Quick Pick

Saber was looking for any option

Photo by Sara Groblechner on Unsplash

‘‘Argh argh argh’’

For thirty minutes, Saber tried desperately to get the gunk of sausage meat that was stuck between his two teeth on the right side of his top row of teeth. He would have moments when he felt he was close to getting the meat out of the area, but the sausage refused to leave its comfortable spot.

Saber used his Colgate toothbrush, his tongue, and the small toothpicks he had in his room and bathroom, hoping those options would do the trick, but to no avail. His desperation made him grab his tablet that was beside him on his black couch, with the weather channel on his smart TV, watching him.

Saber stared at the numerous options on his tablet and quickly looked for the Google word and symbol. Once his eyes landed on the Google words, he clicked on it with one of his right fingers. When the Google search bar appeared, he quickly typed how to remove food stuck in teeth.

After he typed the words and pressed enter, Saber saw a well of options appear on his tablet, ranging from YouTube videos to articles on how to remove food between teeth. Below those options, he saw five companies that were about removing food between teeth, with the phone numbers listed below their names.

Saber’s curiosity made him want to try one of the companies out and see what would happen.

‘‘Tooth Fairy Pick. Hmmm, should I try that one?’’ Saber thought.

He decided to keep looking at the other companies below.

‘‘Wind & Water. Quick Pick. 210-616-5438. Quick Pick! Let me try them!’’

Saber clicked on Quick Pick and saw an application option at the top of the main page. He clicked on the option and scanned the application section before deciding to work on it. It was a quick application that asked for the name, number, address, and whether the person had any pets at their place.

Saber clicked the submit button below once he finished his application. He felt victorious after completing his Quick Pick application. Saber got up from his couch, went to the window in front of him, and looked at the beautiful blue sky with the bright sun shining above his head.

‘‘It’s a beautiful Saturday,’’ he silently said. ‘‘It feels like it’s cooking, though,’’ he added.

A piano noise quickly caught Saber’s attention. It was his phone ringing in his right green pants pocket. Saber reached for his phone to see who was calling him. He saw the number, 210-616-5438, on his phone screen.

‘‘Already? That was…quick.’’ he thought.

Saber clicked the green phone button and eased it to his right ear.

‘‘Hel-lo.’’ Saber slowly said.

He waited for a voice to reach his right ear.

‘‘Hello, is this Saber Wage?’’

‘‘Yes, this is Saber Wage.’’

‘‘Hi, Saber Wage, this is Alan Speedon calling you from Quick Pick. How are you today?’’

‘‘Um, not bad, other than this meat stuck inside my mouth.’’

‘‘Haha, I understand.’’

‘‘How are you today?’’ asked Saber.

‘‘Oh, I’m good, I’m good. My workday has just started, but it should be a calm one today.’’

‘‘I hope it is for you.’’

‘‘ Yes, thank you, I hope it is too.’’ Alan laughed. ‘‘So, like you mention, you have some meat stuck between some teeth, is that correct, Mr. Wage?’’

‘‘Yes, that’s unfortunately correct, ever since I ate eggs, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast.’’

‘‘Um, that sounds good, now I’m hungry.’’

‘‘Oops, sorry about that.’’ Sage laughed.

‘‘No worries, Mr. Wage. I need to be inspired before lunch time arrives.’’ Alan laughed. ‘‘Okay, Mr. Wage, I can send mouth maintenance to take care of your meat problem. They would be at your place in thirty minutes to an hour, would that work for you?’’ asked Alan.

‘‘Oh yes! That would be perfect!’’ Sabe yelled.

‘‘Excellent! Okay, so before I confirm this, I want you to know about pricing before we proceed, okay?’’

‘‘Sure.’’

‘‘Alright, if we were to proceed, the price would be… between…thirty to sixty dollars.’’

Saber pondered for a few seconds before speaking again. ‘‘That’s…not bad.’’

‘‘Right? Compared to other places, it’s not bad at all,’’ said Alan. ‘There are some other companies that charge 100 to 500 dollars. No way could I do that, not with my limited salary.’’

‘‘Facts…facts. I couldn’t do it either, unless I was a millionaire.’’

Saber and Alan laughed for a few seconds.

‘‘Well, alright, if you’re good with the pricing, all I need is your okay to proceed,’’ said Alan.

