Open Wide

by Nancy Krulik

  Suzanne bit her lip and took the plate from his hand. “I’ll do it, George, no problem.”

  Katie looked at her strangely. It didn’t seem as though there was anything wrong with Suzanne. But maybe the fall yesterday did something to her head, because she sure was acting strangely!

  Chapter 5

  “I’ll be a steady-ender!” Katie offered during recess as some of the fourth-grade girls gathered to play double-Dutch jump rope.

  “Me too,” Emma W. added, grabbing the other end of the two jump ropes.

  Katie and Emma W. began twirling the two ropes one after the other. Katie smiled at Emma. Emma returned her grin, flashing her really white teeth right at Katie. Katie knew her teeth were just as white. After all, the girls had just brushed . . . and brushed . . . and brushed.

  Katie looked down at the key chain with the tooth attached to her belt loop. Emma had given her one of hers, because they were both members of the Pearly Whites Club. Emma had made that name up. Katie thought it was perfect!

  “I’ll go first!” Becky declared, leaping in between the two twirling ropes. “Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around! Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground . . .”

  Katie stared at Becky with admiration. She couldn’t believe how easily Becky was able to turn around and touch the ground without missing.

  Katie always missed. She never seemed to be able to get the rhythm of the two double-Dutch ropes going round and round one after the other. That was why she always asked to be the steady-ender. Katie was really good at turning the ropes, even if she wasn’t great at jumping.

  “Suzanne, want to get in line?” Mandy called out across the yard.

  At the moment, Suzanne was sitting on a bench next to George. He was reading a bunch of skateboarding magazines during recess.

  “Sure!” Suzanne called out, jumping to her feet. “I just learned the greatest rhyme . . .”

  “Oops, look what I just did!” George said as a whole bunch of plastic bugs fell from his jacket pocket. He looked down at the fake tarantulas, cockroaches, and worms that were scattered all over the blacktop. Then he glanced up at Suzanne and asked, “Could you pick them up for me?”

  Suzanne made a face.

  “They’re fake, don’t worry,” he assured her.

  “Okay.” Suzanne bent down and began picking up the bugs.

  “Be careful,” George warned her. “Don’t break off one of their legs or an antenna or something.”

  “Hurry up, Suzanne,” Mandy called to her. “You can go after Jessica.”

  Suzanne looked longingly over at the jump-roping girls.

  “You’ve got to get all the bugs,” George insisted. “I don’t want to lose any. I’d do it myself, but I’m not supposed to put any weight on my ankle, remember?”

  “Can’t Kevin or Jeremy pick them up for you?” Suzanne asked hopefully.

  George shook his head. “They’re playing football. They can still play football because no one knocked them over and sprained their ankles.”

  Suzanne sighed. “Forget it, you guys,” she shouted over to the girls.

  As Katie watched her best friend picking up plastic bugs, she felt terrible. She knew how much Suzanne loved double-Dutch.

  It didn’t seem fair to Katie. She couldn’t help thinking that George was really having fun making Suzanne feel so bad.

  When the bell rang at the end of the school day, Katie found Suzanne waiting outside the door of class 4A. That was weird, especially since Suzanne usually left school with the kids from her own class, class 4B.

  “What are you doing here?” Katie asked.

  “I got to leave early so I could help George carry his book bag home,” Suzanne explained. She frowned and rubbed her shoulder. “I’m sore from carrying it to school this morning.”

  “I’ll carry it for him,” Katie told Suzanne. “I go right by his house on my way home.”

  “But I promised I would do it,” Suzanne insisted.

  “You’ve done enough for George today,” Katie assured her. “It doesn’t matter who brings his bag home.”

  “Katie, it’s really heavy,” Suzanne told her. “And besides, you’re not the one who banged into him.”

  Katie smiled at Suzanne. “We don’t have a lot of homework tonight, so there won’t be a lot of books in his bag.”

  “Are you sure?” Suzanne asked her.

  Katie nodded.

  Suzanne smiled at her. “You’re the best friend anyone could ever have!” she exclaimed. Then Suzanne ran off before George could stop her.

