Beauty Is as Beauty Does

She was one of those--the physically perfect ones: tall, thin, blond, blue-eyed. I had worked with her for over a year, and I had gotten used to her constant lament. “I need to lose more weight” or “I need to have more electrolysis” or “I need to have more liposuction.” She constantly strived for physical perfection and beauty.

One day, she read in a beauty magazine about having her teeth whitened. For a few weeks all she could talk about was her yellow teeth and how they needed to be whiter. She called dentist after dentist looking for the one with the best price and service. She found Dr. Wesley of Belmont Shore. She called and made an appointment.

All of us in our office rolled our eyes as if saying, “Here she goes again trying to be physically perfect.” What she really needed was to be a nicer person.

She left the office early one afternoon to have the procedure, so we did not see the results until the next day. She came to work and proudly showed us her beautiful white teeth. We were really impressed. Around lunchtime, I stuck my head into her office to ask her a question. She looked up at me and I yelped a muffled scream. “Oh my,” I said and pointed at her face. “What?” she said in a fearful voice. I gasped, “Your teeth--they are black!” She sucked in her breath and covered her mouth with her hand. She quickly opened her desk drawer and pulled out her pet mirror. To her horror, her entire mouth was black. Her teeth, gums and tongue were black as night, and lighter blue bumps were beginning to form on her tongue. She started a long, low moan-like sound that drew other people in our office to run toward her room. She yelled, “Everyone get out!” So we backed out of the room, trying not to gasp.

She slammed her door and raced to the telephone. She dialed the dentist’s office. The telephone rang and rang and rang. As she listened to the dull ringing, her fear grew and grew and grew. Finally, the telephone was answered and an eerie voice said, “Hello, beautiful one. How is that smile? “Beauty is as beauty does. Beauty comes from the inside out. A dark and evil inside was just waiting to get out. Change your ways, your self-absorbing ways, and slowly beauty will replace the dark. But beware beautiful one, only you can make the change from the inside out.”

Then the call was ended by the evil laugh of Dr. Wesley.