‘‘Let’s do it!’’ Saber said with enthusiam.

‘‘Okay, sounds good, sir. You shall have the mouth maintenance arrive by thirty minutes or an hour, and they’ll get you right again.’’

‘‘Okay, sounds good to me.’’

‘‘Before I let you go, are there any questions you have?’’

‘‘Um, no, no questions.’’

‘‘Alright, well, Mr. Wage, it was a pleasure speaking to you today, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your Saturday.’’

‘‘I appreciate your help, Alan, and I hope you enjoy your Saturday too, and enjoy your lunch!’’

‘‘Haha, I will, Mr. Wage, I will. Take care.’’

‘‘You too, Alan.’’

‘‘Alright. Bye, sir.’’

‘‘Bye.’’

FOURTY MINUTES LATER

Saber glided across the living room floor with his loud Dirt Devil vacuum, sucking up dirt and small food particles into the red tornado machine. The cleaning he was doing inside his house made him feel great about himself.

The meat hanging inside his teeth and gums remained like an unmovable stone. Saber guided the vacuum towards his kitchen. Saber then heard three taps on his door before hearing the doorbell sound.

He swiftly turned off his vacuum and ran to the door, expecting it to be mouth maintenance outside waiting for him. Saber peeked through his doorhole. His eyes went from happy to bewildered.

Saber slowly opened the door and looked at the three tall toothpicks with large white & black cartoon eyes, a small nose, and a mouth staring at him.

Image created on Bing

‘‘Good afternoon, are you Saber Wage?’’ asked the toothpick on the left.

‘‘Uh, yeah, I am. You’re…you’re.’’

‘‘Yes, we’re live toothpicks. You’re not imagining this.’’ said the toothpick in the middle.

‘‘I’m surprised. I didn’t think toothpicks were alive and existed.’’

‘‘Oh, you’ll be surprised what’s out there in the world you don’t know about.’’ said the toothpick on the right.

Saber nodded his head.

‘‘I’m Mark, and these are my two brothers, Andy and Roscoe.’’

Andy was the toothpick on the left, Roscoe was in the middle, and Mark was on the right.

‘‘Hello, gentlemen.’’ said Saber.

‘‘We’re here to take care of your mouth problem,’’ said Roscoe.

‘‘Well, I’m glad y’all are here because this meat in my mouth is driving me mad.’’

‘‘I bet.’’ said Andy.

‘‘Thank goodness we have positions like this in the world, or we would be homeless,’’ said Roscoe.

‘‘Okay, Mr. Wage, this should be a quick fix,’’ said Mark. ‘‘I’ll just need you to open wide so that I can go inside your mouth and get that meat, okay?’’

‘‘Okay, sure.’’

Saber opened his mouth as wide as possible before Mark rose in the air and flew inside Saber’s mouth. Mark turned on his flashlight on top of his head while scanning inside Saber’s mouth.

‘‘Nothing here’’ said Mark.

Mark went towards the bottom right of Saber’s teeth to look for any sign of meat by using his blue night vision. Mark saw a few food particles, but nothing large yet. Mark then went up to Saber’s top teeth on the right. He went through his teeth and gums looking for his target.

Mark then saw something white hanging between two teeth.

‘‘Could that be what I’m looking for?’’ he thought.

Mark got closer to see if that was the food Saber was having difficulty with. His flashlight was shining bright on the meat.

‘‘Yeah, that’s it!’’

Mark immediately went to work, pushing the chunk of meat out of the spot. Saber could feel the meat leaving the place. He felt relief wash over his body. Mark kept drilling and drilling until the meat landed on Saber’s tongue.

Mark turned off his light and poured some mouthwash from his head in the spot where the food was. Then Mark poured some more just to reach Saber’s entire mouth before flying back where Andy and Roscoe were.

‘‘All done!’’ yelled Mark. ‘‘You can close your mouth now.’’

Saber could feel his jaws screaming for rest. He quickly closed his mouth as he savored the mouthwash Mark poured in.

‘‘ Thank you so much for your help. I’m glad I called your company.’’

‘‘You’re welcome. I knew this would be a quick fix. You’re one of the easiest appointments we’ve had today.’’ said Mark.

‘‘Well, good. You guys are free now.’’ said a smiling Saber.

‘‘Well, not quite,’’ said Roscoe. ‘‘Will that be cash or card?’’