to see where was. She had no clue. Though the pain vanished in her gums, she was drowsy and sweaty, and, as she discovered, she could not speak properly. That is when she realized what happened—Dr. Landley got her, and he is going to experiment on her, just like the last time!

It became clear in her muddied mind she had to escape and tell the authorities about his activities. He must be stopped! Fortunately, she could move. That stupid old fool—he forgot to tie me down! She quietly slipped out from the dentist chair. Peeking around the corner, she watched Dr. Landley and his assistant talk. When both their backs were turned away, she made a run for it. Dr. Landley’s assistant gasped and pointed as Elcra bolted out the front door and out to freedom.

“Berton! She escaped!” Dr. Landley exclaimed.

Berton threw his feet off the coffee table in the waiting room. “What?” he shouted.

They poured out of the office and searched the nearby streets and alleys. Elcra was nowhere to be found.

“What happened?” Berton asked. “Why did she wake up?”

“Did you see the look on her face?” said Dr. Landley’s assistant.

“It must be a reaction to the anesthetic and whatever you gave to make her sleep,” said Dr. Landley. “We need to find her! Oh, my old, dusty head—this is going to finish my career!”

From atop a small shed, Elcra watched as the three split up to search. “She escaped, that is what he said,” she said to herself. “I must go!”

#

Friends come into our most desperate times of need at the most unexpected of places. Whether those friends will help is a different story. Elcra’s best friend is Janessa Vendyor, niece of Brackneed Vendyor, the arrogant shop owner in the west end, and whether or not she likes it, she has become part of this story. She, along with friend and schoolmate Terrence Howard, spent the late morning and past lunch time with nothing else better to do than walk around. They were doing what friends do on a boring spring day: not much at all. They spent an hour alone on coffee and bagels before doing a little window shopping.

Janessa, of course, was the one to encounter the delirious and bug-eyed Elcra Winterbottom hiding in the shrubbery at the front of the ice cream shop while she waited for Terrence. She knew it was Elcra by her platinum-coloured hair sticking out of the green shrub like tinsel on a Christmas tree. Curiosity got the best of her, and when she moved over to investigate the shrubbery, Elcra stood up, causing Janessa to emit a loud squeal-like shriek. “What…Elcra? What the hell are you doing?” she screamed.

The cheek-swollen Elcra was pumped full of adrenaline, and she was very paranoid. “You didn’t see me! Don’t tell them I’m here, or they will take me away! I must get out of here!” she said with frantic pace. She then looked to the left and the right. “If he finds me, he will operate on me!”

Janessa squinted. “Who will operate on you? You aren’t making any sense! Why are you talking like that?” She did not know what was going on. It was clear Elcra was not herself; but, before she could say anything else, Elcra jumped out of the shrub and backed away slowly, her arms up in a defensive position. She claimed Janessa to be one of Landley’s henchwoman and would never submit. Elcra then disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

There was only one thing Janessa could do.

“Terrence!”

She screamed his name at the top of her lungs. Terrence flew out of the shop with two ice cream cones in hand, which he nearly dumped onto Ms. Vendyor. “What? What’s wrong?” he said, panting as he pushed his black square-framed glasses up the bridge of his nose with the back of his hand.

“I just saw Elcra. She’s weirded out. Something’s wrong, and we need to find her!” she said, mumbling, “What about Dr. Landley?”

“What about who? Hey!” said Terrence as he ran after her.

#

Meanwhile, Elcra ran through many alleyways until there was no one around. She ran so fast she had to stop to rest and assess the situation. Before you continue, you must understand what Elcra is experiencing. In her mind, Dr. Landley is attempting to kidnap her and torture her or use her for experimentation. In reality, she is having a psychological reaction to the anesthetic and Leena Severis’ sleeping powder. With her overactive imagination and traumatic childhood experience, her mind produced a surreal fantasy she believes to be real, yet a fantasy no one was prepared to act out.

Then, to add to the illusion, something totally unexpected happened. Something that only could exist in a fantasy—or rather, in this case, a fantasy inside a fantasy. As Elcra slid down the side of a building to catch her breath, something near to her let out a little murmur.

Hey.

Elcra looked up. “Huh? Who said that?”

Over here. Look down.

She obliged. Sat next to her was the lid of a metal trash can. It had a metal mouth, and it was talking to her. “I can help you escape, you know?” it said.

“How so?” she asked. It never occurred to Elcra to question the fact she was conversing with an inanimate object.

“I know what is happening. I know where to go and I know who is behind it all. I can help you escape! What do you say, pal?” said the trash can lid.

