Richard looked at his face in the mirror with some disgust. There was something obvious in his face that made him never smile again. He would keep his lips pressed together all the time.
Richard was an eleven-year-old child who was very happy and smiled a lot until that day when he was playing with his siblings and smiling while they were getting ready to go to school. When their mother told them that the school bus had arrived, his brother Dick snatched his backpack and his clarinet, and they all ran toward the stairs.
While they were descending in the middle of the stairs, Dick’s foot slipped, and he collided with Richard, making him fall in a somersault motion. He found himself under a pile of things at the bottom of the stairs. At first, Richard thought nothing bad had happened because of that fall. What could happen to a pile of books? He felt minor injuries to his body, but thankfully, no part of his body was broken.
Their brother Brandon returned to look for them because the bus was waiting. Richard got up from the ground, looking at his brother and smiling. But a look of horror appeared on Brandon’s face, and he said to Richard, “Look, what happened to your front tooth!”
Richard forgot everything about the school bus and ran quickly to the bathroom to see himself in the mirror. He discovered that a large part of his front tooth had broken, leaving a large gap in his mouth that would make him unable to smile anymore. Richard wondered, would he have to stay like this all his life? Richard was very sad.
But when Richard’s mother saw what had happened, she didn’t feel panic. She said to him, “My son, accidents happen to all of us throughout our lives. At any moment, many things in our lives may change, but we must not be dismayed. Some things we can treat, and some we must accept as they are.”
Richard’s mother set an appointment with the dentist. For Richard, waiting for the doctor’s appointment was heavy and long time. As soon as his appointment arrived, he quickly entered the doctor’s room and sat before Dr. Scribner, looking at him while the doctor examined his mouth.
In the end, the doctor told Richard that there was good news and a little bad news. The good news was that he would have a tooth installed that exactly resembled his real tooth. But the bad news was that installing the tooth might hurt him a little, and he might have to replace the tooth several times until he grows up and gets a permanent tooth. But Richard thought this matter was acceptable and could be endured. He became happy because he would be able to smile again, but he learned that he didn’t know what could happen to him today or tomorrow, but he must learn how to accept all happy and sad matters too!
Translated from story: A New Front Tooth