  Chapter 6

  “I don’t know what happened to Suzanne,” George told Katie as they left the school and headed for home. “She was supposed to carry my bag home.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Katie replied. “I don’t mind helping you.”

  “But that’s not the point, Katie Kazoo,” George said.

  “How come your mom didn’t pick you up in her car?” Emma W. asked. She and her little brother Matthew, who was in first grade, were walking part of the way with Katie and George. “That way you wouldn’t have had to walk at all.”

  “I told her not to bother,” George explained. “She’s working today. She shouldn’t have to leave work early just because Suzanne knocked me down yesterday.”

  “You know, George, it’s not all Suzanne’s fault,” Katie told him.

  “She wasn’t watching where she was going,” George reminded her.

  “But you were running forward. That means you could see her coming. And you didn’t get out of the way,” Katie explained.

  “Can I try your crutches, George?” Matthew asked.

  George ignored Emma’s little brother. “Katie, it all happened really fast,” George insisted. “I didn’t have time to move.”

  “You just didn’t want to miss the ball,” Katie guessed.

  George frowned. “Whatever. I’m still the one who got hurt.”

  “Katie, does your mouth still feel fresh?” Emma asked, in an attempt to change the subject. “Mine does.”

  Katie ran her tongue over her teeth. “Mmm. Minty.”

  “What are you guys talking about?” George asked.

  “Katie and I are in the Pearly Whites Club. We brush our teeth after lunch,” Emma explained.

  “And we brushed them again right before we left school,” Katie added, patting the tooth key ring Emma had given her.

  “We’re going to do it every day,” Emma added. “No more cavities for me.”

  “Ooo, cavities,” George said with a slight groan. “I’ve had two.”

  Katie didn’t doubt it. Not with all the sweets George chowed down.

  “Dr. Fang filled them both. It was horrible!” George continued.

  “Dr. Fang,” Katie giggled. “That’s a good one.”

  “Man, I hate going there,” George told her. “The dentist is the worst.”

  “Uh, George,” Emma said quickly, shaking her head. “Don’t . . .”

  “I know what you mean,” Katie added, agreeing with George. “Don’t you hate when he tells you to open wide, and then he sticks that metal pointy thing on each of your teeth?”

  “Katie, could you not talk about . . .” Emma started.

  “And how about that weird X-ray machine thing that goes all around your head?” George continued, ignoring Emma completely. “It makes the creepiest noise. And you’re stuck in there. You’re not even supposed to move!”

  “Did Dr. Fang stick a giant needle in your gums when you had a cavity?” Katie asked him. “That’s what he did to Emma.”

  “Uh—guys!” Emma said louder.

  George nodded. “Uh-huh. And then he stuck this drill thing into my tooth. I could hear it digging. Grrrrrr . . . grrr . . . ”

  Suddenly, Matthew Weber’s face turned bright red. Tears began streaming down his face. “I am not going to the dentist!” he declared angrily to Emma. Then he raced down the street ahead of them.

  “What’s with him?” George asked E
mma.

  “I was trying to tell you. He has to go to the dentist this afternoon,” Emma told him. “He doesn’t like going to any doctors. This is his first time at the dentist. And he was scared enough before you two started talking about it.”

  “Oh no! I’m so sorry, Emma,” Katie apologized. “We didn’t know.”

  “I tried to stop you from saying all that bad stuff,” Emma explained. “But you guys just ignored me. Now it’s going to be harder than ever to get him to go.”

  “Let me talk to him, Emma,” Katie suggested. “I’ll tell him we were just kidding.”

  “Forget it,” Emma replied. “You and George said enough already.”

  Chapter 7

  Later that afternoon, Katie sat in her room and tried really hard to do her homework. But she just couldn’t stay focused on her two-digit multiplication problems. Her mind kept switching over to Matthew Weber.

  Katie felt just awful about making Matthew cry. She hadn’t meant to, of course.

  Matthew was just a little kid. A little kid who’s afraid of the dentist.

  And Katie remembered exactly what that was like.