Elcra examined the object. It had a voice she did not recognize, yet seemed so familiar. She picked up the lid by the handle and brandished it like a shield. “I accept,” she said bravely.

“Aw, yeah,” drawled out the trash can lid.

“Say, what’s your name?” asked Elcra.

“My name’s Bob. Bob the Trash Can Lid.”

Elcra stood up and held Bob close to her chest. “Alright, Bob—show me the way!”

#

As Berton, Dr. Landley and his assistant searched one side of town, Janessa and Terrence searched the other. She told Terrence of Dr. Landley and Elcra’s fear of dentists and how it connects. They searched everywhere, even the places she knew Elcra uses as shortcuts or to get to out of reach places. Like the former party, they had no success.

Said Janessa, furious, “I don’t get it. Where could she run off to?”

“If she is delusional, she may be provoked and do something violent,” said Terrence. “She does deliveries for her farm, right? It’s safe to assume she knows where to hide.”

“Well, yeah, she delivers to customers in the east end,” Janessa said. She said it as if she was annoyed with his response. “Anyway, what do we do now?”

“Maybe we should contact the police,” he suggested. Janessa agreed.

The answer came a few moments later in the sound of clashing metal and arguing.

Janessa tilted her head toward the source. Her high ponytail stayed still as her pointed elf ears picked up a familiar voice. “That sounds like Elcra…and…Leena Severis?”

“Larry’s mum?” Terrence said dumbly, prompting Janessa to snap back with “Who else?”

They followed the noises until they came across a large lawn near a row of houses. Backed against a red mail box was Leena, rightfully frightened but holding her place; while Elcra, standing only a few feet away, brandished Bob in her direction.

“Stand back, you!” Elcra shouted. “Don’t you come near me!”

“Mrs. Severis, what the hell is going on?” Janessa barked.

“How the hell should I know?” Leena barked back, casually ducking Elcra’s weak swings and evading Bob’s strike zone. “She had some sleeping powder so Dr. Landley could safely operate on her tooth. I guess it didn’t go so well.”

“Bob says you gave me the powder,” said Elcra. Exhaustion was starting overcome her, and she began to wobble.

“Who is Bob?” Again, a rather redundant question posed by Terrence.

Janessa squinted at him. “It’s the trash can lid, you pillock!”

“It’s true, Elcra,” Leena said in a calm but steady voice. “You’d eventually die if you don’t get that tooth fixed. Your mother put the powder in your oatmeal. When you fell asleep, your father brought you to Dr. Landley. They had no other choice because you left them with no other choice.”

Elcra stopped in her place, then lowered Bob to her side. “Oh, I see,” she said. Her voice was sluggish; she was fading in and out of consciousness. “I don’t feel well, Mrs. Severis. Please take me home.”

Leena took half steps toward Elcra intending to disarm her, when Bob suddenly said, “Elcra! Don’t let her take me!”

As if on command, Elcra woke up and glared at Leena with all the wrath she could muster. Poor Leena—she tried so hard to move out of the way. The sound made by the lid striking her across the face was remarkable, as was the look of her face when Bob cleared away.

Janessa and Terrence gasped in horror as Leena wobbled back and fell to her knees, shout “Why?” at Elcra, then falling backward onto the grass, out cold.

Elcra dropped Bob onto the grass. She gazed in terror at Leena’s unconscious and swollen face. “Oh, my goodness—what have I done? Ow, my tooth!” She grabbed her cheek. Reality took over from fantasy. The effects of the sleeping agent and freezing wore off, ending her episode in spectacular form, collapsing onto the ground, and falling fast asleep.

#

Elcra woke up about half past seven in the evening. Her mouth was no longer numb, and the pain returned in full. She cried out at the point she realized it, and a moment later, Clara walked in.

“You’re finally awake, sleepy-head!” she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“What happened?” Elcra asked. Though aware of her surroundings, the only thing she remembered was eating oatmeal at breakfast, then waking up in her bed.

“You had an episode brought on by the anesthetic and sleeping powder. We were worried sick. Your friend found you, but it was too late,” said Clara.

“Too late for what?” asked Elcra. When she asked, the fog lifted from her mind, revealing a picture book-like sequence of a face, the face of Leena Severis as a metallic disc-like object held by her own hand slugs her in the face. When she remembered the whole thing, Elcra gasped and cried.

Clara put her hand on Elcra’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, she’s fine! You gave her quite the smack. Half her face swelled. She may not be in the best of moods right now, but she is fine. Please understand, Elcra, she is not angry with you. If anything, she is angry with herself…and me, a lot of anger at me. Now, how about you?” she said.

“In pain,” Elcra whined. “Why did you do it?”

