The Very Wiggly Tooth

Reshma Thapa Gurung

“I have a wiggly
tooth , Mama!”
This is Bunu’s
first loose tooth.
She is excited, but also a little scared.

"Push it with your tongue,” Mama says.
Bunu pushed
and pushed
and pushed.
“It is not ready,” Mama says. “Wait for some time and it will fall out on its own.”

Bunu goes to Papa. “Papa,” Bunu says.
“I have a wiggly tooth!”
Papa shakes the tooth gently. "It is not
ready,” he says. "Wait for some time and it will fall out on its
own."

But Bunu does not want to wait. She runs to her room with a long piece of string.
She ties one end of the string around her tooth and the other around the door knob.

Bunu sits on the floor
and waits
and waits
and waits.

Finally Bunu gets tired of waiting and waiting and waiting.
She unties the string from the door and sits on her bed with a loud sigh.

Chunnu, her sister,
walks in after some time. “That was a terrible
idea,” she says, pointing at the door. “Why don’t I pull the string, and your
tooth will come out like that?”

Chunnu snapped her
fingers.
Bunu closes her eyes
and opens her mouth.
"One, two,
three!" Chunnu pulls .
"OWWW!” Bunu screams.
"It is not
ready,” Chunnu says.
"Wait for some time and
it will fall out on its
own."

“This tooth will
never come out!” Bunu says.
"When we were
small, we would throw our teeth on the
roof and ask Musa to give us his in
return,” says Mama.
“Because we wanted teeth as strong as a mouse’s.”
Bunu runs out and
cries, “Musa, Musa!
Here is my big strong tooth for you.
If you like it, please
come and take it away!”

That night, Bunu
dreams of a big mouse.
Musa is holding
something gleaming between his teeth.
He stops and stares
at her, then scurries away into a hole.

As soon as Bunu wakes up, she pushes the tooth with her tongue.
But there is nothing there!
Did she swallow it? Did someone pull it out when she was sleeping?
Where is it?
There it is! Right next to the pillow. Bunu picks the tooth up and dashes outside.

“Musa, Musa, please
take my tooth
and give me a new one!” she says.
She throws her
tooth on the roof
and runs back inside to tell Mama.