The tooth that would not come out

It started out well. The tooth came in at the appointed time, just when the little girl needed it for chewing up pieces of fruit and toast. It was straight. It was shiny. Such a cute little tooth.

Then one day, when the little girl wasn’t so terribly little anymore, she was reading after all, the tooth became loose. This was good news, as baby teeth are supposed to become loose and fall out eventually. It was just a tiny bit loose at first. Days and weeks went by, and the tooth was still just a tiny bit loose.

Months went by and gradually, finally, the tooth became very loose. On a day, not so long ago, the little girls’ mother noticed that the cute, shiny tooth was not shiny or cute anymore. It was dull and gray and dead. The tooth was dead and needed to come out.

For two long days, the little girl wiggled and pulled and cried and bit down on apples and twisted and cried some more. All to no avail. The mother pulled. The father pulled. She flossed and brushed. That tooth would not come out.

On the morning of the third day, the mother was doing laundry when suddenly the happy face of the little girl appeared before her, grinning from ear to ear. “Guess what, Mommy?!?! My tooth came out!” And there it was, in her hand. The mother and the little girl rejoiced and took pictures of that stubborn little tooth and the beautiful new window in the little girl’s mouth.