Tooth Fairy-ing by mail

No, not tooth ferry-ing by mail, although it involves that, too.

With me in Maryland (at the moment) and my beloved fairy-ees in Utah, my normal tooth fairying activities have been, of a necessity, interrupted. For the Weathercolour household, I deputized replacement fairys before I left, but I hadn't planned on needing to (don't know where my brain was) for Klari's kids.

Sure enough, The Great Event happened in Klari's almost-six-year-old's life: he lost his first tooth. They called as soon as it was in danger (after all, when you not only know who your tooth fairy is, but have your tooth fairy's phone number, calling is only the natural step to take when you feel that first wiggling). The next day, it actually fell out, and said nephew was very concerned that he get his due sleepover, so he called again.

I explained as gently as I could that I wouldn't be able to come out any time soon. Then, I had a (probable) Stroke of Brilliance. I suggested that he mail the tooth to me, and I would mail the money to him. I am deeply hoping that the coolness of getting a real, live letter in the mail from your auntie/tooth fairy will somehow be close enough to the coolness of having her sleep over.

There is one small glitch, which is that I am going to my grandmother Tommy's house in California for a month, quite soon. She has been ill and I am currently unemployed and am therefore have the freedom to make a visit. I told my nephew that if I happened to leave before his tooth got here, I would have Nana or Papa forward it to me. He was, perhaps, concerned that I would forget to mention it to them.

"Can I talk to Papa?"

"No, I'm sorry, he's on a walk."

"What about Nana?"

"I'm sorry, darling, but she's at work. Shall I have Papa call you later when he gets in?"

"Yes."

So I nagged my father until he called, but by then my nephew seemed to have forgotten about it, so I also didn't worry about it any more.

However, last Saturday, I got a call from Klari, informing me that they had just mailed off the tooth. (Incidentally, she shares my feelings about how gross teeth are, and therefore, unlike my older sister, has no desire to get her childrens' teeth back after I have traded them for Sacagawea (had to look that spelling up) gold dollars.)

After she told me to expect the envelope some time this week, she informed me that my niece, T, also wanted to talk to me.

T wanted reassurance that I would not mix her teeth up with her brother's. I didn't think that this was a big deal, and reassured her that I would not. She asked again. I told her again that I didn't think this would happen. When she asked the third time, I remembered (should have remembered this the first time) that my entire tooth-fairy kit is in Utah (including her collected-but-not-returned teeth), and if I am receiving her brother's teeth here or in California, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that I could get them mixed up.

Whew. Glad that's clear. Now I have to figure how much in postage it is going to cost to mail a $1 coin. Life gets more expensive all the time, I tell you, but at least I'll be doing my part to support our sagging economy.