The mother peers into Jonathon’s mouth, seeing that his two front teeth are wiggly.

“It’s about time!” She yells. “Those look pretty loose, they’ll probably come out in a couple days.” 

Jonathon smiles at her with half his teeth growing in, almost looking like little white specks protruding out from his gums. The mothers other son Nathan who is 2 years older walks in, holding up one of his molars. 

The mother smiles and she takes the tooth. 

“I’ll give this to the tooth fairy Nathan,” she says, putting the tooth into her pocket.

“That’s my last tooth I think,” Nathan whispers, twiddling his thumbs. 

“What?!” His mother burst out. “You can’t be out of teeth, your not that old. Before you know it I’ll be pulling your wisdom teeth out!” 

“I thought you said the doctors were doing that?” Nathan asked.

“If the doctors can do it, I can do it just as good,” the mother said smiling. 

Nathan walked away and started to watch on his iPad. 

“What are wisdom teeth?” Johnathon asked curiously. 

“It’s just extra teeth you don’t need,” she replied. 

“If you didn’t need them then you wouldn’t get them,” Jonathan replied.

“But no one’s mouth is big enough for them,, that’s why we do it.” 

 Jonathan walks away to resume playing games with his brother. The mother slipped into her room, and from in a small cabinet with a lock on it, she pulled out her heart shaped box. It was decorated with a red ribbon wrapping around it and decorated with photos of her kids teeth. She smiled and began to take the molar out from her pocket. It was still damp and moist, and some blood had stained its way onto the tooth. She gently sniffed the tooth and put it down. She opened the box, pulling the ribbon off of the box. Inside the box was a layer of styrofoam and soft cotton. Each tooth had its own compartment, she gently placed the molar inside the box. She had organized each out of the 18 teeth in order from oldest to youngest. The oldest teeth were browning and had dark patches of color scattered around its skin. The new youngest tooth fit right in with the others and she closed the box. She proceeded to wrap the ribbon around the box again, the same way she always did it. She smiled and smelled the box. She didn’t care if some teeth were rotting away, they were still valuable to her. She placed the box back inside the small cupboard, closing the door and then locking the lock back up. It looked as if nothing had been touched. She planned to tell Nathan when he had all his teeth out including the wisdom teeth. Most families do the tooth fairy, but this one collects teeth. The mother opens another small box, with one singular tooth. It was the fathers tooth that had been accidentally knocked off when he died of cancer. She always kept it with her, and that’s why she collected teeth, to remind her that her husband is still with her…always.