Tooth Fairy

Last night, after putting Abby to bed at 10 o'clock, I did my evening routine: walking the dog, cleaning up, taking a shower, then relaxing on sofa watching tv and reading some book.  Around 11-ish, suddenly Abby's bedroom door opened and she came out with a big smile on her face.

Before I said anything, she reached out her hand and said, "Lookie!"  On her hand is a baby canine, with blood on it.  I said to myself, "what the hell..."  She said, "this loose tooth bothers me sleeping so I decide to take it out."  Then comes the question I tried to avoid, "how much do you think the tooth fairy would leave for this tooth?"

I told Abby to go rinse her mouth.  I took a peek into my wallet, only $20 bills in it.  I told her, "I don't know.  Why don't you go to bed first and I'll clean the tooth up a little so that you can leave it under your pillow tomorrow.  I doubt the tooth fairy would want a bloody tooth."  She nodded and agreed with me, then headed to bed once again.

Frankly, I don't quite get the tooth fairy concept.  When I was a child, if we lost the teeth in the lower jaw, we threw it up to the rooftop; if we lost the teeth in the upper jaw, we threw it on the ground.  That's pretty much it.  Redeem baby teeth for money was a totally new concept after coming to United States.  It used to be a quarter or two for each teeth.  But I guess the value gets increased with the inflation and economy as well.  Now it seems to be in the range of $1 to $20, depends on the area and depends on which tooth.  Crazy if you ask me.

I actually thought about getting Abby one of those cute teeth boxes to put the baby teeth.  I gave up the idea since Abby lost some before coming to California.  Since it cannot be a completed collection, might as well sell it to the tooth fairy.

How much does Abby's tooth worth?  Well, I cannot tell you.  All I know is that I need to buy something in cash today to break that twenty.