“No!  Not like that.  Gently, gently.  The children will be sleeping and you mustn’t wake them.”

“Why?” Frannie asked her forehead all wrinkled because she was thinking so hard.

“All I know is what they told me when I was learning how to do it.  Both you and the children will be cursed from that day forward if the child sees you.”

“Because of teeth?” Franny couldn’t have looked more surprised even if she had practiced while looking in a mirror.

Florenced sighed. “Because they saw the magic, Franny. People think we trade the teeth for money.  Very few of them ever ask what we want the teeth for.  They mustn’t know that we turn the teeth into the money. 

“But…”

“No!  Stop. I don’t know why. That’s just how it is. Think of it as a rule.”

“That’s just dumb. I don’t understand this part. Why does it matter if we fairies bring the money? What is wrong with just using our magic to change the teeth? They know fairies have magic. And wands. That’s never been a secret. Carrying money and teeth around would be way more work. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would they even believe that part? I’m never going to be able to do this.  I don’t understand. It’s too hard.”

“It is not. It just takes practice and fairy flair.  Let me show you again.”

Florence used her wand ever so gently to brush the tooth out from underneath the pillow.  She circled the tooth clockwise three times with her wand and then lightly tapped the tooth. In a moment, where there had been a tooth was now a small pile of gleaming quarters.

“That’s more than the last one. What’s up with that?” Frannie asked.

“Don’t know. The wand decides how much money.  It’s always different.” Flossie then used the wand to sweep the gleaming quarters under the pillow one by one. ‘Sometimes it’s paper money.  That’s a little trickier to get under the pillow. Most of the time I just use my hand.  But if you do that, you have to do it very slow. Very careful.”

“That’s enough for today.  Help me put this stuff away.”

The two fairies bustled about, placing the practice doll in the cupboard and making up the bed.

“So, what do we do with this money?” Franny asked?

“We donate it to the poor.  One of the retired fairies will take it to the community center.  There’s a cookie jar in the kitchen, put the quarters in there.  Someone will take care of it.”

“Seeing how it’s money from magic, are there rules on how the children can spend it?

“Nope. Spends like real money.” 

“When do you think I’ll solo?”

“Alone? Oh not for a while yet.  You’ll watch me do it for a couple of weeks.  We’ll practice with the doll during the day.  Then it will be your turn, but I’ll watch you for two weeks to help you with technique and any problems.  Then you’ll be ready to go out on your own.”

“Problems?  What problems?”

Oh Franny, you and your questions! Not now.

Franny folded her arms and refused to budge.

Florence sighed. “I didn’t want to get into that yet.  You will make a mistake. Or a child will just wake up a tiny bit. It will be my job to pull you back far enough that the child doesn’t see you.  It’s usually a pretty easy fix, but every now and again, it gets tricky.  “But,” Florence puffed out her chest wide with pride, “I haven’t had a cursed child or a cursed fairy yet.” Florence knocked on the wooden wardrobe where the doll was kept.

Franny was tired of thinking so hard. Big thinking uses up a lot of energy. “Can we take these clothes off now?”

“Yes, go put on jeans, and we’ll talk some more in the kitchen.  Don’t forget the quarters.”

“If we can’t wake the children, why do we have to wear these frilly things?  I’m not really the frilly type.”

“Protocol and tradition, I guess. Every profession has a dress code. This is ours.  Tooth Fairies have been wearing the gossamer and the glitter since the beginning of time. Most of us are proud of our uniforms. We each design our own.”

“So, how did this whole thing start”

“That is a mystery, but there are plenty of ideas.  The one that makes the most sense to me is that a fairy heard about St. Nicholas and wanted to do something magical for children.”

“But why teeth?’

‘I don’t know.  You ask too many questions.  If you don’t want to be a tooth fairy, you can say no.”

“No!  I do!  I want to do it.  I want to be good at it and, for me, being good at something means I have to understand what I’m doing, and I have to agree that way is best for me. And to do that, I have to ask questions. Lots of them. I don’t think it’s smart to just do something because somebody says so. I have to understand why.”

“Franny some things are just a mystery. You will never be able to understand everything in the whole wide world. Just do the magic and don’t ask so many questions.  You’ll be happier.”

Franny shook her head, “No. Not me. I won’t. I’ll just be confused, and that will make me so I can’t follow the steps.”

(To Be Continued)