When I was growing up we lived on a shady street in the Bronx. Several doctors and dentists had offices on our block and my dad was one of them. He was a GP who practiced on the ground floor of our three-story house and we lived on the two upper floors “over the store”. (See Fluffy, or How I Got My Dog and The Corpse in the Office)
For many years a dentist named Ben rented space in my dad’s office. Ben was a wonderfully kind and gentle man and he and his wife Eleanor became my parents’ lifelong friends, and Ben of course became our family dentist.
Then at some point Ben took a larger office down the street in a house with a beautiful chestnut tree in the front yard.
One day when I was 9 or 10 I went down the block to Ben’s office for my dental appointment and he told me I had a cavity – my first! He said he’d give me laughing gas to relax me while he filled it.
Laughing gas sounded like fun and I sat still while his nurse put a mask over my nose. Then Ben told me to lie back in the chair and look out the window at the chestnut tree.
I did, and Ben filled that first cavity.
Ben was my dentist until I moved out of my parents’ house, and over the years I’ve had a few others. All of them have been nice guys and fine dentists – but none gave me laughing gas, or had a beautiful chestnut tree I could see from the dental chair.
And none will ever be as dear to me as Ben.
– Dana Susan Lehrman
… and those ‘laughs’ brought smiles to me!
Good Maude, I’m pleased if my readers laugh at the humor or cry at the pathos in my stories!
I remember reading this one before. Good story.
Double thanx Vivian, for reading both my blog and my stories on the Retrospect storytelling website – sometimes I double dip!
And isn’t it wonderful how a tree can have such resonance in our lives. Tree huggers unite!
Thanx Khati, my outdoorsy friend!
Nice story Dana.
I just wrote a reminiscence of my childhood friend Abe who’s turning 80. We lived on a shady Bronx street as well with oaks and maples, lady bugs and fireflies, and most of the people on the street were shady!
A lot of dogs and no such thing as a pooper scooper, made for a lovely hot summer day aroma.
Never knew what anyone did for a living, they left in the morning for the IRT with the Daily News under their arms.
Sending Abe a box of Spauldings for his birthday, thank you Amazon. He’ll need to supply his own broomstick and chalk.
Love all your reminisces Phil. I can hear the sound of those pink Spauldings hitting the stoop!
Ah, the Bronx in the innocent years!
What a nice memory and intro to dentistry! I too had a good early experience with dentists since our 1st was my uncle in Brooklyn. It was a long subway trip from the Bronx, but worth it since a great lunch and house visit followed the appointment!
Thanx for your wonderful memory Carol, and indeed worth the trip from the Bronx to Brooklyn for the dental appointment with your uncle, and then the family visit!
Glad the laughing gas worked. I had it once and it didnt.
Ah Karlan, maybe it works better on susceptible kids!
Dana, So love your stories. You make the past present, the kindly doctor who lived with his family where he practiced and rented out space to a dentist who used laughing gas. Modern medicine has brought many prayed for answers, but still, something very personal lost.
Thanx Mike, it’s true indeed that with advancements sometimes personal connections are lost. But luckily we have a dentist now who’s a big Yankee fan – so there’s that!