This time Jason didn\'t make a sound. Tears and sweat dripped down his face.

The receptionist came into the room.

"Yes?" said Dr. Payne.

Jason was glad for the break.

"Kendall\'s mother is on the phone," said the receptionist. "She refuses to pay her bill."

"What?!" exclaimed Dr. Payne. "How dare-"
116
"She says you pulled the wrong tooth."

"Give me the phone!" shouted Dr. Payne.

The receptionist handed it to her.

"This is Dr. Payne. What do you mean you\'re not paying your bill? . . . Well, then, just bring Kendall back in here, and I\'ll pull that one too. I\'ll pull them all! But you still have to pay me. Your lawyer! I don\'t care what your lawyer said. You can tell your lawyer to rub a monkey\'s tummy!... You heard me! Rub a monkey\'s tummy with your head!"

She slammed down the phone. Jason looked at the diploma hanging on the wall. Before his dentist got married, her name was Jane Smith.

His big mouth opened wider.
117
"I found Jane Smith," Jason told Stephen the next morning when he got to school.

"You better tell Deedee," said Stephen.

They hurried across the playground.

A whistle blew. "No running!" ordered Mr. Louis, the Professional Playground Supervisor. "Now I want both of you to go back to the edge of the blacktop, and walk this time."

The boys went back the way they came, then came back the way they went
118
Deedee was sitting on a bench. She had been benched by Mr. Louis for excessive noisemaking.

"I found Jane Smith," Jason whispered as he

walked past her. . . .

. . . Deedee and Jason entered the classroom together. Mrs. Drazil was seated behind her desk. As they passed in front of her, Deedee stopped and said, "Did you have a nice time at the dentist yesterday, Jason?"

"Yes, Deedee," said Jason. "It was very

nice."

"I wonder if we have the same dentist," said Deedee. "What is your dentist\'s name?"

"Her name is Dr. Payne," said Jason. "But that hasn\'t always been her name."

"It hasn\'t?" asked Deedee.

"Oh, no," said Jason. "Before she was married, her name was Jane Smith."

"Jane Smith?" asked Deedee. "Is that spelled J-A-N-E S-M-I-T-H?"

"Yes, that\'s how you spell Jane Smith," said Jason. "But like I said, that\'s not her name anymore. Her name is Dr. Payne. She works at the dentist office at 124 Garden Street."

They took their seats. . . .

. . . Late that afternoon Dr. Payne finished work and walked out of her office. It had been a good day. She had drilled twenty-five teeth.

She made sixty dollars for every tooth she drilled. Twenty-five times sixty dollars is $1,500. Not bad for a day\'s work.

Of course, not all the teeth really had cavities, but how would any of her patients find out?

She got into her fancy silver-and-black sports car and drove away. She sang along with the radio.<............