The Office Behind the Cactus

Phoenix was already blazing by eight in the morning, the kind of hot that made the sidewalk shimmer like a mirage. Tucked behind a saguaro cactus so tall it scraped the sky sat a small sign: **Tiny Fang Dental — We Make Smiles Painless. Mostly.**

Dr. Pinkie burst through the front door first, her pink pigtails bouncing, humming something cheerful.

"Good morning, good morning, GOOD MORNING!" she sang.

Dr. Hearts shuffled in behind her, coffee in hand, nodding slowly. "Morning, Pinkie."

Dr. Mikey dropped into his rolling chair and immediately spun in a circle. "Another beautiful day of staring into people's mouths."

Then the door swung open one more time.

Dr. Skull walked in. His black hair fell all the way down his back like a curtain. He carried a silver thermos and said absolutely nothing.

Mikey stared. "Dude. Your hair ate your jacket."

Skull took a long sip from his thermos and stared back with his one visible green eye.

The appointment board on the wall listed four names: Collin. Brandon. Will. Brooke.

Squawks and Surprises

Four names on the board. No patients yet. Just the hum of the AC and the distant sizzle of Phoenix outside.

Dr. Pinkie spun around from the reception desk, eyes wide. "I just checked the notes." She held up her pink clipboard. "All four kids — Collin, Brandon, Will, and Brooke — have overbites. And not one of them will even sit in the chair. The last dentist they saw said they'd need braces, and they absolutely lost it."

Dr. Hearts set down his coffee. "Like, cried lost it?"

"Like, ran-out-the-door lost it," Pinkie said.

Then the front door swung open, and in walked a very old woman in a bright yellow dress, carrying a large covered birdcage. She plunked it on the waiting room table without asking.

"I'm Mabel," she announced. "Parking was a nightmare. Don't mind Gerald."

She lifted the cover. A green parrot blinked at everyone.

"HAIRCUT!" Gerald the parrot screamed directly at Dr. Skull.

The whole room went still. Skull slowly lowered his thermos.