Dental Daydream

Welcome to The Spot Writers. The prompt for this cycle is to use these words: stain, wax, teeth, spirit, quiet.

This week’s contribution comes from Chiara De Giorgi. Chiara is an Italian author and currently lives in Berlin, Germany. She writes fiction, with a focus on children’s literature and science fiction.

 

Dental Daydream

by Chiara De Giorgi

Created with Canva

 

Elsa Mon, beloved author of paranormal romances, was eating a macadamia nut croissant for breakfast when she felt something crack inside her mouth. She spat noisily into her napkin and realised it was a piece of tooth, not a piece of macadamia nut.

“Oh no”, she groaned. Now she’d have to go to the dentist. She hated going to the dentist, she hated getting her teeth fixed… probably even more than she hated her editor, when she made her cut stuff from the manuscripts she submitted. And she was afraid of her dentist! He always looked angry, as if his patients’ dental problems were an insult to him and his profession. Nevertheless, she called the dentist’s office to make an appointment. Afterwards, she went to the shops downtown to get some insecticide, as she had found cockroaches in the pantry again. Eww! After throwing away all the unsealed food packages, she sprinkled the floor and shelves in the pantry with insecticide powder (it stank so bad that her nose itched all the time, and she touched her face with her hands before washing them, so she got a rash on her cheek that looked like a wine stain), then closed the door and sealed the crack with kitchen towels. Finally, she set about writing.

Her protagonist, Inés, had just been dumped by her fiancé and had vowed to never again allow the seductive charms of magical creatures to enchant her. Her ex was a leprechaun who broke up with her after consulting the family astrologer, who predicted his death if he married Inés.

 

Inés had cried her last tears over her ex-fiancé, Cal O’Whiskey. He was not worth it. If a magical creature wasn’t willing to die for the sake of her love, then she was certainly better off without him. She looked in the mirror and thought she needed a change to enter this new phase of her life. Not a haircut, as they all did. No, she would do something more original: she wanted a diamond set in a tooth. Yes. She would make an appointment with her dentist right away. Inés adored her dentist! He was an ancient spirit and had learned everything he knew directly from the tooth fairy. There was no one better than him to take care of her teeth. Confidently, she made the appointment. Before going to work at the candy factory founded by her great-great-grandfather, Inés indulged in a bath in her antique bathtub with gilded lion feet. She used rose-scented bath salts and threw fairy rose petals - a gift from an old lover - into the tub. The petals twirled delicately and rested on the surface of the water. Around her, a soft musical symphony blended with the quiet of the morning. Water sprites loved her and never failed to delight her with their songs when she took a bath.

 

Elsa closed her laptop and brushed her teeth before going to the dentist. At least he would not complain that she neglected her dental hygiene.

“Welcome, Ms Mon!” Dr Thorn’s assistant, a young punk with a ton of freckles and green hair, let her in. Elsa always found the place a bit creepy, with all those dentures on display and the giant posters of dramatically crooked teeth.

She sat in the dental chair and closed her eyes as Dr Thorn injected anaesthesia into her gums. When she opened her eyes again, Dr Thorn’s face was only a few centimetres from hers. It looked strange, slightly warped. And it wasn’t still, it was swaying, widening and narrowing all the time.

“How funny”, she slurred. Saliva dripped down her chin. Anaesthesia was kicking in.

“Be silent”, ordered Dr Thorn.

The green-haired boy emerged from behind the lamp above her head. His face was also deformed. He looked like a frog! Elsa laughed and accidentally spat on Dr Thorn, who was not amused.

“Rinse your mouth”, he told her sharply while wiping his face.

Elsa took the plastic cup Frog-boy was offering and tried to rinse her mouth, but she had no control of her muscles and the blue liquid trickled down her clothes and onto the chair.

Dr Thorn groaned, but stayed calm and simply told her: “We are done. Don’t eat for two hours. If you are thirsty, drink water.”

Soon, Elsa was home and threw herself on the couch for a nap. When she awoke three hours later, she felt a bit disoriented, but the anaesthesia had worn off and she made tea before sitting down to go on writing Inés’ story. She lit a candle to create the right atmosphere. She placed it on the table but some wax dripped onto the laptop keyboard. Precisely, on the ‘x’ key. She tried it a couple of times, it didn’t work.

“I’ll just skip ‘x’ words for tonight”, she mumbled. “This is a problem for tomorrow.”

 

Inés entered Dr Scrubs’ studio and was welcomed by his assistant, a young frog-boy named Joey Jumpey. In the showcases, resting on red velvet cushions, stylish vampire teeth with canines of varying lengths were on display.

“Dr Scrubs had an emergency and had to leave”, Joey Jumpey croaked. “Dr Toothpick is going to replace him.”

Inés frowned and was about to reply that she would wait for Dr Scrubs to return, thank you very much, when Dr Toothpick appeared in the doorway. He was the most handsome goblin she had ever seen. His skin presented a variety of green hues that made him look spontaneously elegant, and his flapping ears swayed as if following a music that only he could hear. Inés followed him, mesmerised, and sat in the dental chair. As the charming goblin set a tiny diamond in one of Inés’ upper incisors, he held his orange eyes in her chestnut brown ones and chatted amiably with her. She quickly forgot the vow she had made that morning, not to fall for another magical creature. But deep inside she felt that the dentist goblin was her destiny. Yes, she thought, he really is the one! Why else would we be meeting right now, by sheer coincidence? I have been manufacturing candies all my life and he is a dentist… I will send him a lot of patients, and we will live a life full of love, sweetness, and wealth. If this is not destiny… then what is it?

 

Elsa sighed. It was so beautiful, so easy to imagine Inés’ life in a supernatural world. It always seemed a mere step away from her own. Wasn’t she using her own life as inspiration to tell Ines’ adventures, after all? Elsa would meet her goblin prince, too, sooner or later. Didn’t they say that you attract into your life what you focus on the most?

The candle was almost completely used up. She closed her laptop. Time to go get rid of the corpses of the cockroaches.

 

During the night, a postcard was slipped into the mail slot on the front door of Elsa’s house. It lay on the carpet waiting for her to find it in the morning. It was an invitation. It said:

‘My dearest Elsa,

wouldn’t it be nice to meet under different circumstances from when I handle syringes, pliers, or a dental drill and you drool and spit? I am convinced that a dinner for two would be a good opportunity to get to know each other. What do you say? I hope you’ll like the idea.

Yours, Victor Thorn’

Elsa picked up the postcard before her morning coffee, read it, and was sure that she was still dreaming. But when the coffee cup was empty, the postcard was still there. A smile appeared on Elsa’s lips.

 

*****

The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/