Dear Tooth Fairy,
I thought I should warn you. I think your days are numbered. My six year old son, Snags, doesn’t seem to believe in you anymore. I don’t know why the sudden turn of events. Perhaps you didn’t leave him enough money last week when he lost his fourth tooth?
Or maybe it’s not really a turn of events at all. For a good year or two before he ever lost his first tooth he would argue with me, claiming there was no such thing as a tooth fairy. I wanted him to be a kid and benefit from the lie that there is such a thing, so I insisted he was wrong, that there was a tooth fairy. His dentist backed me up. She’s into lies like that. But looking back, maybe I should have caved then, admitted the truth, and saved myself some money.
Witness this conversation a few nights ago:
Snags: Mom, tell me the truth. Is there really a tooth fairy?
Me: (Indignant tone) Of course there is! (thinking, SHIT! Where is your father, now?) Why would you ask that?
Snags: Well, I think it’s really you and dad leaving me money.
Me: (Bewildered tone) Why would we do that?
Snags: Because you want to give me money? I think you get up in the middle of the night and give me money.
Me: Snags! Think about it. I don’t like to get up in the MORNING. I’m certainly not going to get up in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to give you money!
Snags: Maybe dad does it.
Me: No, I’m sure he doesn’t. And besides, your friends Zane and Nicholas and Megan all lost teeth recently and they said the tooth fairy left them money too.
Snags: Maybe it was their parents leaving the money.
Me: (trying to confuse the issue) Well I certainly wouldn’t get up in the middle of the night to let their parents into our house!
Snags: I know there isn’t a tooth fairy because Mrs. V. told us when the tooth fairy leaves you money it’s really your parents doing it.
Me: (thinking “his Kindergarten teacher said WHAT?!”) Why would she say that? She LIED to you.
Snags: Well… she didn’t say that. I just said that to get you to admit there isn’t a tooth fairy. That’s okay. I believe in the tooth fairy anyway.
So anyway, as you can see, Snags is just on this side of belief. Or disbelief. I’m not sure. But it’s a knife-edge, and he’s wobbling. He wants the money, that much is obvious. But it’s also obvious that he doesn’t care who gives it to him. So long as he gets it.
Running With Books 