Here's Fructus again! This is a get-ready-for-Halloween type of chapter, so all you fans of Halloween should be getting in the spirit as you read this…kinda…

Should I do an actual Halloween chapter involving someone getting teeth pulled on Halloween?

Oh, now I know how to spell MAKARIA'S NAME!

CHAPTER 55: THE STRING ON THE DOOR

Ms. Psyche and Ms. Danae were sitting in their classroom doing paperwork. Their class was fast asleep on their cots. Little Hebe was curled into a ball, sucking her thumb and smiling. Little Makaria was sleeping on her tummy with drool coming out onto the pillow. And little Fructus was talking in his sleep about wheat and spices.

Phobos walked over to Ms. Danae. "Ms. Danae? My tummy hurts," he said, clutching his stomach.

"Well, let's go see Ms. Hecate," Ms. Danae said, taking Phobos down to Ms. Hecate's office.

Ms. Hecate was sitting at her computer, but she stood up immediately when she saw the teacher and student. "Hi, you two," said Ms. Hecate. "How can I help you?"

"Phobos isn't feeling very well," said Ms. Danae. "Can you call Ares so he can pick him up?"

"Well, we have a new nurse on staff today," said Ms. Hecate. "Her name is Ms. Hestia. She said Zeus told her to get a life, so now she's here."

Ms. Danae took Phobos down the hall to Ms. Hestia's office, where Ms. Hestia was typing on the computer.

"Hi, Phobos," said Ms. Hestia. "What's the matter?"

"My tummy hurts," said Phobos, sitting on the chair next to Ms. Hestia's desk.

"Well, I'll take care of it from here, Ms. Danae," said Ms. Hestia.

When Ms. Danae came back into the classroom, Ms. Psyche was about to put the paperwork away and wake the kids up.

"I'll put those back, Psyche," said Ms. Danae. "You wake them up."

Ms. Psyche smiled cheerfully and went to the CD player and put on the "Wakeup Song". "Boys and girls, time to wake up now," she cooed softly.

Hebe and Fructus sat up and rubbed their eyes. But when Fructus yawned, he noticed something wasn't quite right. His tooth was a little loose.

Fructus had heard stories from Hermes and Apollo that your teeth fall out when you're little, and he didn't want that to happen, or else he'd get a yelling-at by Demeter and Trip.

"What's wrong, Fructus?" asked Hebe as she got up and put her cot away.

"I think my tooth is loose," said Fructus. "Mommy's gonna kill me."

"But she can't 'cause you're a god," said Hebe. "Sometimes, Daddy yells at me, too, but then Mommy hits him and I gets to watch. It's really funny."

"Boys and girls," said Ms. Psyche, "let's do our Halloween crafts! Come over to the craft table over here!"

Since Ms. Psyche's class had, like, five kids in it, they could all fit at one table. Ms. Danae passed out some orange paper and some markers and the kids began drawing scary pictures.

"Oh, Deimos," said Ms. Danae, "that's a very nice drawing of a ghost!"

"Fructus," said Hebe, "just don't tell your mommy and daddy. They don't gotta know, right?"

Fructus nodded. "But Mommy says I can tell her anything and she'll still love me."

"Boys and girls," Ms. Danae said, "we need to finish these up today, okay? Your parents will be here really soon."

Forty-five minutes later, the gods came to get their kids. Hebe and Fructus were playing Castle, and Fructus didn't like the fact that he couldn't be the king while Hebe was the queen.

"Okay, everyone," said Ms. Psyche, "remember, no school tomorrow because—what day is it, Fructus?"

"Saturday!"

"Good work, Fructus! Tomorrow is Saturday, so go outside and play in the leaves!"

WITH HERA AND HEBE

"Mommy? Fructus gots a loose tooth. Do you think Aunt Dem will be mad at him?"

"Of course not, Hebe. That's supposed to happen. That just means Fructus is getting his big-boy teeth soon," Hera replied. "Speaking of teeth, how's your tooth coming along? Have you been wiggling it?"

