I have indisputable, undeniable evidence that our tooth fairy should be fired! On top of that, I have an admission of guilt. No, she didn’t make remarks about a women’s basketball team and she didn’t claim to know or be the father of Anna Nicole’s baby! She did, however, commit a terrible blunder. As much as I hate to admit it, what follows is a true story!
TUESDAY EVENING – After what seems like months of talking about loose teeth and watching him wiggle the loose ones for anyone that would watch, a son lost his “first” tooth while eating dinner at a restaurant. The dad managed to get him to the restroom before it came completely out (thus, making sure that he didn’t swallow it). Upon returning to the table, they nestled it safely in the change pocket of the mom’s billfold for safe travel until it could be placed into the official “tooth fairy box”.
Technically, this is the 2nd tooth that the son has lost but the first one that came out naturally. When he was almost 2, he fell and broke the corner off one of his front teeth. It was checked but, because there was no nerve damage and he was not in pain, the Mom and Dad were advised to leave it alone. They did until about a year and a half later when that tooth abcessed and it had to be extracted. The emergency extraction was the son’s first trip to the dentist and that is WHY he already had a “tooth fairy box”.
The family managed to get home from the restaurant; place the tooth in the box; and place the box under the son’s pillow without incident. The tooth fairy carefully counted out some change that would fit in the box and placed it on her nightstand. It would be the last thing she saw when she turned out her light and that would be a reminder. Or so she thought!
WEDNESDAY MORNING – The mom awoke and went to the kitchen to find the son sitting at the kitchen table staring at the official tooth fairy box. The mom, not able to see the box yet, said “Good morning”. No response. About that time, the mom realized what the son was staring at and what a terrible slacker the tooth fairy had been. How could she forget to pay for the first tooth this child had lost? The mom asked what was in the box, knowing that it still held the tiny tooth and wishing that she could, somehow, disappear into the box herself! Again, the son didn’t speak, but quietly opened the box and held it up for the mom to see.
“She forgot,” he said. He might as well have ripped his mom’s heart out with his bare hands.
The mom said, “What do you mean she forgot? The tooth fairy doesn’t forget! Let’s go look in your room and see what we can find.”
The son’s heart wasn’t in it but he followed his mom up the stairs and toward his room. When they were close the to bed, the mom asked “Which pillow did you look under?” He pointed and didn’t seem to notice when the tooth fairy managed to slide some money under the pillow and declare that it must have been there all along. He commented, like he was talking to himself, “I know I looked there before.” The tooth fairy breathed a small sigh of relief when he eagerly grabbed the coins and started to count. She even believed that she had dodged a bullet and averted the crisis when he said, “She still didn’t take the tooth.” Oh yeah…the tooth! How does the mom explain that the tooth fairy didn’t take the tooth?
“I bet she just forgot it. You should put it back in the box and leave it on your nightstand. I am pretty sure the tooth fairy will come back for it.” He didn’t respond to that because he was busy counting his 10 dimes and putting them in his coin sorter. In a minute, when the mom thought that he hadn’t taken the bait about the tooth fairy’s return, he said “Maybe she’ll forget that she has already given me money!”
TO BE CONTINUED…