  “Mom!” Katie called downstairs to her mom. “I have to go over to Emma W.’s house.”

  It was really important. When she got there Katie would open her mouth really wide and show Matthew that she had no cavities. Then she would tell him that he would probably never have any, either—if he kept going to the dentist.

  “You can go for a little while,” Mrs. Carew replied, shouting up to Katie from the kitchen. “Be home by supper time. I’m making your favorite: vegetarian lasagna!”

  Katie ran as quickly as she could toward the Weber family’s house. She was hoping to catch Mrs. Weber before she drove Matthew to Dr. Sang’s office. Katie rehearsed what to tell Matthew. “Going to Dr. Sang’s office can be lots of fun,” she said to herself. Okay, she didn’t really believe that part. But she really wanted Matthew to believe it.

  Katie rang the bell at Emma’s front door. A moment later Emma’s teenage sister, Lacey, answered it. Lacey was holding her one-year-old brother Tyler on her hip. Tyler’s twin brother, Timmy, was standing next to them, sucking his thumb.

  “Hi, Lacey,” Katie said. “Are Emma and Matthew here?”

  Lacey shook her head. “You just missed them. They left for the dentist’s office.”

  “Emma went, too?” Katie asked her.

  “Yep. Matthew insisted,” Lacey explained. “He said she had to sit in the room with him and make sure Dr. Fang didn’t stab him with a big needle.” Lacey laughed. “Dr. Fang. I wonder where he got that from?”

  Katie blushed and kicked at the ground. She knew exactly where he heard the name.

  “I’ll tell Emma you were here,” Lacey told her.

  “Yeah, thanks,” Katie answered.

  As Lacey shut the door, Katie sighed and started for home. Dr. Sang’s office was too far away. Her mother wouldn’t want her to go there all by herself.

  The streets of Cherrydale were empty now. No kids were playing ball or riding bikes. They were all inside doing their homework.

  Suddenly, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She used one hand to lift up the collar of her jacket.

  But the jacket didn’t block out the breeze. It couldn’t. After all, the wind that was blowing on Katie was no ordinary wind.

  This was the magic wind!

  Before long, the magic wind was blowing so hard, Katie thought she might be blown all the way across town. The magic wind picked up speed, blowing harder and harder until it was a wild tornado blowing only around Katie. She shut her eyes tight and tried not to cry.

  And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone.

  And so was Katie Kazoo.

  She had turned into someone else. Switcheroo!

  The question was, who?

  Chapter 8

  Katie’s eyes were still shut tight. Even though she had no idea who she was, she knew where she was.

  It was because of the smell. Everywhere she sniffed, Katie could smell that bleach and mouthwash smell. There was only one place in the world that smelled like that.

  She was in Dr. Sang’s office!

  Slowly, Katie opened her eyes and looked around. Sure enough, there were the big dentist chair, the bright lights, the toothpaste advertisements on the wall, and the collection of green and white plaster molds of kids’ teeth.

  What if the magic wind had turned her into Matthew Weber? Then she would have to go through his dentist appointment for him.

  An extra dentist appointment! That would be the worst.

  All of a sudden, Katie heard a boy crying out in the waiting room.

  “I don’t want to see the dentist!” he shouted. It was Matthew.

  Okay, the magic wind hadn’t turned her into Emma’s brother. So who was she?

  Katie looked down. She saw brown shoes and white pants. She was wearing a weird smock with teeth on it, too.

  There was something a lot worse than being one of Dr. Sang’s patients—

  Being Dr. Sang!

  And from the look of things, that was exactly who Katie had become.

  Just then, the door to the office opened. Mrs. Shine, Dr. Sang’s dental assistant, peeked into the room.

  “Are you ready for your next patient?” she asked.

  Katie gulped. She wasn’t ready for the next patient. Or any patient! “Um . . . just a minute,” she said. “I . . . um . . . I have to make a phone call.”

  “Okay,” Mrs. Shine said, leaving the room. “Just buzz when you’re ready.”

  As Mrs. Shine left the room, Katie sank back into her chair. Ready? How was she ever going to be ready to look into someone’s mouth?

