Attribution: Ruth Holcomb, U.S. Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper moves on from his silliness over being seriously intimidated by the prospect of two root canal procedures. It turns out, as most others obviously knew, that root canal surgery is a different thing these days, virtually painless and over before the patient can get adequately tensed up.
The occasion recalled for the keeper when as a State Journal columnist about a hundred years ago he incurred the wrath of the Dane County Dental Association by chiding dentists for using cheerful music in an attempt to imply dental visits were a lot of fun.
The organization demanded an apology, which ran as follows on the next day’s editorial page: “I am sorry. It is fun to go to the dentist. Bill Stokes.”
No such action is warranted with the dental surgery, which was largely painless, except for the bill: for what two root canals cost the keeper he could have taken Phyllis on a cruise, albeit a short one of a couple thousand dollars.
Maybe it would be a good idea for the keeper to bank an apology just in case: “I am sorry. It does not hurt that much to have a root canal, except in the pocketbook!”
Photo by Bill Stokes