The dentist’s office was in a little strip mall between a car wash and a trailer park. On the plate glass window in front was a picture of a big white tooth with a smiling face. When they got out of the Jeep, Father Gabriel took hold of Pete’s arm again and did not let go. The waiting room was mostly full. A nurse at the desk told them to take a seat. Father Gabriel glanced around the room. “Look at them all,” he muttered to Pete. “Just look at them. This time next year they’ll all be ash and I’ll be yammering over their grave.” The woman sitting next to him got up and moved to another chair.
When the nurse called him in, Father Gabriel insisted Pete come with him. As they entered Father Gabriel stopped short when he saw an Indian man in a green smock standing inside. “Are you the doctor?”
“I am that,” the man answered with a chuckle.
“It’s a Hindu,” Father Gabriel gasped, still clutching Pete’s arm. “You have brought me to a Hindu!”
“I am pleased to say I am a nonbeliever,” the doctor said. “Do come in.”
Father Gabriel settled uneasily into the chair. The doctor pressed a button, and the chair slanted backward with a low buzzing sound. “What’s happening? What are you doing?” Father Gabriel clutched at the chair’s arms.
“The better to see you with,” chuckled the doctor, sitting on a stool beside the chair. “Now, open wide. Oh my. Have you been drinking?”
“What do you take me for?”
“Very, very bad for the enamel. Tsk tsk. Now where does it hurt?”
Father Gabriel told him. The doctor dipped a stick into a pinkish gel in a beaker and rubbed the stick against Father Gabriel’s gums.
“It’s gone,” said Father Gabriel. “The pain is gone.”
“It’s only a topical,” said the doctor.
“The pain is gone. One touch and you have taken it away. How can I ever thank you? Oh, I feel like I’m alive again!”
“It will wear off shortly. Sit down, please.”
“You have taken the pain away.” Father Gabriel clambered out of the chair and pulled off the bib they had fastened around his neck. “I feel like myself again.”
“I have not completed the exam,” said the doctor.
“I misjudged you,” said Father Gabriel. “I misjudged your people. You have given me my life back.”
“I will not be responsible for this.”
“You’ve given my life back and I will never forget it.”
“I don’t think he was finished,” said Pete, when they were in the parking lot.
“Oh, look,” said Father Gabriel. “Look how beautiful everything is. I don’t want to go back yet. I want to go to the ocean. It’s years since I’ve seen the ocean. The great Pacific! You’ll take me, won’t you?”