Milestone and Mystery

Two nights ago, young Daniel lost a baby-tooth for the first time. He was watching TV with his sister and brother, and abruptly, triumphantly announced that the tooth had come out. Being Daniel, he stored it in the handle of his light-sabre, for safe keeping and ease of transport.

Well before lights-out, Daniel was talking about potentially waking up to try to see the tooth fairy. And or course, he had many questions that night about this mysterious, beneficent being. Would she know that he had lost the tooth? How would she know? Should we call her? Does anybody have her phone number? How much money will she leave? After all, as Ian eagerly pointed out, Katya says that the tooth fairy should leave $20 for each tooth (Katya is a grown-up, and should know better than to soak the tooth fairy...).

But the best question was: is the tooth fairy a boy or a girl? This is clearly a question of the 21st century. In my youth of old yore, we believed that the tooth fairy was female. But now, boy, girl and fairy are all very fluid categories; more a matter of self-identification than anything natural or supernatural.

Of course, in our house, the tooth fairy is a boy. A boy of rather advanced years. But, outside of this solemn, recurrent role, not an actual fairy...

(January 31, 2012)