Eric’s fear of dentists is so acute that he’s been chewing his food strictly on the right side of his mouth for the past year rather than get to the root of the problem. But when the pain in the left side of his mouth becomes unbearable and he’s unable to choke down another milkshake due to his raging lactose intolerance, Eric sees no other option but to visit the “Gentle Dentist” in town. Comfortably sedated, listening to Joshua Bell, Eric floats along in a twilight sleep as the Dentist gets to work on his upper first and second molars. Time passes. Eric looks around, sees that he is now descending deeper and deeper into a dark, fiery, hot tunnel. His wife, the love of his life, waves hello. She’s dressed in a white gauzy number. Like Isadora Duncan he thinks and half expects her to dance and lead the way forward. Instead, the lush violin pulls him along. Slipping and grasping at the wet veins of coal and shiny gold, Eric knows that he will turn to glance back at his wife and in that moment he will lose her. He emerges into the daylight, feeling a profound sense of loss as his tongue probes the new empty spaces in his mouth.