The fear of keys
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What if you were afraid of a common, everyday object to such a degree that it became a phobia? Tom suffered from dentisorichalcumophobia, the fear of keys. He had avoided them his whole life, had planned for every situation. Except Maggie.
Dentisorichalcumophobia. That's what Dr. Cole called it. Unfortunately for Tom, there was no Latin word for "key", so the literal translation was fear of brass teeth'. Tom felt that was probably more accurate anyway. That's exactly what keys reminded Tom of, little, nasty, sharp brass teeth, just waiting to cut and gnaw into his skin. Just the thought of holding one in his hand made him clammy and nauseous. For a city dweller in the twenty first century, Tom's phobia had created an endless parade of life challenges.

It had cost Tom almost three hundred dollars to have a locksmith replace his front door lock with an electronic, keyless version. Tom made sure that he never got to the office too early or stayed too late so that he never had to deal with locking or unlocking the door. It would have been impossible at any rate; Tom's keys had been in his desk drawer since the day he was hired three years ago. Living in the city meant an endless supply of taxicabs most of the time, which spared Tom the agony of trying to operate an automobile. He picked his mail up at the post office three times a week because all of the boxes in his building had locks on them, operated by little gold keys with pentagon shaped heads. He had seen his neighbors open their boxes on their way into the building, and he rationalized that his mail was much safer at the post office until he picked it up. His gym locker had a state of the art combination lock, as did his storage area in the basement. In spite of Dr. Cole's opinion to the contrary, Tom had eliminated any need to use keys whatsoever.
All was well until Maggie showed up. She was bubbly and cute, the kind of woman everyone likes, even the other women. Tom liked her immediately and the attraction was quite mutual. It started with lunch together a few times a week. Soon it was lunch every day and finally, Tom got up the nerve to ask Maggie out to dinner. The evening was magical and Tom felt like he was living in a movie. Maggie made him feel so wonderful that his phobia all but disappeared.
It was Saturday morning and Tom had spent the night at Maggie's for the third time that week. They preferred her place as it was closer to both work and the
theater district. He had his own toothbrush in her medicine cabinet and the bottom drawer of her armoire contained socks, jockeys and several other male essentials. As Tom finished pulling his t-shirt over his head, he felt Maggie come up behind him and slip her arms around his waist.
"I have a surprise for you", she said in a cute, sing-song voice.
"I don't think I have the time or the energy for another surprise, sweety." Maggie had woken Tom with a rather arousing display of affection that lasted nearly an hour.
"Silly man, not that." Maggie giggled. "Here."
Maggie slipped something into Tom's hand. Something cold, hard and sharp. A key.
"You're over here so much, I didn't want you to have to wait for me if I was late."
Tom barely heard the words. There was a roaring in his ears and he was beginning to sweat. His stomach was churning and he was sure to be sick any moment. Maggie stared at him as all the color left his face.
"Baby, what's wrong? You look awful."
"I can't.." Tom barely choked out the words before he dropped the key on the floor and bolted for the door. Maggie looked at it in disbelief. The little silver key, a symbol of her desire to have Tom in her life, had been discarded, cast away. Maggie sat alone on the bed, stunned. How could she have missed it?



Questions
1. What does dentisorichalcumophobia actually mean?



2. Why was he afraid of keys?



3. What's another word for "gnaw"?



4. How did he feel when he held keys in his hands?



5. What are some things he did to avoid touching keys?





6. What's another word for "agony"?




7. What's another world for "bubbly"?



8. Why did Tom run away from his girlfriend?




9. How did Maggie feel?