Dentist

With my increased wealth I felt I had to go to a dentist. Social medical care did not include getting our teeth fixed in those days. And my mother had less knowledge about the care of her four children's teeth. She used to say: if you eat an apple before you go to bed, you don't have to brush your teeth. But it was not cavities that drove me to the dentist. It was a small chip in my front tooth. It had made me put my hand over my mouth every time I smiled.

You might be interested to know how I got that chipped tooth.

Early one winter morning my mother was standing in the corner of the living room talking to a friend. On the phone. No cell phone. The phone was fairly high on the wall and I dont think she could sit down and talk on the phone at thesame time. All of a sudden we heard her say: Oh, my God, there is a huge ship practically in our front yard. There was an edge of hysteria in her voice. We children quickly donned our outer garments and ran down to the beach. Well, there was a freighter way up on the beach. Only the aft of the ship was still in the water. There was ice on the rocks we had to climb over to get a front seat view. I slipped and broke my front tooth. We could not afford to have it fixed, said my mother. So I had arrived in America behind my hand hiding my open mouth. Luckily it was a very small chip.

Are you all dying to know why the ship was in our front yard? Remember it was before the age of radar and a ship's master had to use eyes and ears. It had been very foggy in the dark before mornning light. The captain had the wole crew on deck to listen to any noise that could tell them how near they were to either Sweden or Denmark. He said he had a feeling that he was very close to the Danish coast. All of a sudden a cock crowed and he ordered HARD STARBOARD. And with that he found himself in Sweden.

I will have to tell you about going to the dantist next time.