Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1930-01-31
/ EYE FOR
IAN EYE; TOOTH
FOR TOOTH

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10 by D. J. Walsh.l
Joyce turned the corner into the
avenue at about % miles an hour
and zoomed up the hill toward the
v traffic station, her mind blurred
and foggy with the pain in decayed,
aching wisdom tooth, her only thought
to get to the dentist as quickly as
possible and end the tormenting
agony. She looked up at the lights,
jammed on her brakes and slid ten
feet almost to the outstretched hand
of the glazing mountain of outraged
law, and his bawl Of rage and sar-
casm was the last straw. Joyce dis
solved into sheer tears Of agony ana
despair. She couldn't, simply could
not endure ten minutes more OF this
nightmarish toothachel Sauciness,
freshness, madness, sulkiness, plain
out and out acting Bruce Robbins
could meet and handle. but q bundle
of rusty-haired, adorable loneliness
crying real honest tears was a horse
of another color, and the worthy deni-
zen of the law tipped back his snappy
looking cap and, scratching his head
perplexedly, inspected the weeping girl
She lifted tear-drenched eyes to meet
his and her left hand scrubbed child
ishly at her cheek, raising faint pur-
pie welt, as he found speech and In
Quired politely enough for New York
traffic officer just where she was 60
ing in such a hurry-she wasn't old
enough to have dying mother. he
added with elaborate sarcasm.
1T bet you never had a toothache
that was driving you cross-eyed| she
walled, and then he noticed again the
faint purple splotch on her jaw and
took stock Of the still scrubbing fist,
and with surprising gentleness he
said: "Scoot along, now, child-and
l hope 1t doesn't hurt muchl" Not
so much as a scolding-nor ticket
nor any racket whatever; just that
simple admonitionl
"It won't, much longer" she said
grimly, and skidded around his sta
ton on three wheels and was OF
across town to the dentists in less
time than 1t takes to write 1t.
The memory Of the lovely girl stuck
In Bruce's mind all the rest Of his re-
naming half-hour Of duty and through
out his tedious journey across town to
his brothers Office, where he was hav-
ing some work done on some defective
filings. He wondered If she had had
her tooth fixed and what she was do
ing now and If 1t hurt much, and
what a plucky little NUT she was to
stand such a horrible nightmare as
toothache and not yell and cuss at
everybody and anybody
"That You, Bruce" called Doctor
Robbins from his working room.
"Yeah, that filings punk. Bert
she's gotta come out !"
II think we can save IT," counseled
his brother, and he looked at his love
ly patient in the chair, wondering If
he had hurt her to cause her to jump
so, little guessing that she was think
ing gratefully that II simply must be
he; nobody else she had ever known
had quite the quality of voice Of that
wonderfully decent traffic cop at
Fifty-ninth street and Broadway.
81 think you cannotl" replied the
unseen speaker grimly; "it's coming
out just as soon as you can tie
into 1t !"
Nonsense; we all must save our
teeth If possiblep retorted the dentist
as he carefully scraped Joyce's gum
for any remaining root or adhesion.
"Great hat, Bertl I darned near
bawled out the one and only girl to-
day just because of that darned tooth
Think | want to get to be crabby
old jaw-cracker just because Of a
tooth or SOP"
didn't know you had girl, Bruce"
answered Doctor Robbins, wondering
why Miss Palmerson paled SO; he was
sure he wasn't hurting her.
"She wasn't my girl exactly; that is,
I don't know her name or anything
about her, you see," went on the rem
iniscent, gentle voice in the outer
room, "but II ever met the girl Of
my dreams, she's the grill"
"Oh, come, Bruce; the heats get
ting you'll Falling In love with girl
you don't know" joshed Doctor Rob-
bins as he continued his work on the
quiet. still very pale Miss Palmerson.
"Well. I've always said that
dentist was pretty cold-blooded," re-
torted Bruce, by way Of avenging the
slur on his intelligence.
"Not to mention traffic cops" came
back the pat answer of the smiling
Doctor Robbins as he unclasped the
towel from around Joyce's neck and
moved the chair down and forward to
allow her to step out
Face to face, Bruce stood, staring
with Mortified eyes at the "giri Of his
dreams" as she stood quietly In the
doorway moment looking at him
before getting into her wraps. He
had raved like a silly ass. and she
had heard 1t all 1t was just his luck
Traffic cop for ten years and never
once seeing girl who could make
him look twice, and now, after seeing
her, to go and spoil all his chances
like this And the grlmness with
which he marched In to have the
offending tooth removed was sig
nifcnnt Of the bleak, grim feeling In
his heart as the coor closed ever so
softly, and he realized that there had
been faint laughter In her lovely vio-
let eyes as she shot glance at him.
Before he left the chair Bert had
removed three teeth and started work
on saving a fourth, and Bruce stag
gered slightly as he came into the
bright sunshine after the darkness
of the elevator, conscious that he had