Stardust

She had always been careless about her oral hygiene, and found brushing her teeth a chore. In a bus, on her way to the dentist, she used her tongue to feel the cavity in her last upper tooth on the right, almost as if to make sure it was in place. Going to the dentist was like her adventure of the month. Going to the dentist alone was like a childish proclaimation that she was independent and she did not need anybody else to function. Going to the dentist was fun because she would spit out blood. She never flossed.

She thought if the dentist was to take her tooth out, she would have the tooth made into a pendant to wear around her neck. How sick would that be? She nearly giggled to herself. It would be like how the fallen star in Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" would climb to the tallest tower to be close to her sisters in the sky.

She thought of how she could put the broken tooth pendant into her mouth, like how she would do that with her pendants sometimes...The broken tooth would then be reunited with her other teeth. Although most of the time the broken tooth would be bored and lonely...

And then she suddenly realises that she didn't quite want to have her tooth removed at all. Quite frankly, she'd much rather have it in her gums til she dies. Surprised by her revelation, and how it had never occured to her before, she tongued her broken tooth more tenderly.

"Perhaps," she thought, "perhaps, I should brush my teeth more diligently from now on." She even considered flossing, briefly.

The Dead Seaweed

The dead seaweed which drifted along the coast had a story that is tragic and is known only to little.

It told the story to some drifting sea foam which carried it to the shore to a seashell which told a playful little boy who picked it up. The story goes about how dead seaweed wasn't always dead, it was in love with a scampi, who did not love it back. Then, the seaweed died of love sickness.

The story is true! The little boy had told me about it himself, and like the shell, the sea foam, and the seaweed, he had no reason to lie. Afterall, like them, he was going to die, if not already dead.