RATÓN VS. TOOTH FAIRY

My son lost his tooth yesterday. Ok, I did help a little but I swear it was already VERY loose. The important thing is that when I learned about his soon-to-fall-out tooth, I got very excited as I remembered what it was like to loose a tooth for me.

I used to run to my mom to let her know. Then the whole negotiation would start:

- Let me pull it out.
- No. It will hurt.
- No, I swear it won’t. I can tie a thread to it and then pull it out.
- No, let’s leave it alone. It will fall anyway.

But as the days passed, my mom was more impatient and persistent about taking it out and I was growing more tired with having the tooth dancing inside. Finally, she would say how much money the “ratón” ("mouse" for the English speakers) would bring me, and I would allow her to pull my tooth out. That same night I would wrap it with a napkin, and tuck it under my pillow. The “ratón” would arrive, pick it up, and in exchange I would have money to burn.

Well, those memories replayed for the past three days, as I found myself negotiating with my son about pulling out his tooth. He didn’t want it forced out, and he was categorical about it. It would fall by itself or he would pull it out himself. Man, I never thought my son would be that daring! It took me several years to attempt to pull out one of my own teeth, and here I was in front of this 5-year old who was grabbing his tooth trying hard to yank it out.

It was the moment for the “ratón” to show up… but WAIT… the “ratón” I said? “Who is the ratón, mamá?” Cultural twist enters the room… “I mean…the tooth fairy! That’s it! The tooth fairy.” His little inquiring eyes stared at me wierdly. “I know who the tooth fairy is. I’ve seen her on TV.” Sure you have, I said. “But, who’s the ratón, mom?"

And trust me, in the dual world my son lives in, he needs to become familiar with the ratón. He most probably will hear about this character again in a few years when his younger cousin Sebastián, who lives in Mexico, starts loosing his teeth, so he better learn now.

“El ratón” is the one in charge of picking up fallen teeth in other countries, like in Mexico or Spain. The tooth fairy is the one who picks them up here, in the United States,” I explained.

“Why does the tooth fairy pick them up here, and the ratón there? Can’t the tooth fairy pick up all the teeth in the world?” Ah… Thank you Lord I am a creative advertising professional and the answer came ipso facto… “The problem is that the tooth fairy flies and so she cannot carry all the teeth. The ratón has a little wagon so he picks up more teeth; that’s why he spans several countries and the tooth fairy just picks up the teeth from the children in the United States.”

So, the crisis was over. My explanation fixed the issue. I asked him to let me look at his tooth one more time. A few minutes later, we were wrapping his fallen tooth with a napkin and putting it under his pillow.

“How much money will the tooth fairy bring me?”
“I dunno.”

“Can I keep my tooth?”
“Well, yes but the tooth fairy won’t come then.”

“Mmmh… OK. Will she keep my tooth in a safe place?”
“Of course!”

And he fell asleep. The very next morning as I was walking into his room to wake him up, I saw his tiny hand crawling under the pillow and pulling out a napkin slowly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tooth fairy flying out through the window with a "ratón” in tow. I smiled.

“She left me FIVE dollars, mom!”

“Sure she did”, I said. Then, I kissed him good morning.