Tamer and the Tooth That Wiggled Hello

On Monday morning, Tamer bit into his toast and felt something strange.

One of his bottom front teeth moved. Just a little. It went wiggle, and then it went back.

Tamer froze. He put down his toast. Slowly, carefully, he touched the tooth with the tip of his tongue. Wiggle.

"Mama," he said in a very small voice. "Something is wrong with my tooth."

His mother leaned over the breakfast table. She looked inside his mouth, and then she smiled the biggest smile Tamer had ever seen. "Nothing is wrong, habibi," she said. "Your tooth is loose. That means you are growing up! A brand-new grown-up tooth is getting ready underneath."

Tamer did not feel like smiling. He did not want his tooth to go anywhere. It was his tooth. It had been in his mouth for as long as he could remember. It had helped him eat apples and carrots and crunchy cucumbers. It had been in every single one of his photos.

"I don't want it to fall out," said Tamer. "I like this tooth."

"I know," said his mother gently, and she stroked his hair. "Changes can feel strange. But you will see. It will be all right."

All day long, Tamer was careful. At school, he ate his sandwich only on the left side. He did not drink cold juice in case it made the tooth jump. When his friend Hamza asked him to play tag, Tamer said no, because he was afraid that running might shake his tooth loose.

That evening, his little sister, Nayla, found him sitting very still on the sofa, holding his hand over his mouth.

"Why are you holding your face?" asked Nayla. She was four, and she asked a lot of questions.

"My tooth is wiggly," said Tamer through his fingers. "I'm keeping it safe."

Nayla's eyes went round. "Can I see?"

Tamer took his hand away and pushed the tooth with his tongue. Wiggle.

"Ooooh," said Nayla. "It's dancing!"

Tamer had not thought of it like that before. He wiggled it again. Nayla clapped. And for a moment, Tamer almost laughed.

On Wednesday, Grandma Wadad came to visit. She brought a tin of sesame cookies and a bag of oranges, and she wore her soft blue cardigan that always smelled of rosewater. Tamer ran to hug her, keeping his lips tightly closed.

"What is this?" Grandma Wadad laughed. "No smile for your teta?"

Tamer opened his mouth and showed her. Wiggle.

"Ahh," said Grandma Wadad, sitting down in her favorite armchair. "Your first wobbly tooth. Come here, my love, and let me tell you a story."

Tamer climbed onto her lap. Nayla squeezed in beside them.

"When I was a little girl, about your age," said Grandma Wadad, "I had a wobbly tooth too. I was very worried. I thought my mouth would have a big hole in it forever. I thought I would look silly. So do you know what I did?"

"What?" asked Tamer.

"I didn't eat anything crunchy for a whole week," said Grandma Wadad. "Not one apple. Not one cucumber. Not even a single cookie." She tapped the tin of sesame cookies. "Can you imagine?"

Tamer gasped. Not even a cookie!

"And then one morning," Grandma Wadad went on, "I sneezed. A great big sneeze. Ah-CHOO! And out it popped, right onto my breakfast plate." She laughed so hard her cardigan shook. "It didn't hurt one bit. It was just a tiny tickle. And all that worrying was for nothing."

Tamer giggled. "Then what happened?"

"My grandmother took me up to the roof," said Grandma Wadad, "and told me to hold the tooth up to the sun. Then I threw it high in the air and said, 'Sun, sun, take this little tooth, and give me a strong, shiny new one!' That is what children in our family have always done, for many, many years."

"Did the sun give you a new one?" asked Nayla.

Grandma Wadad smiled widely and pointed to her front teeth. "Look for yourself."

Tamer looked. Her teeth were strong and white. He thought about this for a long time.

That night at dinner, Tamer's father put a big bowl of apple slices on the table. They were cold and crisp and sweet, Tamer's favorite. Tamer looked at them. He looked at his father. He thought about Grandma Wadad, who had missed a whole week of cookies.

"Baba," said Tamer, "I think I want to try an apple."

"Are you sure?" asked his father.

Tamer nodded. He picked up a slice. He took a deep breath. He bit down, crunch.

And something small and hard landed on his tongue.

Tamer's eyes went wide. He reached into his mouth and pulled it out. There, in the middle of his palm, was a tiny white tooth. It was smaller than a grain of rice. It looked like a little pearl.

"It came out!" Tamer shouted. "It came out, and it didn't even hurt!"

Everyone cheered. Nayla bounced up and down in her chair. His mother kissed his cheek. His father ruffled his hair. And Grandma Wadad clapped her hands and said, "Mabrook, my big boy!"

Tamer ran to the mirror in the hallway and smiled. There was a little gap where the tooth had been. He poked his tongue through it. He looked a bit funny. He looked a bit different. But he also looked, he thought, a bit older.

"Can we go to the roof tomorrow?" he asked Grandma Wadad. "To give my tooth to the sun?"

"We certainly can," said Grandma Wadad.

So the next morning, the whole family climbed the stairs to the roof. The sky was clear and blue, and the sun was warm and golden. Tamer held his tiny tooth up high. It sparkled in the light.

"Sun, sun," he called, "take this little tooth, and give me a strong, shiny new one!"

He threw it as high as he could. It flew up, up, and disappeared into the bright morning.

A few weeks later, when Tamer was brushing his teeth, he saw something white peeking through his gum, right in the gap. It was a new tooth, bigger and stronger than the old one.

"Mama!" he called, grinning. "The sun sent it!"

And the next time one of his teeth went wiggle, Tamer did not hide his smile at all. He just said, "Hello, wiggly tooth. I know exactly what to do."