Open Wide (6 page)
Authors: Nancy Krulik
If only there was a way Matthew could see that, too.
Suddenly a big wave of braveness washed over Katie. She knew exactly what to do.
“I can show Matthew it’s not so scary,” Katie assured Mrs. Weber.
“I don’t think so, Katie,” Mrs. Weber said. Then she paused. “Wait a minute. How did you get in here?”
“That’s what I was wondering,” Dr. Sang said. “She told me she just blew in to help with Matthew.”
“You were so busy running after Matthew, you didn’t see me come in,” Katie told Mrs. Weber quickly. “Anyway, I really think I can help. All you have to do is get Matthew to stand in the doorway and watch. Dr. Sang and I will do the rest.”
“We will?” Dr. Sang asked her.
“Uh-huh.” Katie nodded. Then she took a deep breath and jumped up into the big dental chair. “I’m going to have my teeth checked while Matthew watches. That way he’ll see it’s not so bad.”
“Hmmm. You know, that just might work,” Mrs. Weber said.
“I think so, too,” Dr. Sang agreed. He smiled and picked up a clean mirror on a stick. “Okay, Katie, open wide.”
Chapter 11
“Boy, Katie, that was great, what you did,” Emma W. said as she and Katie walked through the mall on Saturday afternoon. “Matthew wasn’t scared after he saw Dr. Sang give you your exam. He even asked my mom to get him a toy dentist kit for his birthday.”
“Dr. Sang told me I might have to get braces in a year or so,” Katie said.
“Oh, braces are cool,” Emma assured her. “Lacey had them. She got to pick different colors for the wires. One month she had blue and pink. For Halloween she had orange. And then for Christmas she changed the colors to green and red.”
“That does sort of seem like fun,” Katie admitted. “If Suzanne ever needs braces, she’ll probably try to get
glittery
wires.”
glittery
wires.”
Emma giggled. “Where is Suzanne, anyway?”
“She’s around here somewhere,” Katie said. “With George. He needed her to carry some packages.”
“She’s really been nice about helping George,” Emma remarked. “She carried his books to school every day this week and got his lunch for him, too. I heard she even did his spelling homework on Thursday because his ankle hurt so much, he couldn’t think.”
Katie frowned. How could a pain in his ankle affect George’s brain? And George was supposed to do his own homework.
“It’s taking his ankle a long time to heal,” Emma continued. “It’s been almost a week now.”
“I know,” Katie agreed. “And it’s weird because his mom told my mom that it really wasn’t a bad sprain.”
Just then, Katie spotted George standing outside of Hot Stuff, a store that sold really cool things like rubber bracelets, funky T-shirts, and rubber chickens. George was all by himself. And he was standing without his crutches.
“Oh look, George must be feeling better,” Katie said happily. She waved in his direction.
As soon as George spotted Katie, he got a pained look on his face. Then he began limping over to a nearby bench.
Katie stared at George for a minute. Something wasn’t right. “Hey, Emma, which ankle did George sprain?” she asked.
“His left one. Why?” Emma answered.
“Because he’s limping like it’s his right ankle that’s hurting,” Katie noted.
“Do you think he’s faking it?” Emma said.
Before Katie could answer, Suzanne came stumbling out of Hot Stuff. She was carrying three heavy bags.
“Okay, George,” Katie heard Suzanne say. “We’ve got everything you came to the mall for—even the big bottle of floor wax we bought before when we went to the cleaning-supply store.”
“I told my mom I would pick that up for her as a favor,” George explained. “She was nice to drive us here. I didn’t think she should have to carry around that heavy bottle of floor wax, too.”
“But
I
should?” Suzanne demanded.
I
should?” Suzanne demanded.
George looked down at his ankle. “Well, I certainly can’t carry it.”
Katie frowned when she heard that. George was being really mean to Suzanne. She had a feeling Emma was right now. George was faking having a hurt ankle.
But how could she prove it?
“You know, I still want that hot dog and French fries,” Katie overheard George say.
“Okay, so let’s go over to the food court,” Suzanne suggested.
George sighed. “The food court is so far away. Can’t you go get my lunch for me?”
Food! That was it! Katie knew exactly how to prove George was faking his injury! Quickly, she hurried over to the bench where he was sitting.
“Hi, George. Hi, Suzanne,” she said, plop-ping down on the bench next to George.
“Hi, you guys,” Suzanne sadly greeted Katie and Emma.
“Suzanne, you look exhausted,” Emma told her.
“Well, George has sort of had me running around and carrying a bunch of things,” Suzanne explained.
“Wow. That’s awful,” Katie said sincerely.
“Hey, what about me?” George demanded. “I’m the one who was hurt.”
Katie kept talking to Suzanne. “Did you see the black-and-white hair clips they have inside Hot Stuff ?”
“No,” Suzanne said. “But I didn’t get a chance to look at anything
I
wanted.”
I
wanted.”
“Come on,” Katie said. “I’m sure George won’t mind.”
“Yes, I would,” George said. “Suzanne was going to get me lunch.”
“This will just take a minute,” Katie assured him.
As the three girls walked toward the store, Katie began to speak loudly. She wanted to make sure George heard every word.
“Guess what!” Katie said to Emma and Suzanne. “They’re having a hot-dog-eating contest in the food court. The first ten people to show up get all the hot dogs they can eat for free!”
Katie made the girls turn around. George was already running off in the direction of the food court—without his crutches!
“His ankle’s fine!” Suzanne exclaimed angrily. “He was just using me!”
“Don’t worry,” Katie told her. “He’ll get his. There is no hot-dog-eating contest. I made that up. Boy, is he going to be disappointed.”
“That’s not all he’s going to be! Just wait until I get ahold of him.” Suzanne ran off after George, waving her fists in the air.
Katie laughed. She sure wouldn’t want to be George when Suzanne caught up to him.
Come to think of it, Katie didn’t want to be anyone but Katie. Hopefully, the magic wind would stay away for a while. She wasn’t in the mood for another switcheroo. She was having far too much fun just being Katie Kazoo!
Tell the tooth
These are Dr. Sang’s favorite tooth facts. And they’re all the complete and total tooth!
1. Sharks lose teeth each week. They get new teeth when they lose the old ones. They may grow over twenty thousand teeth in a lifetime.
2. Your teeth start forming even before you are born.
3. The elephant’s tusks are the longest teeth in the world.
4. George Washington’s false teeth weren’t made of wood. However, he did have sets of dentures made from hippopotamus teeth, cow teeth, and sheep teeth.
5. Dolphins have more teeth than any other animal. Some dolphins have over two hundred teeth.
6. The hardest thing in your whole body is the enamel on your teeth.
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