Anthony had utterly failed to fall asleep when his rearmost molar on the left crawled out of his mouth, down his beautiful comforter, and through the bedroom door. While the departure itself was troubling, Anthony found himself most concerned by the thin, broken trail of blood and saliva befouling his comforter. The trail continued onto the carpet, but that stain didn't concern him. He thought he must get up right then and cleanse his comforter, but it was his only one and the night was cold. He resolved to suffer the stain for the night and erase it in the morning. Again when he tried to sleep, the tooth beside the recently departed one in his mouth wriggled free and followed the first. Though this one followed
1
much the same path, it gently diverged and left a new trail that crossed the first near the foot of the bed. Anthony could not suffer this second stain, but when he tried to rise he found his lovely comforter weighed far too much to easily move. As Anthony struggled to extricate himself from his warm, beautiful comforter, his next tooth wriggled free and left its own line and then the next and the next. With each broken, red trail, Anthony's lovely comforter grew heavier and heavier until he found his mouth empty and his body pressed tightly to the mattress, his arms and legs and feet and hands all immobile and secured. He grew optimistic about his chances for sleep.
2