Before I married my children’s mom, we talked about not having the tradition of mythical characters for holidays and to emphasize the truth of the holiday with our children. Though she didn’t disagree with my view, she made a good point that we had both survived the trauma of learning we had been duped and that it could make things uncomfortable with grandparents, aunts and uncles on both sides of the family. We compromised and agreed to continue the tradition of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy but our children would be told they were symbols of the season, metaphors of a truth about why we were celebrating. Well, except maybe the Tooth Fairy.
Needless to say but family feelings won out over our progressive parenting plan and we followed the traditional model of having mythical super beings who showered gifts, candy and cash on our children. After we split, I kept up the traditions when the kids would be with me and vice versa.
A tradition my children’s mom developed was leaving a Sacagawea dollar from the Tooth Fairy under the pillow. She always had a good supply of shiny new coins on hand because you never knew when a tooth would suddenly appear in the hand of a precious gap-toothed cherub. It was a challenge sometimes sliding the tooth out from under the pillow and inserting the dollar without waking them. Travis was especially difficult since he operated on ½ hour of sleep a night (or so it seemed) and the slightest movement in his room could trigger him awake. His mom became a very stealthy mom taking care of the Tooth Fairy duty and he was always so excited to find that dollar under his pillow, even to the point of asking if I could help him pull a tooth when he wanted some money.
Now my daughter, she was analytical and a bit of a skeptic because something didn’t add up logically. Not to mention that I would refer to the Tooth Fairy as a “she” and a movie came out where the fairy was a “he”. My daughter hadn’t lost many teeth when her mom and I split and I figured I would not be called upon to uphold the tradition because of the odds against her losing a tooth while she was with me. That is until one fateful weekend.
Visitation with my daughter followed a standard routine on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Friday of each month. I would pick her up at 6:00 PM on Friday in Dallas and bring her back at 6:00 PM on Sunday. There were several times I picked her up and could see the difference in her smile and she would tell me that the Tooth Fairy had left her a shiny gold dollar and she was saving it or she had spent it on candy. I usually lectured about the evils of candy on teeth in order to mitigate the possibility of a co-pay for the dentist. I know, bad, cheap, frugal dad.
Well, one particular Friday I picked her up and she was all excited. I asked her why she was so squirmy and she said she had a loose tooth and was hoping it came out soon so the Tooth Fairy would come. She showed me the tooth and by what I could see, the tooth wasn’t coming out before 6:00 PM Sunday. We headed off to Fort Worth for a weekend of fun and assorted shenanigans.
We stopped for dinner on the way and I noticed her trying to wobble the tooth with her finger. Telling her to stop because it wasn’t a good idea to force the tooth out and the pain may not be worth the reward from the Tooth Fairy. “Oh no Daddy” she replied, “I do this all the time”. Not really knowing what to say next, I changed the subject and we finished our dinner.
Friday night and Saturday morning were uneventful in regards to the loose tooth. I admonished her a couple times not to wiggle it and she would stop. I put the issue out of my mind and we set about seeing what kind of mischief we could get into. I recall it being a very fun Saturday, which almost all of them were, and we settled down in the late afternoon. I began to cook dinner while my daughter watched TV.
As I cooked dinner I would steal glances at her as she sat on the couch. Her hands were always away from her mouth and there appeared to be no further assistance in loosening her tooth. I breathed a sigh of relief because I did not have any Sacajawea dollars on hand and preferred this event take place in Dallas where there would be no interruption in the tradition.
I continued to cook dinner, when suddenly there was an excited yell from the living room. “Daddy!” she exclaimed, “my tooth came out on its own!”. As my heart skipped a beat or two I slowly turned from the stove only to gaze upon my smiling daughter with a tooth in one hand and a new gap in the smile.
“The Tooth Fairy will be coming tonight!” she blurted. “I am so excited!”
I stood there smiling at her as panic set in. How would I explain the lack of a Sacagawea dollar? Heck, I barely had enough change to make up a dollar at that time. My mind raced, “Come on Rick” I thought, “what are you going to do?”. Hustling over to my daughter I grabbed a plastic sandwich bag and swiftly rescued the tooth from between her fingers and deposited it for safe keeping in the bag. I then set the tooth bag in the freezer, checked the stove and turned to look back at her.
“Why did you put my tooth in the freezer” she queried. “You aren’t going to keep it are you? The Tooth Fairy won’t come if there isn’t a tooth!”
Thinking quickly, I looked at her and said “Maybe the Tooth Fairy doesn’t know you are in Fort Worth. Wouldn’t it be better to put it under your pillow in Dallas?”
“Daddy” she giggled, “the Tooth Fairy knows where I am all the time. I will put it under my pillow tonight.”
My mind was racing back and forth on what I was going to do. I wasn’t going to be the one who let the truth out. But I didn’t have a gold dollar and there was no way I could leave to get one even if I knew where one would be. I was toast and figured there would be disappointment in the morning when a plastic bag of various coin denominations was discovered under the pillow.
We enjoyed our dinner and settled in to watch a movie before going to sleep for the night. One movie turned into two and it started to get late. My daughter showed no indication of being tired and when I asked her about needing to go to bed soon so the Tooth Fairy would come, she told me she was planning on staying up and catching him/her in the act.
“I don’t think the Tooth Fairy will leave you anything if you are awake” I said.
“I don’t care about the dollar; I want to see if he is real” she replied, “you can go to bed if you want.”
Well that pretty much cratered my big plan to pull this off. I didn’t know what to do. As I sat watching TV with her I pondered my options. After considerable brain damage doing so, I got up around 10:00 PM and told her I was going to my room to catch up on a little work and then go to bed.
“Good night Daddy” she cheerfully stated. “I hope you sleep really good”
I went to my room and kept the door cracked a bit so I could keep an eye on her and see if she fell asleep. Then I would have my chance to quietly slip a bag of change under her pillow and be able to go to sleep. 10:00 turned to 11:00, 11:00 turned to 12:00 as I watched her watch TV with no sign of imminent slumber.
I continued feigning work at my desk hoping she would soon fall asleep. Finally, at 1:00 in the morning I heard the wonderful sound of deep sleep breathing and figured I had my chance. I grabbed the plastic bag of loot and softly took the first step out the bedroom door. Step by cautious step I strode from the door to the couch where my daughter lay sleeping, ever cautious not to cast a shadow from the light overhead on her face or to make any noise that could spoil the opportunity.
I reached the couch and began to gently pull up the pillow, taking my time and moving it no more than a quarter inch at a time. Quarter inch by quarter inch I lifted the pillow, ever mindful of her head changing position. Once I had lifted the pillow enough to look under, I bent down ready to grab the tooth.
There was nothing there.
Part Two will be posted soon.
Kids teach us something new every day. I can’t wait to read how you pulled this off.