I was eight when the tooth fairy forgot to switch my tooth with a quarter.
I was sure that it was mom who really did it, but I still had no proof either way. Maybe I was really trying to prove that the tooth fairy WAS real. Whatever the motivation, I formulated a plan to get mom’s fingerprints using an ink pad, and I laid out some photographs on my bedroom floor so that when mom came to take my tooth--if it was really her--she’d pick them up and leave her fingerprints on them, and then I’d match the fingerprints and I’d know for sure that it was her who came in the night. The pictures, perfectly clean and with no fingerprints smudged onto them, were still on the floor in the morning, though, and I had an old quarter under my pillow.
The next time I lost a tooth I was careful to place the plastic bag containing my brittle little tooth under the pillow farthest from my bedroom door so that mom would have to reach over me to get it, at which point I’d wake up and see her. The next morning, I had a tooth AND a quarter. The following morning after that, my tooth was gone and I had an additional quarter with a note apologizing for not taking the tooth right away. After that, I was fearful of the “toothfairy” failing, of ceasing to exist--even if it was really my own mother--so I stopped trying to catch her.
The next time I lost a tooth, my tooth remained under my pillow for three nights. Devastated, I casually mentioned to mom that it was still there, knowing now that it truly was mom who did it, and that I’d gotten to the age when mom thought I didn’t believe so she didn’t bother to do it “right” anymore, she made no effort to even pretend... Even though she knew that I knew, I still wanted her to pretend. I was disappointed. Two nights later, my tooth was finally gone, replaced with a quarter. It was then that I realized that the world wasn’t perfect.
Author notes
7-26-07
Prompt: Realizing the world isn't perfect.
A prompt from another contest that, unfortunately, has a requirement that my piece does not comply with, though I decided to complete the piece anyway.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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This was bittersweet
It actually reminds me alot of my childhood in a way. Heh. I never tried really to 'catch' mom at it, but...being the kinda magical, 'believer' type person I am, I never completely questioned the existence of the toothfairy, easterbunny, santa, etc.
Mainly I suppose, since mom was so GOOD at it all! lol. I always had more than enough 'proof' that they existed, since she was a magical kinda person too...and went all out to make us kids BELIEVE!
For example...we NEVER 'caught' her at any of it, since she'd make darn sure we were like the dead first, deep in slumber...before making her move. (she was a night owl! lol. So often made her stealthy moves at 2 AM or so, long past our abilitiy to know what was goin on.)
With the 'toothfairy', always came magical lil gifts like glassblown unicorns or lil trinkets of somesort that I adored...and 'fairy dust glitter' always strewn about my room in an apparant trail to my pillow...letting me know she'd been there. lol.
With the easter bunny...it was carrot chunk trails and powdery 'footprints' around the house. (and..I KID YOU NOT...a couple of times, right on easter morning, we were 'visited' by a REAL LIVE HUGE JACK RABBIT in our backyard...as if to prove the fact the the easter bunny was REAL! lol. And we believed it was him...(since it wasn't usual to see one), taking a rest before moving on to all the other kids' houses! haha).
For Santa...she went ALL OUT! Every year it was something different...when I was 4 or 5, she actually HIRED the santa dude from Sears to come to our house Xmas Eve night, after my brother and I had been asleep for a while. She woke us up to hear all this clammering outside...(and we were actually scared! lol), saying it was Santa's reindeer on the roof..and he was in the house putting our presents under the tree...."hurry up and come see!" So she helped us to "spy" on santa...from behind a partition wall in our kitchen, while he ate the cookies and milk set out for him, and delivered our presents! lol. We were still so small...that we actually BELIEVED we witnessed him fly off in his sleigh when we spied out the windows as he left! haha...
Let me tell ya, things like that really made a deep impression on us little ones! Heh. For YEARS afterwards, when all my friends told me it was only our parents who played those roles, I never believed them, since I always had "proof"! I told them all that THEIR PARENTS "had" to do it for them, since they didn't believe enough, and santa and the tooth fairy don't bother to visit non-believers, etc. haha
So.... if you will...
try to imagine how CRUSHED I WAS, when finally....at 11 years old, I learned the cold, hard, "unmagical truth".... when my mother was pregnant with my baby sister, and could no longer climb the steep stairs to my bedroom to tuck us in at night, and ...the toothfairy didn't come.... and in my tears over it, she finally confessed it was her all along!!
lol
Yah... and the real bummer was, if the toothfairy was really my mom, I knew then that all the others were too. She was amazed actually, that I had believed as long as I had, in alla that stuff...but dammit, she was just TOO GOOD at it to make me doubt! heh. My world changed after that though I have to say, and nothing seemed quite as 'possible' anymore, once so-called 'reality' crashed down upon me. I was heartbroken.
(though...to be honest, I did have a 'sneaking suspicion' at times. But I really didn't want to know the truth, because it would bring an end to all the magic if I stopped believing!)
Thankfully...due to my sister being 11 yrs younger than me, even though I knew it was "only mom"...I still got to indulge in the facade of it all anyway as my sis grew up....so....santa and the easter bunny STILL CAME FOR US ALL...lol. Many times, I'd help out in performing the tasks for my sis when mom wasn't up to it.
And it was always worth it to see the delight on her face the next morning....and seeing how SHE BELIEVED in the magic...unjaded by the 'truth'.
SORRY this is so long! Heh. But yer story just brought it all flooding back to me! I loved your lil story, it was very heartwarming...and bittersweet. You did a nice job on it!
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Wow, that's the longest comment I've ever read in my life! And WOW, your mom is amazing for pulling that off! That's completely awesome...I wish my mom had done that. Maybe if I ever have kids someday I'll go all-out for them like your mum did for you... Oooh, that could be so much fun!!
I'm glad this brought back memories for you.
I can't imagine how devastated you must've been when you found out the truth...You poor thing!
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Aww
Cute lady! I like how you took that prompt and wrote about it like this. It's such a little thing but it indeed does answer the prompt. Good job!
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We have a saying in our household once the kids have reached the age where they question all thinds magical..."You stop believing, you stop receiving". I still get presents from Santa Claus.
The world may not be pefect, but your mother's love for you is. -
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Heh. Yeah, when my younger brother and I were at the age where we stopped believing, I always tried to get him to be quiet and pretend he still believed so we'd still get present from Santa (we still do, anyway, though not as many...) But he was too proud of knowing "the truth" so he never kept his mouth shut!
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Mommy still reads the finest bedtime tales to me , so I've a deep preference for the stories from a writer like you . Oh! And she was sitting by my side reading your tale with me . It was pretty good .
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The following are obviously my opinion:
The first sentence is VERY STRONG. only, i think something's holding it back. take out...when i was sleeping. it's kinda commmon knowledge that the tooth fairy comes when you sleep...
Wow i thought this had a very good theme in it and it was portrayed with such simplicity that it was elegant.
How even though somethings may not exist we want them to happen for the comfort they bring (that made me think of religion right away) and the girl's realization of perfection.
This was a very very good story. It was one where it was so easy to read...just devour but when you get through it.. you don't just go onto another story you see... you stop and think about it.
Great job!
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Ooh, yay! Good point about the first sentence, I'll edit that... And yeah, I usually like the start my stories/poems with strong/catchy starting sentences and end them with a strong one...It makes the story all yay and such.
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