“牙齒仙女”的道歉

When our son discovered his first loose tooth， he was 2)perplexed about this event at first. It 3)wiggled back and forth; so was it a novelty? Something he could entertain himself with for hours 4)on end?

Apparently it was， he decided， and would wiggle his tooth with the enticing boast of “Look at what I can do!” After all， no one else in the household could wiggle a tooth， so， in his opinion， it was a talent deserving of every opportunity available for showing it off.

All went well for the first day or two， but the more he wiggled the tooth， the looser it became. “Ow，” he howled when trying to take a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “Mean tooth，” he 5)pouted when asked what was the matter. “It hurt my sandwich!”

The day came when the “mean” loose baby tooth finally reached the point where he could pull it out with his little fingers. “Look Mommy.” He came running into the living room holding up this little pearl-like item in his fingers. “My mouth has a hole now!”

“It certainly does，” I chuckled as he opened his mouth to show all his teeth， minus the one in his little hand.

He quickly informed us about having knowledge of someone known as the Tooth Fairy existing and that this Tooth Fairy would trade a tooth for some money. That night our son set his tooth out for the Tooth Fairy to locate. Unfortunately， the Tooth Fairy somehow forgot “she” was supposed to stop by for a visit as he， erm—I mean “she”， fell asleep instead.

What does a parent do when a child peeks under their pillow and says， “Tooth Fairy didn’t leave me any money. And she didn’t take my tooth， too”? A parent cannot tell his or her child that someone as great and mystical as the Tooth Fairy just “forgot”. After all， according to 6)lore， the Tooth Fairy instinctively knew when and where in the world a tooth awaited

her. Nor can you say that maybe the tooth wasn’t “good enough”.

So my husband did the next best thing， he confessed. Yes—he admitted to forgetting that the Tooth Fairy called to let him know “she” was 7)low on funds so needed to go by the bank. “She” was extremely apologetic but would be coming that evening instead.

This 8)placated the little boy. After all， Daddy periodically had to go by the bank to take out money， so it seemed 9)plausible other people， including one Tooth Fairy， would too.

Game plan on the adult side of things went into action. My oldest daughter was recruited to show off a bit of her creativity in assisting the Tooth Fairy making up for disappointing one little boy. Our son also recognized my and my husband’s handwriting， so that helped provide another reason to 10)enlist her help. “Just make it short but sincere while mentioning about the bank，” I instructed her after locating two shiny 11)dimes that would later accompany the note that would take the place of a tooth hidden under a pillow thus complete the Tooth Fairy’s method of 12)bartering.

The next morning I heard a gleeful sound as my son woke up， then raced out to the living room. “Look， Mommy， two whole dimes!”

“13)Heck of a deal for one little tooth! Anything else?” I boldly 14)prodded.

“A letter，” he beamed while holding up a piece of folded paper. “Just for me!”

“Dear R.，” he read out loud for all of us. “I am very sorry I didn’t visit sooner. I was 15)broke and had to stop at the bank. I told your daddy. You have been taking good care of your teeth! Keep on brushing， The Tooth Fairy.”

The two shiny dimes quickly became lost somewhere in the 16)confines of the couch within an hour of him waking and finding them under his pillow. He did not seem upset about their loss. However， whenever the letter， from someone known as the Tooth Fairy， was

17)remotely suspected of being lost or accidentally thrown away， it was an entirely different story—even three months later after initially receiving the “letter”.br>

當兒子第一次發現自己有一顆牙齒松動時，起初他很困惑。松動的牙齒前后搖擺，不是挺新奇的嗎？足以讓他自娛自樂玩個不停吧？

顯然，他就是這樣做的。他會邊搖動牙齒邊得意洋洋地夸耀著：“瞧，我可以這樣！”畢竟，家里沒有其他人可以這樣搖動牙齒。因此，在他看來，這是一種才能，應當抓住每個可利用的機會來炫耀一番。

起初的一兩天里，一切還好。然而，隨著他搖動牙齒的次數增多，牙齒變得越加松動。“哎喲！”當他試圖咬一口蘸有花生醬和果醬的三明治時，他嚎叫了一聲。問他怎么回事，他撅著嘴說道：“可惡的牙齒！它把我的三明治咬疼了！”

這一天到來了——兒子終于可以用他的小手把那顆松動的“可惡”乳齒拔出來了。“瞧，媽咪，現在我的嘴里有個小洞！”他高舉著那顆珍珠般的小乳齒跑進客廳。

“的確是啊。”我輕聲笑著說。兒子張開嘴巴向我展示他全部的牙齒，除了握在他小手中的那顆。

很快，兒子就告訴我們，他知道有個“牙齒仙女”，她會用錢來跟我們交換牙齒。當晚，兒子把他的那顆牙齒放在外面好讓“牙齒仙女”找到。不幸的是，“牙齒仙女”不知何故忘記了“她”本應順道來訪。相反，他，呃……我指的是“她”——睡著了。

要是孩子瞥一眼枕頭底下然后說：“‘牙齒仙女’沒有給我留下錢，也沒有拿走我的牙齒。” 家長該怎么做呢？家長可不能告訴孩子那是因為“忘記了”，像“牙齒仙女”那樣偉大神秘的仙人怎么可以隨便“忘記”呢。畢竟，按道理，“牙齒仙女”會本能地知曉世界上什么時候、什么地方有牙齒在等著她。