Myrtle knew that she did not have a life to launch a thousand ships. However, when she looked in the window and saw herself, she was happy within herself.
Myrtle was fun at heart but somehow always seemed to end up on the social fringe. Whenever she tried to keep up with her friends, they would only say:
“Oh, Myrtle, please! Don’t be absurd.”
Then one day, she was at the dentist; the dentist was inspecting her teeth. “This wisdom tooth needs to come out,” he said, “but don’t worry, you’ve got it’s an extra one at the back. You don’t really need it.”
“Are you sure, Mr. Rosenberg?”
“Of course,” her dentist said, you can have it re-rooted. Though, it will be rather expensive. I can tell you know, there are no guarantees.”
“You will be surprised,” he went on. “Some of my patients find when they have their tooth out, it releases something.
Later, Myrtle was having coffee with her friends.
“My new Audi is amazing.”
“We are going to Antigua this year.”
“Oh, really. I thought you went last year.
“No, that was Barbados.”
“And I have a dentist who has just released from my troubled past.”
“Oh, Myrtle, please! Don’t be absurd.”
Myrtle smiled to herself. She knew how they thought. They had absolutely no imagination. And no sense of the past.
“You’re right,” she said. “It is absurd. It’s absurd to be here. Goodbye.”
She got up and left them, holding the bill and their amazement.
But she did not care. She went off to see Mr. Rosenberg.
*
“Funnily enough,” said George, “I have a special relationship with my dentist.”
“She takes special care of you when she polishes your teeth.”
“No.”
“Then she polishes your ego.”
“Honestly, Giorgio, there is no connection between teeth and ego.”
“Until you go to the dentist.”