Dental Dilemma

On an ordinary morning in Odyssey, John Avery Whittaker steps into an elevator on his way to see Dr. Frank Graves, the town dentist, and finds Gene Forbes headed to the same office. When Whit mentions how kind the dentist has been, Gene laughs and says that after what her family put him through the week before, Dr. Graves deserves a medal. Then she tells the story.

It begins at the Forbes house on a hectic Sunday morning. While Gene tries to get breakfast on the table and everyone off to Sunday school, her husband Bob can't seem to care whether he gets bacon or sausage, plain toast or wheat, which drives her a little crazy. Meanwhile their young daughter Emily is dawdling in the bathroom, wiggling her last loose baby tooth and watching it flip back and forth in the mirror. Her older brother Mark is thoroughly grossed out. Emily refuses to let anyone pull the tooth; she wants Dr. Graves to do it, because she adores her dentist. In fact, she isn't afraid of anything. As she proudly puts it, "I'm like Donald and Goliath."

After church, the family runs into Dr. Graves, and Emily happily shows him the gap where her tooth finally came out, since she has an appointment with him the very next day. Mark grumbles that he doesn't need a checkup, but his appointment is right after hers.

That evening, Mark decides to have some fun. He tells Emily a terrible secret: tomorrow Dr. Graves is going to pull out all her teeth. He says Mom, Dad, and the dentist decided it together, describes a horse-sized shot and the biggest pair of pliers he ever saw, and warns that if she tells their parents, she'll have to go to the hospital. Poor Emily is terrified. At bedtime she begs not to go, insisting that Frisky the dog never has to see a dentist, but she keeps her promise and won't say why she's scared. Her puzzled parents can only pray with her.

At the office the next day, Dr. Graves quickly notices that his bravest little patient won't give him her usual big crocodile smile and would rather come back when she's "not so busy." Gently, he draws the whole story out of her, assures her he only wants to see how well she's been brushing, and then proposes a plan: giving Mark a little taste of his own medicine. With Emily as his helper, he solemnly tells Mark that Emily needs a pint of blood fast, waves a scary-looking "horse needle," and watches Mark panic before nurse Emily bursts in crying, "We fooled ya, we fooled ya!" The needle is only a water squirter.

Dr. Graves then turns serious. The prank made Emily afraid of a friend, made her lie to parents who wanted to help her, and cost her a whole day of dread. A joke like that, he says, simply hurts too much. Mark apologizes, and Emily forgives him instantly, even offering to hold his hand. But Mark isn't off the hook; his checkup is still waiting. "Smile big like a crocodile, Mark," says Dr. Graves.

Back in the elevator, Whit agrees that Frank Graves has earned his medal. He just wants to know one thing: how come Dr. Graves never asks him to smile big like a crocodile?