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Jeff wiggled it. Then he pushed and pulled on it—and
he didn’t stop until he winced in pain. Once the throbbing eased, he
repeated the process, day in
and day out for a week. Success finally came in math class! The baby
tooth popped out, bounced off his desktop and landed at his feet.
Sporting a huge smile, he snatched it up and stuffed it into his
jean’s pocket.
Jeff’s “tooth extraction” was the topic of dinner
conversation that evening. “I was tryin’ hard to get that tooth out
‘cause I’m saving up for a new baseball glove,” he told his parents
and siblings.
“You look really funny with that gap in your
mouth! I’d rather have a tooth than an old baseball glove,” taunted
his older sister, Maggie.
Maggie continued to tease and torment her little
brother but Jeff took it all in stride.
He planned to go to bed early, tuck the tooth
under his pillow, and fall asleep. Come morning, when barely awake,
his fingers would crawl under the pillow to see how generous the Tooth
Fairy had been. Hopefully, he’d then have enough money to purchase
the baseball glove he’d been dreaming about.
With dinner finished, the busy clan scattered in
all directions; kids retired to their bedrooms to complete homework
assignments and Mom cleaned up the kitchen while Dad tackled a stack
of bills. Everyone tumbled into bed exhausted from another busy day
in a hectic household.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometime later, Jeff’s mom was on a cleaning
frenzy in his cluttered bedroom. She gathered up a stack of loose
papers on his desk; one sheet escaped the pile and fluttered to the
floor. Mom gasped when she gazed at it!
Dear
Tooth Fairy
Why
don’t you ever come and take my tooth?
It’s
been more than 3 or 4 months. Leave a
note
to tell me.
Jeff
О←Tooth (drawing by Jeff)
P.S. On Johnny Bravo the Tooth Fairy is a man.
Further down the page he had tried communicating
with the fairy yet again.
Dear
Tooth Fairy
I’ve
lost my tooth! I hope you believe me.
Jeff Brosowske
A mortified Mother chuckled just prior to her
tears gushing. She couldn’t remember exactly when Jeff lost the
tooth, although she did recall being exhausted and stressed that
evening. Mercy, had it really been
several months ago? And, why hadn’t Jeff mentioned such an
unusual predicament to his parents? Instead, he had chosen to
negotiate with the Tooth Fairy on his own terms and surely he felt
dejected!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That evening his parents discussed the dilemma
long and hard. Just how bewildered and hurt had their young son
been? All childhood fantasies eventually come to an end—but
not this way and not at Jeff’s age. They were heartbroken for Jeff,
and ashamed of their forgetfulness. A vow was made to never mention
finding the letter, although Mom made a copy and placed it in a box of
treasured keepsakes.
Early the next morning Jeff bounded down the
stairs. “Mom, Dad! Mom, Dad… where are you?”
“In the kitchen,” Mom called and winked at her
husband.
Jeff scurried into the kitchen and screeched to a
halt. Giggling, he threw his hands into the air and let go—one-dollar
bills landed helter-skelter atop the kitchen table.
“Have you ever seen so much money? And I thought
the Tooth Fairy forgot about me! Now I’m gonna get to buy the best
baseball glove ever. I figured I’d be old by the time I had enough
money! Yippee…”
“Forgot about you?” asked his dad, “why would you
think the Tooth Fairy forgot you, son?”
“It took that fairy forever to come—I know it was a couple of months! Maybe it’s gettin’ old and
can’t get around very fast anymore. Hhhmmm—‘spose
they have to get new fairies when the old ones slow down and start
forgetting where they are going?”
“You might be right, Jeff!
And I bet they go through
training, too—you know, so
burglar alarms won’t sound off in houses at night and scare people,”
his mom countered with a smile.
“I wonder if the old Fairy came last night and
left this extra money ‘cause I had to wait so long? Or, maybe it was
a new one that doesn’t know all the rules yet? Oh, well!”
The youngster seemed satisfied that even a Tooth
Fairy might have reason to be late—but
would always show up sooner or later. Both parents felt their angst
begin to ease.
After breakfast Jeff and his dad threw on their
clothes and headed to the local sporting goods store. Jeff marched
directly to the Rawlings glove he’d been yearning for, and paid for it
with his wad of one-dollar bills. He immediately slipped the glove on—then
skipped circles around his dad all the way back to the car.
“That’s a handsome glove, Jeff. We’ll play catch
when we get home to help break it in.”
Jeff beamed. “I can’t wait! Dad, you know
what? It’s not so bad to wait for something you really, really want.
If I’d have bought this glove, say…last month, I wouldn’t be all this
happy today.”
“Jeff, have I ever told you what a wise young man
you are?” Dad was proud of his son’s attitude!
After thinking for a few moments Jeff answered,
“Dad, I think you’re the wisest person I know. So, did I get my wise
from you.
Dad reached over and tousled Jeff’s hair…then
forced his words around the lump that bulged in his throat. “No, I
don’t think so—actually I haven’t been feeling very wise lately at all! As for
you being wise—it was definitely a gift from God.”
©2007 Kathleene S. Baker
Lnstrlady @ aol.com
www.txyellowrose.com |
