The prodigal patient

Nearly sixteen years ago I left my dentist when my insurance left me.

I spent years brushing and polishing. I gargled gallons of Listerine and even did a little scraping on my own here and there.

But after sixty seven years my baby eye tooth gave up the ghost. I put him under my pillow, but the tooth fairy let me down.

This week things changed.

No the tooth fairy did not come.

I went to the dentist. She pulled out the tiny shard still left in my gum from that baby tooth and offered it to me. She said maybe if I put both pieces under my pillow the tooth fairy would come.

Now I'm looking for a tooth fairy with a big heart. (And three thousand dollars.)