Chapter 25 - Lily’s second lost tooth
Lily was eight when another lower tooth came loose.
Normal one.
She wiggled it for six days.
At breakfast she bit into toast.
Then froze.
“Mom.”
I looked.
Her eyes were enormous.
The tooth sat on her tongue.
For half a second I saw marble.
Chloe.
Blood.
Silver dress.
No.
That was then.
Lily held the tooth in her palm.
“It came out!”
I smiled.
“Finally.”
“Did it bleed?”
“A little.”
“Normal?”
“Yes.”
She ran to the bathroom mirror.
Then shouted:
“The hole is huge!”
It was not.
That night she put the tooth under her pillow.
I forgot.
At 1:17 a.m., I woke in horror.
Tooth fairy.
I found three dollars.
Inflation.
Slid it under the pillow.
Lily opened one eye.
“You’re the tooth fairy.”
“No.”
“You’re literally holding the tooth.”
We stared at each other.
Then she laughed.
I laughed too.
No hospital.
No police report.
No adult betrayal.
May you like
A tooth was allowed to be a tooth.
That felt enormous.
