The story so far ... Belle and her family continue to look for the owner of the denture that Roscoe brought home. Dad takes Belle with him to the dentist and asks Dr. Trbovich to check with all her patients that wear dentures to see if someone is missing their plate. All four dentists in town agree to help. But then one evening, Belle discovers that the teeth are missing from the hutch.





"Mom! Dad!" I yelled. "Come here quick!"

"What is it?" Dad asked urgently, running into the kitchen, holding the newspaper in his hand. "Are you hurt?" He looked me up and down.

"The teeth are gone!" I pointed with a sudsy hand to the hutch where they had been for the last week.

Dad shrugged. "Mom probably just moved them. They are sort of unsightly, sitting right out in public view ..."

"No, I didn't move them," Mom said, coming up behind Dad. "How strange ..." She started to move things on the hutch to see if the bag had slipped behind something.

"Maybe the owner came into our house and got them," Zach suggested from the kitchen table where he was putting together a Lego structure, his favorite pastime.

"Of course not, silly," I said. "The owner wouldn't know where we live. We only put our phone number in the ad. Anyway, he wouldn't just walk into our house."

"Or she," Mom added. "It's more likely that Roscoe found the denture plate of a woman, not a man."

"How could you know that?" I asked.

"Because females live longer than men. That means there are more elderly women in this country today. And therefore, more women who might need new teeth."

My thoughts returned to the missing denture. "Do you think Roscoe somehow jumped up on the hutch and got them?" I asked, shutting the door of the dishwasher and hitting the start button.

"He might be a smart dog, but he's not athletic enough to jump up that high." Dad laughed and messed up my hair.

"Well, let's take a look around the house," Mom said. "I'll check the living room, den and our bedroom. Belle, you look around in the basement. Carl, you do the upstairs. And Zach you take a closer look here in the kitchen. Remember to check drawers and cupboards. I know it might seem foolish, but we better check all possible places."

I raced downstairs to our playroom and started searching under the couch cushions. Jordan was playing a game on his iPad. He liked to sneak down here, so our parents didn't notice what he was doing, especially if he had homework.

"What's up?" he asked without looking at me.

"I bet you didn't finish your math. Mom will be mad if she finds you down here playing Minecraft." Jordan got in the most trouble of the three of us. He wasn't a bad kid, just wasn't interested in school. He only had time for sports and his iPad. "Mrs. Williams emailed her today about missing work."

"Quit!" he yelled at me. "Go back upstairs." He turned away from me and continued with his game.

"I'm looking for Roscoe's denture. It's disappeared from the hutch. You know where it is?"

Suddenly, Jordan had a sick look on his face and let go of his iPad. It fell into his lap. "Oh no! I totally forgot."

I walked over to him and put my hands on my hips. "You know where it is? Did you take it?"

"Are they mad?"

"What a stupid question! Some old person is missing his teeth. He can't go anywhere and is probably miserable. Not to mention, he's out $1,600." I shook my head. "Everyone is searching for it ... so where is it?"

Jordan gave a big sigh and put down the iPad. "I'm going to talk to Dad."

I followed him upstairs. "Dad!" he called loudly as he entered the kitchen.

"He's upstairs searching for the teeth, like the rest of us." I followed Jordan up to the bathroom where Dad was looking through the medicine cabinet.

"Dad?"

"What?" He didn't look around but continued his search. "You don't by any chance know where the false teeth are?" I hung back, not wanting to be sent away.

"I do." Jordan answered in a soft voice.

Dad spun around. "What?" His eyes were opened wide.

"They're in my backpack."

"What the heck are they doing there?" I could tell Dad was trying not to yell at him. He sat on the edge of the bathtub. "Go get the teeth and bring them here."

"Promise you won't get mad at me ..." Jordon looked scared.

"I don't get mad ... unless it's something bad."

Jordan returned with his backpack. He pulled out the plastic bag with the teeth inside and gave the bag to our dad. Dad patted the bathtub ledge and said, "Sit down and tell me the story."

Jordan sat next to Dad. "Well, I told TJ about the false teeth at school yesterday. He thought I was just making it up and wanted to see the plate thing. He didn't even know that some grandparents have false teeth. So I just took them to school to show him. But you know TJ. We were out on the playground, and he grabbed the baggie and showed the teeth to everyone. One kid took the plate and tried to put it in his own mouth.

"I got a hold of him to get it back, and he threw the teeth to Parker. Then they all tossed it around to keep it away from me. "Give "em back!' I yelled, but they just laughed.

"Of course, Mrs. Williams came over. "What's going on?' she asked real mad. "Give me that!' She put out her hand, and TJ handed her the teeth. When she heard the story, she made us all come in from recess early. I had to tell the whole story about how Roscoe brought them home, and we were trying to find the owner. She kind of yelled at me for bringing them to school. But then, she was pretty nice about the whole thing.

"Called it a teachable moment, whatever that means. Sat us all down and talked about false teeth." He smiled. "I actually learned a lot."

Dad smiled and rubbed his eyes. "Like what?"

"Well, the dentist makes a mold of your teeth to try to make the thing match the rest of your teeth. They even stain them so they look the same color. And you have to brush them just like real teeth and soak them all night in some kind of solution." Jordan looked over at Dad. "I hope my teeth never fall out, so that I have to get one of those things."