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(This short piece ran in the Boston Globe's online blog, "Postcards from the Pandemic," on April 9, 2020.)

When my tooth became abscessed and my face swollen, I called my dentist's office and left a message. Although the office was closed, I got a return call asking me to come in the following day at 10 a.m. I arrived to find my dentist masked, wearing jeans and a paint-spattered jacket. Instead of Lucy the receptionist, his son sat at the front desk at the computer, in class, online.

While I reclined in the chair, the dentist's young daughter, also home from school, assisted him. The whole scene felt dystopian, yet at the same time, the tooth was saved.

- Sharon L. Cook

Sharon L. Cook is the author and illustrator of the Granite Cove Mysteries series.