Chapter 150

Sarah POV

Filming my seventh episode of Let’s Talk! was remarkably easier than filming the first, but it was still a chore, and that was with a paid film crew. I couldn’t imagine the pain the whole thing must be for people who did it all themselves.

Lainey and I had sat down together the day before to work out the rough script while Eliot oversaw the now-routine transformation of the kitchen into its camera-ready, depersonalized state. Then, of course, we’d gone to my room and sorted out my wardrobe, hair, jewelry, and makeup.

I’d seen the movie Barbie with the girls recently and had a strong feeling of fellowship during the scene where her magic wardrobe in her Barbie Dream House dressed her in a complete look from head to toe. All I needed was to be able to float down to my slightly too-small car and drive into the sunset.

We’d been using the children’s school hours for filming, unless we needed to do a scene with them in it, which had only happened twice, so the house was nice and quiet, and the staff knew to keep it down unless there were an emergency.

Zane, recognizing the good the videos were doing after even Whitfield took them seriously, gave the staff a bonus for the extra work and care, so everyone was in a good mood on filming days.

This morning, the crew had set up the lighting, which meant three light sources and a “white sheet” that made everything a little brighter without making things harsh, or so I had been told. The crew then tested the equipment and made some last-minute adjustments while I and my guest got into makeup.

Finally, I was standing in front of the main camera with a smile. “Hello,” I said, “and welcome to Let’s Talk!, a YouTube channel made by a human to talk to other humans about werewolves, which, thank the goddess, remains a popular topic. I want to thank all my subscribers out there, and if you haven’t subscribed yet, that’s OK, but please be sure to check the channel for updates to see if we’ve got something to interest you.

“I’m speaking today with Dr. Caihong Anderson, who’s one of those rare dentists who specializes in both human and wolf dental care.”

I turned to her with a smile, and the bet smiled back, revealing a truly impressive row of straight, white teeth.

“Now, as I understand it,” I said, “while humans are typically raised with good dental hygiene, this is a somewhat new concept to wolves. Is this correct?”

“Yes. Wolves have long been taught that transformations heal teeth, and this is true, but unless a tooth is actually missing, they also leave teeth in the same state as when the person was last in wolf form, which means that cleaning and straightening are not achieved by transformation.”

I nodded and asked more questions about tooth decay and gum health, all the while thinking this may not have been the most exciting topic to pick. But then things went off-script.

“Which is why you really don’t want to just rely on crunching bones.”

I smiled. “Crunching bones?”

Dr. Anderson wasn’t as good at, or perhaps as interested in, hiding her surprise as I was. “Why, yes. Didn’t you know? Werewolves are encouraged to chomp bones for good dental health.”

“I had heard of crunching bones, but I thought it was an abandoned practice,” I said truthfully.

“Yes, in the nineteenth century, the practice was labeled ‘barbaric,’ but it’s a sound process. I tell my patients to do it, though there are guidelines.”

“Such as?”

“Well, bones can splinter and cause harm, which is dangerous for pups, so I don’t recommend crunching bones until puberty. Also, you want to make sure to use raw bones, never smoked bones or antlers, which may be too hard and crack teeth.” She laughed.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, I confess there are great stories about stories in folklore about mighty werewolves who cracked antlers, trees, and even rocks to clean their teeth.”

“Like Pliny the Elder?” I asked.

She looked surprised again and said with slightly condescending approval, “You know your werewolf history.”

“From my human textbooks, yes.” I made sure to keep my voice and face as friendly as possible.

“Yes. Well, if Pliny the Eder really did munch rocks, I’m pretty sure he lost his teeth quickly. The thinking today is that he actually crunched stale cheese, which was said to be hard as rocks.”

“I see.”

“So, yes, raw bones ideally the same size as your wolf’s mouth to prevent choking. Ideally, you want to spend thirty minutes two or three times a week crunching on bones.”

“Should the bones be clean or meaty?” I asked, and again she looked at me in surprise. It was getting a little old, but we could edit all that out.

“While the action of scraping our teeth against the bone helps remove plaque, pulling those little bits of meat, gristle, and cartilage off the bone works like dental floss, which I’ll explain for any wolf viewers out there is a strong, slippery bit of string that humans use to work debris and plague out of the spaces between teeth. This is also good for the gums.”

“But you said that choking was possible?”

“Yes, bone chewing should be down with other members of the family or pack, just for safety.”

“Are any types of bones better than others?” I asked. This was really a lot more like it.

“Your best bet is raw chicken bones and turkey necks, neither of which has marrow, because you can just chomp them up and swallow them for their nutrients. Also, lamb and goat bones are less dense than bison or beef bones.”

I laughed. “I had no idea! But then, that’s what this show is all about.” I smiled into the camera and thought we’d cut it there.

Dr. Anderson through in a few tips about tooth care we’d already covered, and we finished pleasantly afterward.

Zane, again for the benefit of the videos, came out to thank Dr. Anderson for her appearance, which made her simper a bit, which was fine. Then Lainey saw her out.

Alone with Zane, I watched for a minute as the kitchen was being restored, then asked, “Do you crunch bones?”

“What?”

“Bones, for your teeth?”

“No.” Then he remembered who my guest had been. “Should I?”

“Evidently.”

“Should the children?”

“No, not until they hit puberty in case they splinter their teeth instead of cleaning them.”

“Good to know.”

I nodded. Zane’s humorous deadpan made me feel a little less ridiculous. Melissa could talk all she wanted about uniting wolves, but I knew all dental the benefits of chomping raw chicken bones.