Chewed Out

With a nervous smile I took a seat in the office. My eyes flickered from the Boss's bespectacled face to the manila folder on his desk. I tucked my hands under my thighs to keep them from shaking and bit my bottom lip.

"That's a pretty thick file," I murmured, breaking the silence.

The Boss cleared his throat and fixed cold blue eyes on mine.

"Miss Ivory, do you understand what we're trying to do here at Tooth Co.?"

"Y…yes, sir," I stuttered. Mustering up some courage, I squeezed my eyes shut and quoted from our handbook. "Tooth Co. is number one in the tooth retrieval business. We do our best to bribe kids for their teeth so their parents don't have to."

"And yet," he pulled the folder close and flipped it open. "Every trip you've made has resulted in failure. You haven't extracted a single tooth since you were hired on here!"

"With all do respect, sir, I had one successful mission…"

The Boss picked through the papers and pursed his lips. "Ah, yes. The dentures you fished out of Bobturn's water glass."

"I thought he left them for us!" I squeaked.

"And you left him," his cheek twitched, "A ten dollar bill? My dear Miss Ivory, we never leave that much!"

"It was a lot of teeth," I defended.

"They're not real teeth!" he shouted and then sighed. "Without a product, Miss Ivory, the Fairy Conglomeration will run out of tooth tea. And, without tea…?"

"We, um, get thirsty?" I guessed.

The Boss groaned. "No. Our wings will shrivel and we'll lose our magic."

"Oh."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the Boss closed the folder, "Miss Ivory I have no choice but to demote you to office duty."

"So," I blinked. "Do I still get dental?"