To Tell the Tooth

This is a true story.

Possibly the truest story ever told.

My son is now all grown up

but when he was a little snot goblin child

he always did the strangest things.
For no apparent reason
other than to see me freak out.

One day I got a call from his preschool teacher

that I needed to come and pick Daniel up

because he had fallen and cut his lip.

When I got to the school

he was sitting there with an ice bag on his face.

And his shirt was covered in blood.

I asked him what had happened

and he said that he fell on the sidewalk

and his tooth cut his lip.

"Let me see", I said pulling the ice away.

The lip was bloody and swollen

but didn't look too bad.

I looked inside his mouth and his front teeth

had obviously been hit pretty hard

because they were starting to turn black.

I got him into the car

and rushed to the dentist.

I asked him several times on the way

if his teeth were hurting.

He said no, they weren't.

I got to the dentist

and told the receptionist that we needed

to see the dentist immediately.

She asked if we had an appointment because

they were extremely busy that day.

I told her we did not but that it

was an emergency.

I showed her Daniel's teeth and she

asked him if his teeth hurt.

He told her that they did not.

She then went back to get the dentist.

When the dentist finally got in to see him,

he wasn't very happy that he had to

arrange his schedule to accommodate my child,

which ticked me off.

This was a flipping emergency!

He looked at his blackened teeth
and said, "Ouch, that looks like it hurts!"

Daniel told him that no, it didn't hurt.

The dentist left the room saying something about

getting some xrays.

I sat alone with my poor baby boy

still wearing his bloody shirt.

I told Daniel,

"I don't know why your teeth don't hurt.

They're turning black."

Daniel smiled at me and said,

"I colored 'em wif a pencil."

"WHAT!!!"

"I colored 'em wif a pencil when I got to school."

We left under the pretense of

being upset with the entire staff, stating,

"We'll find a dentist who cares!"

as I pulled Daniel out the door.

And then I called the insurance company

and changed our dentist. 

The End

Holly

xxx-ooo