Hanging Chads

My daughter has been wishing for a missing tooth for most of the year. Periodically, my daughter would lament over her lack of missing teeth

"Is my tooth loose, daddy?" she'd say to me, directing my attention to her open mouth; her little finger pushing and pulling at one of her front teeth.

"uh...I..." I'd reply as I zoomed in for a closer look "well, it seems solid, but who knows. maybe soon".

Invariably, she'd pout a bit looking back to one of her classmates. The classmate would smile, showing off a gaping hole in the grille of her mouth.

I now know the source of my daughter's concern.

This went on for some time until recently when we discovered that my daughter did indeed have her first loose tooth. At that point she began noticing it daily. More over, we began getting daily, even multiple daily reports.

"Daddy! look, my toof is getting looser" my daughter would gush over her finger, during dinner.

"Hey! that's great!" I'd say, my words dying off some at the end as I watching her gum move as she wriggled the tooth back and forth. it felt as if someone were trying to wrest a white gravestone from the ground. Weeds, disturbed grass and dirt bulging at the base as they pushed the stone forward and then heaved it backwards.

Yesterday, her tooth became very loose. So much that she began worrying whether she'd swallow it, etc. Today, she and I did our usual school run. As I dropped her off, I told her teacher that my daughter had a very loose tooth and that I'd brought a lidded cup in the case that it came out today, etc.

I looked over to my daughter who was now proudly displaying her loose tooth. which was hinged down over her bottom lip; perpendicular to rest of her teeth. It reminded me of a drawbridge set in a great white wall that had been lowered over the puffy pink moat.

I kissed the top of my daughter's head, said a quick goodbye - and escaped.