Sarah and the Tooth Fairies

Sarah woke early when it was still dark and felt under her pillow.
Paper.
A fiver? Surely not?
Surely not. Just a printed letter.

Dear Client,
We regret to inform you that until further notice the Tooth Corporation will cease to operate as normal. We apologise for any convenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
Twinkle Toes.
PS. It’s not my fault.

Sarah pressed her tongue into the empty gum at the front of her mouth.
“Hm,” she thought. She got out of bed, cartwheeled to the door (the floorboards always squeaked when she walked) and slid down the stairs on her bottom, being careful not to wake her parents. They were always grumpy in the morning.
Sarah dragged a chair across the dining room floor to the shelves on the wall and stood on it.
On the second to top shelf was the phone book. Sarah opened it, sang the alphabet in her head and then turned to ‘T.’

Tooth Corporation, The. Contact Ms Toes, H or T. (Fairyland)1234567890

Sarah dialled the number.

“Brrrrrng brrrrrng BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNG.” (Sarah was getting impatient.)
“What?” said a voice on the other end of the line.
“Is this Twinkle Toes?” said Sarah.
“No,” said the voice, “I’m Hairy Toes.”
“Oh,” said Sarah.
“What do you want?” said Hairy.
“I found a letter under my pillow,” said Sarah.
“We can’t give you any money,” said Hairy.
“I can help,” said Sarah.
“How?” said Hairy.

Sarah hadn’t thought this through.

“I’m good at helping,” she said.
“Really,” said Hairy.
“Yes,” said Sarah, “Yesterday I helped Dad hoover the living room and I helped Mum eat a chocolate cake.”
“Weeeeeeell,” said Hairy, “we do need all the help we can get. Me and Twink’ll come and get you.”
“OK,” said Sarah, “ I live at-”
“I know where you are,” said Hairy, “I’m a tooth fairy.”

Sarah hung up the phone, ran upstairs, cartwheeled into her bedroom and changed out of her pyjamas into her jeans. She went back downstairs to write a note for her parents.

Mum and Dad,
Had to go and help the fairies. Can we have fishfingers for dinner?
Love Sarah xxxx

She knew she would get in trouble.
She left the note by the biscuit barrel (Mum would be bound to see it there) then sat down to wait.

There was a small explosion in the corner, followed by a coughing sound. Then two girls, one short and fat, the other tall and skinny walked out of the smoke.
“Sarah?” said the fat one.
Sarah nodded.
“Hairy Toes and Twinkle Toes,” said the girl pointing at herself and then the tall one.
“Your dresses are very frilly,” said Sarah.
“Uniform,” said Hairy, pulling at a lacy sleeve with a look of disgust.
“Anyway, lets go,” said Twinkle. She took a wand out of her pocket and waved it. The three of them were transported into a dingy office decorated with strange crayon drawings.
“What’s the problem?” said Sarah.
“We don’t have any money,” said Twinkle.
“Why not?” said Sarah.
“The leprechauns won’t give us anymore,” said Hairy. She hit the desk with her wand, causing little gold sparks to fizzle in the air before falling to the floor and burning through the carpet.
“Did you ask nicely?” said Sarah.
“I’m always nice,” said Hairy, glaring at Sarah.
“Did you do big puppy dog eyes?” said Sarah.
“No,” said Hairy.
“I’m good at big puppy dog eyes,” said Sarah.

The fairies took Sarah out of their office and into the streets of Fairyland. The pavements sparkled silver and the mirror roads reflected the green sky.

The leprechauns ran a bank at the end of the road. Sarah’s big puppy dog eyes did not impress them. Not even when she held her hands up like paws.

“Why won’t you give them any money?” she said.
“Because,” said the leprechaun, “it’s not a good investment.”
“What?” said Sarah.
“I give them money. They swap it for teeth. They don’t do anything with them,” said the leprechaun. He shrugged and held out her hands.
“Oh,” said Sarah, “we’ll just have to think of something to do with the teeth.”
Sarah and the fairies walked back to the office.
“What happens to the teeth you collect?” said Sarah.
“We put them in the store room,” said Twinkle.
“Can’t you do anything useful with them?” said Sarah.
The fairies blinked.
“Useful?” said Hairy.
“To make money,” said Sarah.
The fairies blinked.
“Sell them?” said Sarah.
“Who’d want to buy teeth?” said Twinkle.
“You do,” said Sarah.
“We’re tooth fairies,” said Hairy.
“You could make things out of them,” said Sarah.
“Like what?” said Twinkle.
Sarah shrugged. “Jewellery, models?”
“We’re not artistic,” said Hairy. She pointed at the pictures around the office.
“Those took me ages,” said Twinkle.
“What about chalk?” said Sarah.
“She can’t draw in chalk either,” said Hairy.
“No,” said Sarah, “Mum says teeth and chalk both have calcium in them.”
“Calcium?” said Twinkle, “that’s what wands are made out of.”
“Calcium?” said Hairy, “I thought it was chocolate.” She moved her hand to cover tooth marks on her wand’s handle.
“No, definitely, calcium,” said Twinkle.

The three of them sat in silence thinking of uses for teeth.

“You know,” said Twinkle, “maybe the reason fairies started collecting teeth all those years ago was to make wands.”
“Can you make wands?” said Sarah.
Twinkle and Hairy laughed for several minutes.
“Only very good fairies make wands,” said Twinkle.
“We failed our exams. That’s why we got the tooth jobs,” said Hairy.
“I didn’t fail,” said Twinkle, “I just…didn’t pass.”
“You could sell teeth to wandmakers,” said Sarah.
“Why didn’t we think of that?” said Twinkle.
“Because you failed your exams,” said Sarah.
“Oh,” said Twinkle.

Hairy phoned the wandmaker to ask him to buy the teeth.
“Should she be saying ‘Or else I’ll knock your block off’?” Sarah said to Twinkle.
“That’s Hairy being extra special nice,” said Twinkle.
Sarah took the phone from Hairy and said, “pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.”
The wandmaker said “yes.”

Twinkle made Sarah pose for a special picture to say “thank you.” It looked like a lump of cheese. The fairies took Sarah home where she was sent to her room and ordered to sulk for five hours for going out without her parents.

She didn’t get fishfingers for dinner.