Letter T, The Dentist
by Daniel Errico
Illustrated by Michiko Cayce
The Letter T lived in the Land of Words.
He loved to help clean and fix the other letters’ teeth.
His favorite holiday was Halloween.
All the candy and treats meant that the young letters would have to come see him.
One year he dressed up as a monster for Halloween.
All the young letters were dressed as ghosts and ghouls.
He answered the door and scared them with his costume, and then he gave away candy with a smile.
Later that night, he went to a Halloween party with all of his friends.
He bobbed for apples.
He played pin-the-wart-on-the-witch.
He even won third place in the costume contest!
He had a wonderful time.
The next morning his friends came knocking on his door.
They were angry with him.
“Last night you took a big monster-sized bite out of the Halloween cake!” said the Letter C.
“And you stole all of the ice from the ice bucket,” said Letter K.
“And you drank the entire bowl of punch!” said the Letter M loudly.
He tried to explain that he hadn’t done any of those things, but the other letters wouldn’t listen.
He was very confused.
“Why did they think that I had done those things,” he thought.
Then he heard an odd noise coming from outside.
It was a moaning and groaning sound.
He went outside and saw that it was a monster!
The monster looked just like the dentist had looked in his costume the night before.
The monster was holding its jaw and looking very unhappy.
“What are you doing here?” he asked the monster.
“I’m trying to find a way to fix my tooth,” said the monster, “Last night I tried putting ice on it, soothing it with some punch, and taking a bite of soft cake, but nothing helped.”
“My friends think I did all those things!” said the Letter T.
“You don’t look anything like me,” said the monster. “You’re funny looking.”
“I was dressed up like you,” said the Letter T.
The monster was flattered, but he was still confused.
“Let me see if I can fix your tooth for you,” he said to the monster.
The monster was very grateful.
It didn’t take long for Letter T to help the monster with his tooth, and it felt much better afterwards.
“Thank you!” said the monster.
“My pleasure,” said the Letter T. “Just remember that cake and punch are not good for your teeth.”
“If there’s anything I can do to repay you, just say the word,” said the monster.
“Well…” said the Letter T, “would you mind telling my friends that it was you and not me who took their ice, ate their cake, and drank their punch?”
“Sure thing,” said the monster.
The other letters almost fainted when the Letter T came to their door with his new friend, the monster.
In the Land of Words, the dentist isn’t a scary monster.
