The story so far ... By the second Saturday, Belle's mom has given up hope that they will find the owner of the teeth. She takes Belle to neighboring Marysville to grocery shop. They get a flat tire, and a stranger changes it for them. Just before departing, he mentions that he's taking his father to the dentist because he lost his teeth.







Mom put the car in gear and raced after the stranger. But there was no sign of his gray pickup as we entered Marysville. "We've got to find him. It's a small town. We ought to be able to spot his truck," I said, searching the streets. But we drove around several blocks and didn't see his pickup truck anywhere.

"Too bad I didn't catch the license plate," Mom said sadly. "I guess we'll have to give up. I just don't know where else to look." She headed to the big grocery store and pulled into the parking lot.

"We shouldn't give up. Dan said he had to pick up his dad. So maybe he lives in one of those senior living places. Can't we look around for one of those?"

"Oh Belle, I think you're getting carried away. I don't know where any of those places are here in Marysville. We don't know his last name." She sighed and looked over at me. I was feeling very disappointed. "Besides, his dad could live in his own house, or in a different town."

She opened the car door. I just sat in the car with my arms folded around my chest, feeling angry. "Come on," she said. "Let's go get the food. You can pick out something fun for dessert."

"How can you give up so easily?" I said. "After two weeks of nothing, we finally get a real clue. We probably found the owner, and now you want to give up? Go get the groceries. I don't care about picking out a dessert."

Mom shut the door and remained in the driver's seat. "Seriously, we don't even know that he's the right person."

"Well we should at least try to find him! He's the first real possibility we've found."

"Well, what do you suggest?"

"I don't know! You're the grown up. Don't you have any ideas?" I felt so close to tears that I looked out the window.

Mom started the car and headed back out of town towards home. We both were silent. Suddenly, Mom stopped. "Wait, Dan said he was going to take his dad to the dentist. There can't be that many dentists in Marysville." She pulled out her phone and began to search online. "Get out the notebook and pen from the glove compartment and write these names down ... "

I wrote down the name and phone numbers of five dentists. Mom called the first three and got a message that said the office was closed on Saturday. The fourth number got a live person. But after stumbling over how to phrase her question, Mom got a big fat zero. No patient with false teeth and no further assistance.

So it came down to the last dentist. Mom put her phone on speaker, and we waited while it rang ...

"Hello, Dr. Whirley's office. How may I help you?" a friendly voice asked.

"My name is Sherri Mason. We found a set of dentures, and we're looking for an older gentleman who might be getting fitted for a new denture today with Dr. Whirley." Mom was speaking fast, so that she could get in the whole story before the voice hung up. "His son Dan helped us with a flat tire and happened to mention the dentist appointment. We found the denture plate a couple of weeks ago and have been looking for the owner ever since..."

"Just a minute, please." The voice wasn't quite as friendly. There was a long pause.

Finally a male voice came on. "Hi, this is Dan." Mom and I smiled with delight at each other.

"Listen, I'm the woman who had the flat tire. I know this will sound strange, but we may have found your dad's missing denture. Can we please come over and talk to you?"

When we walked into the dentist's office, the man who'd changed our tire came over with a puzzled look on his face. He didn't seem a bit scary without his hat and big jacket. "So, what is this about a denture you found? Dad's with the dentist. I just can't imagine that you could've found his teeth. We weren't even here in town when he lost it."

We sat down in the waiting room, Mom and I across from Dan. I was so excited I could hardly sit still. "My dog Roscoe came home with a set of false teeth a couple of weeks ago," I said.

Dan looked questionably at Mom. "It's true. He'd been gone a couple of days. When he returned, he had a denture plate in his mouth. Anyway we cleaned off the teeth, put an ad in the paper and talked to all the dentists in Atkins. We'd just about given up."

"Hmmm. You guys live in Atkins?"

"Yes. I know that's fifteen miles from here, but Roscoe was gone two days."

"When did you say this happened?" Dan knit his brow.

"Well, it was two weeks ago today," Mom replied. She looked at Dan, "Does that in any way match up to when your Dad lost his teeth?"

He laughed. "Well, our story started two weeks ago Wednesday when we took Dad out to dinner for his 80th birthday at Fannie's in Atkins. You see, we'd moved him into Hopkin's Assisted Living after his house sold. He was not very happy about the change, but we felt he just couldn't live on his own. Anyway, we'd taken him out for this nice dinner."

"Mr. Brewer?" A pretty girl with a black ponytail and a flowery lab coat was standing near the hallway to the back. "Dr. Whirley is ready to see you."

Dan stood up. "Listen, wait here. I'll put a hold on the new denture until we hear the rest of your story. I'd like Dad to hear this too." He followed the pretty girl into the back.