The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 363: NEW STORY—Something to Chew On

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

It was a trip to the dentist, the dentist would never forget…

This is a Monday.com ad. The same Monday.com designed for every team. The same Monday.com with built-in AI, scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.com with an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free. I got a story to tell every word of it true, except for the parts I made up for you. Just some history that has been reworded into a mystery called the way I heard it. Yep, that's all true. This is another episode of the way I heard it. A short story written

just for you on a plane to somewhere or another by yours truly not so long ago. This one is called Something to Chew on. This is not a Christmas story, I should tell you, but I do think it's well suited for the month of December. I hope you like it. Here's something else to chew on, though, before we get started. This is the way I heard it. In the prison infirmary, Jack Mallory and George Foster considered the criminal, reclining comfortably in the dentist's chair. They had seen his face before, obviously, everyone had, the bald head, the neatly cropped mustache, and the wide eyes bulging from behind round, horned-rimmed glasses. It was a face that had been on the front pages all month. But though his

face was familiar, the two young dentists were not prepared for the crime. scene that waited for them behind the lips of their newest patient. The criminal was down to a dozen teeth, all of which were yellowed and rotten, protruding at random angles from his diseased gums. The stench from his decaying choppers wafted up, hitting the young dentists squarely in the face. Good God, said Jack. I can see why you scheduled an appointment. What took you so long? The man in the chair said nothing. He just stared. it up at the dentists, waiting for them to get started. You realize, said George, we'll need to pull your teeth. The patient looked quizzically to one of the men who accompanied him.

He's aware of what needs to be done, the man said, but don't bother with his bottom teeth. He only needs the uppers. Why, said Jack, I can make him a complete set. It's no big deal. The man shook his head. Only the uppers, he said. He wants to look presentable for his trial. After that, well, he won't have much use for uppers or lowers, for that matter. Not where he's going. Another man, this one with a pistol on his hip, chimed in, and don't bother with the Novacane, Doc. Just yank him out with pliers. I won't tell anyone. Jack and George looked at the guard. Maybe he knew one of the victims. Or maybe, like so many other cops and first responders, he just wanted to see the man in his chair suffer for what he had done.

It's not a bad idea, said George, but if that's why you brought him to us, you got the wrong dentists. We don't do torture. The man with the gun on his hip shrugged. Just do your thing, Doc, and I'll haul this garbage back to his cell. George Foster proceeded to scrub his hands, just like he did for patients who were not mass murderers. He injected some Novocaine, like he. He injected some Novacane, like he did for patients who hadn't tried to kill themselves as they were being arrested. And then he went about the business of carefully pulling the rotting teeth from the upper gum of the man in his care. Did he enjoy it? No, he didn't.

Like the guard, George would have preferred to see the man in his chair suffer, but George had taken an oath to treat his patience, all of his patients, with dignity and respect. After the final tooth was pulled, George stepped aside, and Jack stepped in to do his part. First, he made a mold. Then he took the mold into the adjoining lab, where he went about the business of making a denture. Like George, Jack took his time. He didn't cut corners, and he certainly didn't do anything to make the denture less comfortable than it should be. Like his partner, Jack would have liked to see the man.

in the chair, scream and agony, like his victims had. But Jack, too, had taken an oath to treat his patients, all of his patients, with dignity and respect. And so Jack made the best denture he could, and when he was satisfied, he returned to the dentist's chair to fit them properly into the patient's mouth. But he hesitated before doing so in a way that caught the guard's attention. What's a problem, Doc? Forget something? Jack studied the old man in the dentist chair. He looked like somebody's grandfather, meek, mild-mannered, helpless, and completely forgettable. Was this really the monster he'd read about in the newspapers?

Jack couldn't help but wonder if one day the world would forget all about this little man and what he'd done to trigger so much misery? He hoped not, but Jack Mallory knew the world had a way of forgetting things. that were too painful to remember. Actually, said Jack, you know, I did forget something. I'll be back in just a few minutes. Jack returned to the lab and began to modify the denture he had just made.

He used a drill, and he worked quickly, but with care. As he worked, George entered the room. What are you doing, said George. Just a little customizing, said Jack, peering over his shop. shoulder, George squinted at the tiny text that Jack was drilling into the upper. It took a moment to understand because Jack wasn't using letters from the English alphabet. He was using the language familiar to many of the killer's victims. When George deciphered what Jack had written, he couldn't

help but laugh. That's brilliant, he said, but you realize if anyone finds out, we could get court-martialed. Well, then, said Jack. Let's see to it that no one finds out. With that, Jack and George returned to the dentist chair, where a criminal patiently waited for his fake teeth. Jack gently inserted them. There, how's that feel? asked Jack. The interpreter translated.

He says they feel fine. All right, then, said Jack. I suppose our work is done. With that, the criminal was taken back to his cell, to await his trial, which went pretty much the way the prosecution expected. The old man with the new denture addressed the court, and by all accounts, he spoke eloquently, but he made no attempt to deny the charges against him. He was found guilty and quickly executed. They hung him in the prison courtyard, but allowed no photos for fear they'd be leaked to the press and cause unrest in the

killer's home country. And the last thing the world needed was more unrest. Later, though, the press would learn all about Jack Mallory's last-minute dental customization. And when they confronted him about what he had done, nearly 50 years later, Jack didn't deny it. Just a couple dots and dashes, he said, up by the gum line, where nobody would notice. I didn't do it to be cruel. I did it because, well, I figured no one else would ever have the chance to put those words into that mouth. That's why the 22-year-old dentist stationed at Sagamo Prison, customized the denture of his most famous patient, a patient who orchestrated the attack that Jack Mallory referred to in Morse Code, when he drilled a simple request into the false teeth of the

war criminal who ordered the bombing that killed 3,000 Americans. A simple request that Hideki Tojo, the prime minister of Japan, never knew was inside his own mouth, even though it gave him something to chew on before his rendezvous with the hangman. A simple request that read, remember Pearl Harbor. Anyway, that's the way I heard it. review which we hope that you'll do tell us who you are tell us who you are and before you go won't you leave stop wait this is a soda yeah and it has protein 10 grams no sugar zero and it actually tastes good it's sky pop sky pop protein soda delivers the refreshing taste you want from a real soda crisp and delicious with 10 grams of complete protein,

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