So, last night, the kid had a wiggly tooth. And she is at the age where teeth are getting wiggly. She spent about five minutes in the bathroom, and then she announced that this tooth was ready to come out.
I thought that would be the end of it, just identifying that a tooth was lose and ready to give way. But no, the kid gave it a good yank, and out popped her little tooth. She was very proud as she held it up for us to see, wrapped in bloody toilet paper.
This all happened about 30 minutes before her bedtime, and my first thought was that we don’t have any cash. I panicked; I can admit it. I started into a story about if the Tooth Fairy doesn’t get enough notice she might not arrive. I got a very strange look from the wife and kid.
When I got a second alone with the wife, I told her how I didn’t have any cash, so I couldn’t put a dollar under her pillow. But, the wife did in fact, have a dollar in her purse, and all was well.
We got out the little pillow that we put teeth in for the Fairy, and made sure it was in a good spot so she could find it. And off we drifted to sleep, the kid smiling, as she was going to be visited by the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause in the same week. What an amazing time to be a child and a magical being.
And then I totally forgot.
I failed at my duty as the Tooth Fairy.
The failure was total and complete as the kid got up in the morning, holding the tooth pillow that still contained her tooth, and she looked at me and ask, “Why? Why didn’t the Tooth Fairy come?”
“Well,” I scrambled for something to say. I thought I should return to my previous idea of the tooth coming out too late in the evening…
“Is she made at me?” the kid asked.
Total failure as a father. And the kid was pretty upset. The wife and I snuggled the kid on the couch. Luckily, my wife once got skipped by the Tooth Fairy when she was a kid, so we had a precedent we could fall back on.
But man. I really dropped the ball on this one. I have set a reminder on my phone, so I don’t screw it up for a second night.
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