Monday 29 September 2008

For those who do not fear... the Dentist!

Leonie Clark's phone number has been changed to protect the innocent. The Leonie Clark in this story has no connection whatsoever with any actual person alive or dead. The bloggers hope that Leonie Clark, Dentist will find nothing to offend her here, no offence at all is intended.

Leonie Clark was a graduate in veterinary and human medicine with an interest in dentistry. She had, thanks to her grandmother, grown up a strong and confident woman who took no nonsense from anyone. So, one night when the storms blew and raged, Leonie was not the least bit troubled at the knock at the window. She sighed, got out of the chair she had almost dozed in, put the cat on the floor and went to see what, or who was knocking at the window. She was surprised to find a tall pallid gentleman dressed as for the opera with a long dark cloak and eyes that could draw nails from a barn door. His teeth, she noticed, especially the canines were longer than usual and distinctly pointed. Rather like some predators such as cats or dogs.

"Yes?" she asked politely.

"You are a dentist?" the gentleman asked her, his East European accent noticeable.

That her window was at least ten feet up did not seem to bother him. He clung like a spider to the wall, his hands seemed like that of a beast, the backs of them were hairy, but groomed, despite the rain. She told him she was and asked what the problem was.

"If you'd invite me in, I could show you," he said slyly.

Leonie sighed exasperatedly.

"Don't be silly. You're a vampire, if I invite you in, you'll just make a nuisance of yourself, now either tell me what the problem is or go away. I've better things to do on a night like this than lean out of a wet window arguing with a vampire. A wet vampire at that. Besides, I have a lot of garlic in the house," she snapped.

The vampire looked sheepish, or as sheepish as a vampire can look. He apologised and said he had toothache and it was even worse than hell and damnation. Leonie told him to wait there. She went and fetched a powerful torch and her dentist's table with her instruments on it. She scrubbed up, put on her dentist's mask and told the patient to open up.

"But it's raining out here!" the vampire complained.

"Do you want me to deal with this or not?" Leonie asked firmly.

The vampire sniffled, and opened wide. The procedure did not take long and once she had finished, the vampire felt a good deal better. Leonie tidied up and was about to tell the vampire to see her receptionish about payment when she realised she'd better not. Her receptionist, Viv was a lovely girl, but not given to noticing when a man was a vampire. She told the vampire her price for the procedure and he nodded and gave her a purse of gold coins.

"How do I deal with these?" Leonie asked.

"It's gold, Ms Clark. If the bank won't accept them as legal tender, the gold will be worth something. I suggest you try the coin dealers on the High Street though, he'll know what they are worth," the vampire answered, adding his thanks and flying off into the night.

Leonie sighed and shut the window. She put the coins on her bedside table and shoving the cat aside she got into bed, turned out the light and went to sleep.

The following day, when she took the coins to the small coin dealership on the High Street, the man got quite excited and offered to sell them for her, taking a percentage of course. Leonie asked how much they would be worth and fairly whistled when he told her. Even if she sold them for gold they would be worth quite a bit. She agreed that the man could sell them and having had papers drawn up to keep everything legal, she left the coins with him and went home.

Two days later, when the moon was full and clear, she heard a scratching at the back door. She went to the back door and frowned. Her cat had arched his back and hissed at the back door before leaping up to the top of the dresser. Leonie peered through the window and saw a large wolf sitting on the step looking sorry for itself. The vampire was with it. She opened the window and looked out.

"Ah, Ms Clark, this werewolf has a problem with his teeth. Between you and me I don't think that's the only problem he's got either, but still. Would you mind looking him over?" the vampire asked her.

Leonie tutted and went to her surgery. She filled a syringe with enough tranquiliser to stun a large horse and returned to the kitchen.

"You'll have to inject him with that and no tricks either, or you can both go elsewhere. I still don't know why I'm doing this. He'll only go off and cause trouble," she said.

The vampire said nothing. He took the syringe and gave the werewolf the injection in it's rump. The werewolf whimpered before yawning and revealing teeth in a terrible state. Then it fell over on its side and proceeded to snore. Leonie opened the back door and took the animal in.

"Would you like a hand with him, Ms Clark?" the vampire asked.

Leonie shook her head and gave him a look. He shrugged,

"Well it was worth a try," he said sadly.

Leonie gave the werewolf anaesthetic and proceeded to clean his teeth and extract the bad ones. She was finished after three hours of solid work. Then she took the werewolf out and laid him on the lawn. The vampire followed hungrily. But when he took her shoulder and turned her around, she smiled sweetly and showed him her mother's silver crucifix. He let go of her instantly and backed away.

"I'll be wanting payment from either him or you," she said firmly.

The vampire threw diamond about the size of a pigeon's egg to her and she caught it in the palm of her hand. Then she backed away into the kitchen and locked the door. She took the cat in her arms and stroked his ruffled fur flat as she carried him up to bed.

The diamond was worth quite a bit too. With it, Leonie was able to move into a very smart neighbourhood. She also continued to treat her occasional night time visitors and was paid exceedingly well. It was noticeable that there were no deaths or violent incidents in her city. They all remained firmly in the wild woods, much to her relief.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that you always have such strong heroines in your stories.

Griffin said...

Net, that's because all my role models were strong, wonderful women. So are the majority of my friends. They were always heroines to me.

Sharon said...

Once again, Mr.Griffin, a great tale! Thank you for the birthday wishes!

madameshawshank said...

garlic?
check! seems we'll be ok this eve..

go Leonie!!!