The Father of Teeth
Text for today: Premolars xcvii-cxxiii
However, in a matter of minutes the Father of Teeth arrived at a place where everything was dark, and a man came up in great distress because people never noticed him and were always bumping past him as though he had no importance whatever. So the Father of Teeth emitted a bright and luminous grin, which lit up everything for miles in a ghastly sepia. The light projected upon the nearest wall a shadow ten times the man's own size, which looked as if its every movement would shake the earth. Nobody dared to jostle or bump into it, but everyone turned to look for the source of the light, and then they all began rushing towards the seductive carnivorous glow. The shadow was rapidly swamped in a growing, greying morass; and as the petitioner for significance was bumped and jostled worse than ever, and finally collapsed underfoot, his shadow crumpled into oblivion.
The Father of Teeth stopped smiling. The dark returned and the muttering mob dispersed. The seeker after noticeability picked himself up and tried to punch the Father of Teeth in the chops; but the Father of Teeth knew from long experience that unrestricted access to one's person should not be rashly granted to disillusioned petitioners, and placed his chops elsewhere.
"I hurt," the man proclaimed.
"Insignificance is often painful," the Father of Teeth replied; "the disparity between your own self-importance and what other people think of you is one of the great mysteries of existence."
"I was talking about getting trampled," said the man.
"Much the same applies," answered the Father of Teeth, "regarding the disparity between your own physical discomfort and the degree to which other people suffer. This is a lesser mystery than the first, of course, because the indifference of others to our physical discomfort is far easier to understand than the obliviousness of others to our very existence. We all know what pain is, and what fun it can be when observed in other people; but as long as we are not indifferent ourselves, the indifference of others will always be a source of discombobulation."
With that the Father of Teeth emitted another grin, this one the colour of burnt mahogany; the man took a swing at it but the grin just fell rattling to the ground and its horrid light went out. It was an old, worn-out grin, which the Father of Teeth had left behind as a decoy.
However, in a matter of minutes the Father of Teeth arrived at a place where everything was dark, and a man came up in great distress because people never noticed him and were always bumping past him as though he had no importance whatever. So the Father of Teeth emitted a bright and luminous grin, which lit up everything for miles in a ghastly sepia. The light projected upon the nearest wall a shadow ten times the man's own size, which looked as if its every movement would shake the earth. Nobody dared to jostle or bump into it, but everyone turned to look for the source of the light, and then they all began rushing towards the seductive carnivorous glow. The shadow was rapidly swamped in a growing, greying morass; and as the petitioner for significance was bumped and jostled worse than ever, and finally collapsed underfoot, his shadow crumpled into oblivion.
The Father of Teeth stopped smiling. The dark returned and the muttering mob dispersed. The seeker after noticeability picked himself up and tried to punch the Father of Teeth in the chops; but the Father of Teeth knew from long experience that unrestricted access to one's person should not be rashly granted to disillusioned petitioners, and placed his chops elsewhere.
"I hurt," the man proclaimed.
"Insignificance is often painful," the Father of Teeth replied; "the disparity between your own self-importance and what other people think of you is one of the great mysteries of existence."
"I was talking about getting trampled," said the man.
"Much the same applies," answered the Father of Teeth, "regarding the disparity between your own physical discomfort and the degree to which other people suffer. This is a lesser mystery than the first, of course, because the indifference of others to our physical discomfort is far easier to understand than the obliviousness of others to our very existence. We all know what pain is, and what fun it can be when observed in other people; but as long as we are not indifferent ourselves, the indifference of others will always be a source of discombobulation."
With that the Father of Teeth emitted another grin, this one the colour of burnt mahogany; the man took a swing at it but the grin just fell rattling to the ground and its horrid light went out. It was an old, worn-out grin, which the Father of Teeth had left behind as a decoy.
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