  She glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was almost five o’clock. She was never going to get home in time for dinner. On top of everything else, her mother was going to be mad at her. She had to do something.

  Quickly, Katie picked up the phone and dialed her own number.

  “Hello,” her mom answered the call.

  “Hi, mom.” Katie gulped. She’d forgotten she was Dr. Sang now. “I, uh, I mean, hello, Mrs. Carew.”

  “Who is this?” Mrs. Carew asked.

  “It’s Dr. Sang,” Katie told her. “I . . . um . . . I have Katie here in the office.”

  “What’s she doing there?” Mrs. Carew wondered.

  “She came with Emma and her brother,” Katie answered. “And I was thinking, as long as I have her here, maybe she could have a checkup as well.”

  “Well, I suppose, if she wants one . . .” Mrs. Carew said. She sounded very confused.

  Her mom knew how much she hated going to the dentist. This conversation probably sounded pretty weird to her.

  But not nearly as weird as the truth would sound, Katie figured.

  “Great,” Katie said. “I’ll call you when we’re finished.”

  As she hung up the phone, Katie breathed a big sigh of relief. She’d bought herself some time, anyway. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the desk. All of a sudden she heard a loud buzzing noise.

  A moment later, Mrs. Shine entered the room with Emma at her side. Emma was dragging Matthew by the arm.

  “You buzzed, and here we are,” Mrs. Shine said.

  Katie frowned. She hadn’t meant to do that.

  “Come on, Matthew,” Emma urged her brother. “Going to the dentist is no big deal.”

  “George said Dr. Sang drilled in his mouth,” Matthew reminded her. “Like the men do to make big holes in the street.”

  “It’s not that kind of drill,” Emma assured him. “It’s tiny. And they only use it if you have a cavity. You probably won’t have any.”

  “Hi, Dr. Sang,” Emma greeted Katie.

  “Hello, Emma. How’s the tooth feeling?” Katie asked her. She was trying to sound like a real dentist.

  “Great,” Emma replied.

  “And did you and Katie have fun at your Toothday part
y today?” Katie continued.

  Emma stared at her in surprise. “How did you know about that?”

  Oops. There was no way the real Dr. Sang could know about that. He hadn’t been in the girls’ bathroom when they were brushing their teeth.

  “I . . . um . . . I’m a dentist. I get all the tooth news,” Katie replied quickly.

  Emma looked at her strangely. But before she could say anything, Matthew tugged at Emma’s arm.

  “Can we go now?” he asked. “I wanna go home.”

  “Maybe we should do this another day,” Katie suggested eagerly. If Matthew went home, Katie wouldn’t have to stick her hands in Matthew’s mouth and touch his tongue and his teeth. Touching someone else’s teeth seemed really gross!

  “Oh, no!” Emma exclaimed. “We can’t do that. It was hard enough getting Matthew here this time.”

  “I don’t know,” Katie told her. “Maybe I should tell your mother to take him home. Where is she?”

  “She’s parking the car,” Emma explained. “And I know she wants to get this appointment over with as quickly as possible. Matthew has been driving us all nuts!”

  “I WANNA GO HOME!” Matthew shouted out, as if to prove it.

  “Why don’t you climb up into this chair first?” Mrs. Shine suggested gently. She lifted Matthew up and placed him in the dental chair. Then she used her foot to move a small lever at the bottom of the chair. “See how it moves up and down?”

  Matthew nodded.

  “Isn’t that cool?” Emma asked him.

  “Sorta,” Matthew mumbled.

  “I always like that part,” Katie said. “Um. I mean, all my patients like to ride in the chair.”

  Mrs. Shine stared at her strangely. Then she turned her attention back to Matthew. “Now I’m just going to place this paper bib around your neck,” she continued.

  “No bib!” Matthew exclaimed, pushing her hands away. “Those are for Timmy and Tyler.”

  “Oh, this isn’t a baby bib,” Mrs. Shine assured him. “It’s for big boys. We just want to keep your handsome shirt nice and dry.”

  Matthew frowned, but he let her put the paper bib on him.