Hebe pushed on her loose tooth with her tongue. "Yep. But Ares says you bleed when it comes out."

"If you bleed when it comes out, it won't be that much," Hera replied, pulling into McDonald's. "Now, how about some dinner and we can watch 'Cinderella' when we get home?"

WITH FRUCTUS AND FRUCTUS' MOMMY AND DADDY

Everyone was sitting at the dinner table. All was calm…until Trip ruined it by humming "Home on the Range".

"Daddy? Can you not sing that right now?" Fructus asked.

"Why not?" Trip snapped.

"Because I have something important to tell you guys." Fructus took a deep breath. "Mommy? Daddy? I—"

"Fructus," Demeter warned, "if this is about doing drugs at your age, I will have to run over you with the plow."

"No, Mommy. I don't do drugs. I heard Ares does drugs, though. I have a loose tooth."

"Oh, you're getting to be such a big boy," Demeter said, hugging her son and smiling.

"All right!" Triptolemus yelled. "This is fabulous!"

"But it won't come out," said Fructus. "I keep wiggling it and it won't come out."

"Honey, it might take a little while," said Demeter.

The next day was Saturday. It was cool and breezy outside, and Fructus and his parents were going to meet Hebe, Hera, and Zeus at the pumpkin patch for a "family day", as Hera called it.

But something needed to be done first.

Fructus woke up that morning to find—sadly—that his tooth was still there. He'd eventually complained to Demeter so many times, that she made an emergency appointment with the dentist to get it pulled.

Fructus, Demeter, and Triptolemus all sat in the waiting area. Fructus watched a bit of "Dragon Tales" for a while until the dentist called him back.

Fructus, Demeter, and Trip were not happy about Aphrodite being there. Aphrodite was in a white lab coat and she had an assortment of makeup on her face that made Fructus sick to his stomach.

"Hi, Fruitsies," said Aphrodite.

"Fructus," Fructus corrected.

"Same thing," Aphrodite snapped. "What's wrong with you?"

"I have a loose tooth that won't come out," said Fructus.

"Yeah, okay," said Aphrodite. "So, like, what do you wanna do about it?"

"You're going to pull it so he stops complaining," said Demeter bitterly.

"Ugh," Aphrodite snapped. "FINE! But I'd like to do it the old-fashioned way!"

Aphrodite took a long piece of floss from a container in a drawer. She wrapped one end around the handle of the drawer, then tied the other one to Fructus' tooth. Then she made sure everything was tight enough. "Ready, Fruitsies?" she giggled.

"Uh-huh," Fructus replied.

Aphrodite slammed the drawer shut. Fructus' tooth came out, with a few drops of ichor. Once Fructus felt the spot where his tooth used to be, he turned to his mother. "Mommy, that hurt."

"It'll feel better in a bit," said Demeter. "At least Uncle Hades didn't do it."

"All done," said Aphrodite, handing the tooth to Fructus. "Now you can put it under the pillow for Denta."

"Who's that?" Fructus said.

"She's the goddess of teeth," said Aphrodite. "Mortals sometimes refer to her as the Tooth Fairy."

Fructus and his parents met Hebe and her family at the pumpkin patch, where Fructus showed off his new smile.

"Wow," said Hebe. "Mommy pulled mine out this morning, too. Well, actually, Daddy did it because Mommy doesn't like seeing me hurt."

"How'd he do it?" Fructus wondered aloud.

"He tied a string to it and slammed the door," said Hebe. "Ms. Psyche said that if we lose teeth we gets to put our names on a tooth picture and stick it to our cubbies."

"Who wants to pick out a big pumpkin?" Hera asked.

"Me! Me!" Zeus yelled, jumping up and down and holding his hand in the air.

Hera slapped him. "Hebe, do you want to walk with Fructus and pick out a big pumpkin?"

"Yes, Mommy."

So Hebe and Fructus began to walk towards the pumpkin patch.

Should I do another Halloween one?