2004-10-21 - 12:25 PM

When I was 5, I had a loose tooth. Top right, two teeth over from the "front four." For a week on end, it had plagued me and entertained me. I could wiggle and bob it with my tongue to my heart's content, almost to a 90 degree angle. But every now and then I would clench my teeth in concentration, and furious, inhuman pain would shoot through my jaw and make my eyes tear.
One day, during recess, it had gotten painful, sore from overenthusiastic wiggling. I wandered inside, gloomy and eyes downcast, and sat down on a desk, determined to wait it out.
My Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Jefferson, was a woman whose very presence exuded grandmotherly wisdom. She strode over to me, I remember, asking what was the matter. I smiled and poked the tooth tenderly with my tongue, wiggling it about to display my war wound, but stopped almost immediately in a wince of pain. From behind her back was magically procured a popsicle. Big Pops, the kind made of mysterious streaks of red and yellow sugary brilliance, like fuji apples or perfectly seasoned nectarines.
I sucked on it while we talked, and it numbed the pain. Drowning my sorrows in a popsicle, childlike courage took the better of me and I took a contemplative bite off the top. I munched away, at some point noticing a hole with my tongue as I pushed the slush around in my mouth.
I looked down at the popsicle. Protruding from it's top was a small white plastic-looking thing. I picked it out and stared at the tooth in wonder. For all the screaming it did when it belonged to me, it hadn't made so much as a peep at departure.
Mrs. Jefferson smiled as I proudly displayed what, to me, was a miniature medal of valor. Irony, I'd thought then, that a visit from the tooth fairy was in short order, thanks to a sugary treat. I finished my popsicle and ran outside, proudly displaying this mighty event of cosmic importance to my friends, and all who might care.
The thing of it is this. We've all heard that phrase about clouds and silver linings. And, you know, it's true.
But in my head, it was always more like...
Every loose tooth has it's popsicle.
-Alex

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