Setting: July 2025 — Where the Tooth Fairy was running on improvisation and spare dollars.
The other night, Holden lost another tooth — not the first in a recent run.
This one cam loose at bedtime, dramatic and urgent, as if it couldn't wait another minute. It sent us into another late-night scramble, quietly checking wallets and hoping between us we could make it work.
Eventually, Mimi found four folded dollar bills stashed in her wallet... because, of course, I had no cash. As always.
Holden saw me with the bills. Unfolded them and examined them, smoothing the creases with his thumb.
“What’s that for?”
I panicked and told him the first thing I could think of:
“Diet Cokes.”
Later, after he was asleep, I slid the money under his pillow, fervently hoping the story would hold overnight.
In the morning, he woke up and counted it out.
“Hey! You had four dollars too! Are you the Tooth Fairy?!”
Then came the real inspection.
“These are folded the same way! Bent in the middle! Is the Tooth Fairy fake?!”
He kept going, poking holes in the story, testing it from every angle. He even brought it up to Caleb, looking for confirmation I couldn't give him.
Eventually, he tucked the bills into his pink craft box — the one where he keeps his stash — and carried it off to his room. He didn’t say much after that.
I’m not sure he believes anymore.
But I hope we can hold onto the magic just a little bit longer.
This post is part of my One-Minute Memoir series — short reflections on small moments that still manage to say something big.
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