When Gerald said that, Luke couldn't help but go, 'Ah, that's right. Why didn't I think of that before?'
"Listen," Gerald patted his friend on the arm, "she's probably following you thinking you're a hottie. You know what I mean. So there are two possibilities why she's seeing you again. First, she wants you to 'pay' for the item. Second, she wants make sure you start to get addicted so that when you become her target she stuffs you in as much as she can. You have to be careful, Luke. Now that's your house."
Before they knew it, they had arrived at Bright’ house and Ulfa was rearranging her favorite plant pots. Luke hastily threw away the cigarette butt, stomped until the coals died, then waved her hands around his face. Meanwhile, hearing Gerald's greeting, Ulfa immediately got up and smiled.
"Hello, Mrs. Bright. Are you doing your gardening?"
"Gerald, my dear. Just rearranging a bit," Ulfa said while cleaning her hands by rubbing them on the clothes. Then hugged Gerald before turning to Luke.
"Are you all right, son? Why don't you come home early?"
"I'm fine."
Ulfa looked at her with a slightly suspicious gaze. It appears that Ulfa doesn't really believe that Luke is okay. But there was no objection from him then, instead, Ulfa invited Gerald inside to enjoy a cup of tea and cookies inside.
"...I'll make pasta too," Ulfa said.
"Oh, thank you Mrs. Bright. But, sorry, I have to get back to the shop. I just wanted to have a quick chat with Luke so I walked him home and chatted. But now I have to get back to the shop. I'm sure some of the customers are confused because there’s no one in there," Gerald refused politely and he left.
Meanwhile, Luke immediately went inside and headed straight for the room. Spending time playing on the computer. He only realized that the window glass of his room had been replaced by Ben when he opened the curtains.
Meanwhile, Ulfa thinks Luke is sick or something so she makes Luke some ginger tea, pumpkin pie and paracetamol. Ulfa also advised Luke not to linger in front of the computer and it's better to just sleep. Luke just said yes.
In the evening, Ben knocked on Luke's bedroom door. Told Luke to come down immediately for dinner. Right at that time, Luke was actually asleep on the computer table with his arms folded and watching a movie. So as soon as Ben knocked on the room Luke woke up and came downstairs.
Dinner is pasta, just like Ulfa said this afternoon. Supposedly, this is a meal that easily goes down the throat with just four or five chews. Unfortunately for Luke it wasn't. At least on this night, he found it hard enough to swallow it down. It's like there is something stuck between the gums and tongue which makes the chewing process feel weird. Every time Luke moved his mouth, it stung. In fact, Ulfa's pasta is the tastiest in the whole world, but Luke has to leave half of it and makes Ulfa think her cooking isn't very good.
"Very good, Ulfa," said Luke as he stood up, "But I think my tooth hurts. So I couldn't finish it." Luke gave a perfunctory excuse.
"If so, check with the dentist tomorrow," suggested Ulfa.
Then Luke went to the bathroom. Standing in front of a mirror half his height and opening his mouth wide. Checking if something went wrong there. But Luke wasn't a dentist and he couldn't see too clearly with his eyes, gaping mouth, and the cavity in his mouth like this. But with the help of his fingers, Luke began to dig into his mouth and found pebbles under his tongue, in the back row of molars, and in the tucks of the gums and the flesh of the inner cheeks. When Luke took out the pebble, Luke realized that it was not 'pebble'. Those are canines. The size is small like the canines of toddlers.
What made Luke curious was, how did these teeth get in his mouth? When do they grow and when do they break? Plus, when Luke rinsed his mouth, there was a reddish color coming out with the water.
Luke was confused as to whether he should report this to Ben and Ulfa or not. They had been worried enough since last night's incident and Luke was sure they could be even more worried than now. Ulfa would probably pass out or break down into tears saying in a panic that Luke might have cancer. While Ben, might take him to the hospital while continuing to scold Luke about how important it is to maintain healthy teeth.
But, after Luke mulled it over until the next day, Luke decided he couldn't just sit idly by. It's possible these teeth could be a sign of a serious illness and even if that was true, Luke should have caught it sooner. Thus, he reported it to the two while recording breakfast.
"What?"
Ben dropped his fork nervously, while Ulfa nearly flooded our table with the milk that was starting to spill over into Luke's glass.
"What did you say, son?" asked Ulfa. Hastily pulled out the milk box and wiped the table. So Ben immediately took back his fork and acted normal.
"Last night I found some of my teeth knocked out," I replied. Luke reveals a toilet paper packet containing several tiny canines. "Only canines, but I'm not really sure. So I guess I'm going to the dentist today, like Ulfa suggested."
Ulf nodded. He said that he would call the school to say that Luke could not come to school because he was sick, even though Luke was feeling fine.
As Luke had expected, at ten past five, Ben drove Luke to the nearest dental clinic, which was about 6.2 miles away. Unusually, Ben told a long story. For example, when we passed a road with only trees on either side, Ben reminisced about how he could meet Ulfa.
"... I was seriously injured from a gunshot wound and it was around past midnight. I was running for my life into the woods with some of my friends, but then we got separated. Just as I was about to think I was going to die, I saw a hut and… yes , it was in the hut that I think I saw your Ulfa for the first time."
Or when they were passing through a tunnel that cut through a hill, Ben would instead tell about the times when he was still assigned to the Vietnam war. He said he was traumatized by tunnels because he once had to crawl in a small, endless tunnel.
That's how it is. Ben's story is as long as the distance between the house and the clinic they go to. Evidenced by Ben's silence after they arrived at the clinic. They are asked to register in advance, take a queue, and sit down to wait their turn. There were still about 12 more patients in line before Luke. So, all Luke could do was wait while playing on his cell phone. Not being a hypocrite, Luke searched for the words 'Lots of canines falling out, what sign?' on keywords in search engines, and indeed quite a lot of search results that actually make Luke shudder.
But in the end, when it was his turn to be examined, the doctor said;
" There are no problems with your teeth. All complete and healthy."
***