Kinderfreibad, or All's Will That Ends Will

(Click photo to enlarge)
On Thursday, Rob decided to take the boys to the swimming pool while the girls were in class. Only first, as a responsible adult, he wanted to return the video to the library which was due. So they trekked around the corner and he returned Asterisk and Obelisk and Cleopatra to save the 20 cent overdue fee.
In the three minutes they were there, Will, who was riding on his scooter outside, fell off and broke the bottom third off of his front tooth. He hit it on the pavement, where it split into little shards. Will was terrorized ('who knew my tooth could break?!'). Rob was horrorstruck. Then he remembered that in his visits to doctors and dentists and orthodontists, that there was a dentist's office right around the corner (right around the corner). They tried to find the pieces of the tooth, but they were too little and disappeared, thus proving what Mary Ann has long feared: that Will has Rob's teeth, which are like Smarties candies.
Rob was hoping the dentist could schedule something soon or maybe even look at it and seal the tooth until he could fix it. Instead they took Will right in, sanded it off, and put on a new cap/crown/partial whatever it's called, and he looked perfectly normal when he walked in at noon. They used all the same exciting technology we have at home. The nice assistants even got Will an ice pack for his knee. The entire thing cost about what our 20% portion would have been at home. Rob was so thrilled he's thinking of having some dental work done here as well.
It was, however, more expensive than the 20 cent overdue fee . . .
Then the boys were unhappy that they hadn't been able to go swimming, so after Rob's meeting and after dragging his class around town to UNO city and the Donauturm in search of rational modernist architecture, and after the meeting with the students at our house, we went to the Kinderfreibad tonight. This is translated as the Children's Outdoor Pool, and it's like a community pool. Kids are free, and you can only come if you are a kid or are with one. It's pretty laid back. Over here, the main function of lifeguards is to help with the lounge chairs. I seldom saw anyone actually standing and looking at the water (unless they were having a smoke). When we got there it was filled with dozens of kids, but the pictures are all from the last 20 minutes, when everyone else was packing up and going home. It appears to be unheated, but that feels good on a hot sweaty sort of day (like today).
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The second video may reassure grandparents that Will doesn't look maimed and isn't permanently scarred by today's events. At least he can still talk!

Comments

Zina said…
Thank goodness for the happy ending! Yikes! I read a book this week where a character gets a tooth knocked out, and it was making me unhappy/uncomfortable/anxious for the next many chapters until he finally got a denture at the end of the book.
10:08 PM
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