Chapter 62, Teeth

I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. Have you ever had a tooth ache? I never did before. The whole side of my face was hurting. By the morning my face was swollen.

“You need to go see the nurse,” said Leah the house mother. Go right away, I will let the kitchen know you can’t make it today.”

“I will call you a cab to take you to Zikhron Yaakov. This is the address of the doctor and he will take care of you.” The nurse said as she was writing down the address. “Meanwhile, I gave you this pill. It should make you feel a little better.”

The last time I went to the dentist was a few years before when they came to our school to do a checkup to all the kids. They found a few cavities and the local dentist repaired them. It wasn’t painful but it was uncomfortable. I dreaded it this time I knew it wasn’t going to be fun.

The dentist was an older man, maybe in his 60s. He made me sit on his odd chair and started to look at my mouth. I am not sure how to describe pain. But all I can tell you is it hurts a lot. My body was so tense, I was kicking my legs hitting my fists on the chair. The doctor did give me a shot of nonvaccine on one tooth, but he did not use any numbing on my second root canal. He found three teeth that needed help. His drill was so old and shaky with all the wheels and belts turning it. To add to the shaking sensation his hands were trembling as he was twisting the tool in my mouth and digging deeper into the root of my tooth.

“I can’t give you so much numbing medication,” he claimed. I will never know why, but trust me, it took years until I mustered some courage to see another dentist.

By the time I got back it was late in the afternoon. I went to my room and fell asleep. I even missed dinner. Not that I missed much, remember? I am a picky eater, I don’t eat milk products, I don’t like much red meat and except for cucumbers and tomatoes I didn’t like many vegetables. My favorite food was and always is fruit. We didn’t get much fruit at our school either. Working at the kitchen I learned that the cooks didn’t really like kids or their job. They wouldn’t try to please anyone. Red meat was always over cooked and hard as a shoe leather. Fish was always greasy and dry on the inside. The soup had no flavor, and the cooked vegetables were over cooked. There were only a few things I liked from that kitchen. French fries and schnitzel once every other Friday. Roasted chicken, also every other Friday. And my favorite dish I came up with, was to mix the plain rice with the beat salad. If we were lucky, the dish we ate on every Saturday’s lunch wouldn’t burn or dry out was “Cholent” – an overnight dish most Ashkenazi people eat. In time I learned to like it a little. 

“Where were you yesterday?” Asked Matilda, “I didn’t even see you at school.”

I pointed to my cheek and continued pealing the potatoes.

“Oh, that sick old dentist, or should I call him the cobbler? I will never go to him again.”

“I wish you went there with me,” I thought to myself, “I could use some pretty face to cheer 

me up.” 

 

***

 

Beet Salad

 

Beets are one of my favorite root vegetables. But they have to be prepared my way. For example, I am not so crazy about the Russian “Borsch”.

I like the beets to be cooked well or roasted and then shredded to salad.

Ingredients:

2 Beets

¼ Cup Chopped Dry Fruit

½ Cup Chopped Nuts

½ tsp Salt

2 TBSP Mayonnaise

 

Cook the beet until soft a fork should go through easily). Shred the beets. Crush the nuts and cut the dry fruit to small pieces. Mix with salt and mayonnaise. Sometimes, I replace the mayonnaise with Olive oil and mashed hard-boiled egg.

 

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