Kina’s erstwhile fascination with the Tooth Fairy was a bit of a surprise. You’d think that kids would quickly pick up on the whole “supernatural being who is said to arrive overnight” pattern, but teeth come out late in a kid’s life, and there aren’t many myths to go around.
The Fairy has visited four times, and four times did she place underneath Kina’s pillow a lengthy and prosaic note, containing probably more money than a tooth is worth. I took great pleasure in writing each of these notes, sneaking in after the clock struck ten to replace her fallen incisor with the Fairy’s gift.
Kina seemed to relish the myth of the Tooth Fairy, and so it came as some surprise last night when Kina (who has not recently lost a tooth, but has discovered a newly-wiggly cuspid) asked—finally—if the Tooth Fairy was real.
Laurea looked me square in the eyes. I was quiet for a while before asking Kina what she thought. She didn’t fall for it, asking again whether the Tooth Fairy was real or was us. I considered the situation, then asked her:
“Do you want the truth or the mystery?”
To Kina’s credit, she thought before she answered: “The truth.”
I really wanted her to want the mystery, but only because I miss the mystery, and I miss the child for whom it was all a mystery, and this entire newspaper project is in some way about the mystery, but Kina wants the truth, which is fair, and she has the truth now, which is bittersweet.
She also still wants the money.
That’s up for discussion.
dad