There was a moment of silence between them. Then, Clara spoke. “Because you are our only daughter, and we did it because we love you, and if you don’t get that tooth fixed by a professional, you could die. Everyone is concerned for your well-being, and we want you to be better,” Clara stood up. “Dr. Landley is waiting at his office. Now, are you going to get going, or not?”

Elcra sniffed. The experience put as much fear and terror into her as it did during her visit as a youngster. Clara is having none of her attitude and will not leave until she gets a satisfactory answer. She is right, however—being continuously stubborn after all that has happened is now ridiculous. It was not worth her own health and the health of her friends and family to go on like this; so, with a reluctant grumble, she gave a slow nod. “I’ll go, but only if someone stays with me in the office while Dr. Landley fixes my tooth,” Elcra said.

“Janessa has agreed to stay with you. She’s waiting outside with your father,” said Clara.

“Thanks, Mom,” Elcra said. Clara gave her a hug of support. Of course, she had to hug the wrong side, putting pressure on Elcra’s right cheek.

Outside, Berton and Janessa stood to attention as Elcra’s swearing flooded their ears. “How rude,” Janessa simply said. Berton nodded in agreement.

#

As promised, Janessa stayed with Elcra through the procedure. It was not the most pleasant experience of her life—not only did she feel embarrassed, but she got firsthand experience what of an infected tooth looks like and how it is fixed. With all the reactive medicine out of her system, Elcra held onto one arm of the chair and squeezing Janessa’s hand with the other as the old country dentist drilled away the bad tooth, cleaned out the infection, then recreate the tooth with new material.

An hour later, they were done. Elcra was rather skeptical as before. She could not speak properly, and the pain was gone, this time for good. She looked at Dr. Landley, then at Janessa’s face of disgust as she drooled on herself.

The three emerged from the operating room. Elcra had two prescriptions in her hand—one for antibiotics to stamp out any remaining infection, and one for pain relief tablets. She looked at Dr. Landley’s erratic handwriting on each slip, wondering if pharmacists know what doctors write on those forms.

“There, see? Nothing to worry about, eh?” the good doctor said to Elcra. She could understand his thick eastern accent, but she couldn’t speak; so, she shrugged. He then turned to Berton, who was chatting to his assistant. “And you, Mr. Winterbottom—you should have told me what kind of sleeping agent you gave her! It could have ended in disaster!”

Berton held his hands up. “Me? Oww!”

Landley’s assistant slapped him on the back of the head with Elcra’s patient file. Usually professional, calm, and courteous, she displayed a most uncharacteristic behaviour when she hit him. “That’s right!” she snapped. Then she slapped Dr. Landley on the back of his head. “And you, Tenpoth Landley—you should have remembered to ask in the first place!” she said to him.

“That hurts!” Dr. Landley whined. His long and thin white dragonish hair flew forward in the smack to the back of the head. He shook himself, then turned to Elcra. “Now, young Miss,” He looked sharply at his assistant for a split second, then turned back to Elcra. “Do you remember what I said?”

“Wub wub perscwub?” Elcra slurred.

“Oh, yes. Remember to take care of that tooth and lay off the sweets. Follow the instructions the chemist gives you. I want you to come back in three weeks so I can check that tooth over. This time, if something goes wrong, please see me before deciding to fix it yourself, alright?”

“Uh-muh oh moo…” Elcra drooled again.

Berton paid up front for the appointment with an extra fee for late evening surgery. “Thanks again, Doc,” he said to the dentist as they left the office. They waved Dr. Landley and his assistant goodbye.

And that was that. Elcra left with a repaired tooth and a lesson taught. The next day, she will apologize to Leena at her shop, in front of Xiveer Severis and Mila Daruginna. Leena was not angry with her—more importantly, she was not angry with Clara. She did it out of love and respect, after all. When all was said and done, there, in the shop, they had a good laugh about it.

On reflection, it made her think of all the things that scared her as a child and how frightening they seem today. To her, it was a terrifying procedure, but it was a procedure that saved her health, and, to an extent, her life. Don’t get her wrong—she still loathes that dentist chair, but after what happened today, she does not feel as terrified of old Dr. Landley and his drills.

But what of Bob the trash can lid? Elcra found it on the lawn where she dropped it. She took it home and mounted it on her bedroom wall. To her, it serves as a reminder of how foolish and bizarre the incident became, and all because of her incredulous attitude. It serves as a token for when she needs Dr. Landley’s services again—she can look upon Bob and draw strength from it. It is an odd keepsake, yes, but one that reminds her of much of us that never changes when we grow older and a little wiser.

~ End ~