World Gone Missing by Laurie Ann Doyle

Author:Laurie Ann Doyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
Published: 2018-09-02T18:28:06+00:00

Breathe

Lewis had been wanting some of that nitrous for hours. He’d had this dream—a predawn dream—that must have had something to do with his father dying because he couldn’t get the hospital stink out of his head. He’d woken up with his jaw burning, a back tooth singing out with pain.

He had switched years ago from a perfectly fine dentist over on Divisadero to Ed Karr here in Noe Valley because Karr had nitrous. The drywall guy Lewis had been working with at the time swore by it. “Nitrous messes with your head in the best possible way,” he’d grinned. Said Karr was pretty free with the stuff. Free was right. Floating free, his head plastered against the ceiling, his body drifting below, Karr’s beige walls tingling.

“The doctor will be right in,” a voice called. He caught sight of the blonde woman who had shown him the room and disappeared. A new dental assistant, Lewis supposed. She hadn’t been here three months ago.

He flipped through the National Geographic she’d handed him to read, planets colliding on the cover, orange and purples erupting. He pulled up one sock and bunched it down tightly again. Four Advil had only kicked back the pain some. Where was old Karr?

Outside, branches with hanging green things pushed against Karr’s picture window as if they wanted in. Wild fruit maybe. Lewis closed his eyes, reopened them. Helena would know. His wife must have spent half of the twenty-seven years they’d been married in the backyard tending one thing or another. San Francisco’s amazing, she said. Green even in winter. Helena knew the names of living things. He knew about houses, built dozens. Knew how to get a frame up quickly in the rain, hang a door so it closed with a satisfying click, slam in one nail after the other.

Karr walked into the room. “Lew,” he said, “How’s it going?”

Lewis lifted himself off the chair enough to shake Karr’s hand. “Not bad, Ed.” His dentist’s palm felt moist as always, spongy.

Karr sat and swiveled the stool closer. His hair lifted in gelled strands that swept across his head in a buoyant curve. “Nice win for the Warriors yesterday. Did you catch the game?”

“Nah. I had to work. It’s busy.”

“That’s a good thing in construction, right? Busy?”

“Right.” Lewis stared out the window.

“So. Your tooth.” Karr flipped on the dental light and Lewis opened his mouth. He felt a stab of pain.

“Crown, definitely,” Karr said, glancing at the chart. “Looks like bruxism might be a factor. Are you having trouble sleeping, Lew? Any jaw pain?”

Lewis folded his hands tightly over his chest. “No.”

Fuck if he was going to say anything. He’d started grinding his teeth six months ago after his father was admitted to the ICU and it’d gotten worse since. Whole days went by he could hardly chew. Karr wasn’t the only one who wanted to know what was wrong, or in Helena’s case, why he was so sad, so angry. In the beginning, he’d blurt out his father had just died.

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