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Chapter 6: Baby teeth
With a plop and a sucking squishy sound three year old Zac
fell face first into the mud. Ike and Tay looked over the porch banister
to see if he was okay and they were laughing.
“Mom!” Ike called from the porch into the house. “Zac
just fell in the mud again!”
Diana came to the door and grimaced and shook her head at the
mud covered little boy. “Strip him down and hose him off,” he advised
her oldest son. “I’ll go get some towels.”
Zac didn’t have a problem with taking his clothes off or being
hosed down until he realized that he was the only one that was getting
wet. Then he started screaming at the top of lungs because he wanted
to squirt water at his brother but Ike wouldn’t give him a chance to get
at the hose.
Diana reappeared, scooped up a wet and filthy little boy by
wrapping him loosely in a towel and took him off to the bathtub in spite
of his screaming protests.
Taylor climbed up on the banister and walked the length of
it balancing himself like he was on a tightrope.
“Dad’s home,” Ike exclaimed.
Walker shed his raincoat and hung it on a hook outside the front door. He handed his briefcase to his oldest son and brushed his fingers through his spiky flattop haircut and then turned to his middle son.
“You’d better be careful up there, or you’ll fall off.”
Taylor grinned and giggled. “Zac already did!”
Walker reached for his son and Taylor jumped into his arms wrapping his legs around his waist to hang on.
“Guess what, Daddy?” the six-year exclaimed leaning backwards and fully confident that his father would keep him from falling.
“What would that be?” Walker asked spinning him around.
“Mommy says that when we get to Es-a-dor we don't have to go to school anymore!” Taylor exclaimed happily.
Walker flipped his son down onto the floor.
“That’s E-cua-dor,” he corrected. “And, I don’t think that’s exactly what she said. You are going to go to school. It will just be that Mommy and I will be your teachers.”
“That’s still better than real school,” Ike exclaimed.
“Yeah!” Taylor agreed.
Walker took Taylor’s hand and put his other hand on Ike’s shoulder. “Now, listen boys. Don’t get the idea that home schooling is going to be all play. It is still going to be ‘real’ school. You are still going to have to do all the same subjects and Mommy and I are going to be pretty tough teachers. You guys are still going to have to study hard and do lots of assignments.”
“It’s still better than going away on the bus to school, Daddy!” Taylor exclaimed happily unfazed by his fathers warning.
“I hope you still think so, a month from now,” Walker exclaimed. “Are you guys all packed and ready?”
“All the our stuff is packed and weighed but Zac keeps dragging the toys back out.” Ike complained.
“Well, give him a break, Ike” Walker suggested. “Zac’s still a little guy and he probably doesn’t understand fully that we’re going to move again.”
“Maybe we should put Zac in a box!” Taylor suggested and then dodged his fathers hand with a giggle as Walker aimed a swat at his backside.
Diana appeared in the living room with a squeaky clean Zac in her arms and put him down as he made a wild dash for his father. She smiled as she watched her husband swing the naked child up in his arms. Walker always had such a easy way with the children, he was a good father, always taking the time to know them as individuals.
“Ike, take your brother and put some clothes on him,” Diana suggested and then watched as Ike chased a screaming Zac out of the room. He would have his hands full for a few minutes.
“Tay, why don’t you go set the table,” she suggested and then as she watched him run off to complete his task she garnered a few moments of private conversation with her husband. It didn’t last long. There was crash in the kitchen and they both ran. There was an overturned chair and Taylor was lying on the floor, the plastic dishes scattered all around him.
“I’m sorry, Mommy.” Taylor explained. “I slipped.”
“So, I see,” Diana exclaimed squatting down on the floor while Walker uprighted the chair and started picking up the dishes.
“Are you okay? No wait a second, I see some blood on your lip.” Diana exclaimed. “Open up.”
Taylor stuck out his lower lip and looked down but he couldn’t
see and only managed to cross his eyes, but he opened his mouth and stuck
out his tongue for his mother anyway.
“Oh, its just your loose tooth,” Diana exclaimed somewhat
relieved.
“It didn’t fall out! Did it?” the Taylor demanded with a wail.
Walker picked the boy up by the arms and set him on his feet and looked into his mouth. “Nope, it still there.” he claimed. “Son, it really would be better if you just let me give it a little tug.”
‘No!” Taylor wailed.
Walker and Diana smiled and laughed softly. Taylor was
just about to lose his first baby tooth and no matter how many times they
explained to him that another tooth would replace it he didn’t want to
believe them. He didn’t want any part of losing his tooth.
Later that evening Walker called Taylor over to his side and
checked his tooth again. It was so loose it was barely hanging in
the gums. “You know, Tay, I’m afraid you’re going to lose this tooth
while you’re sleeping and will probably swallow it.”
“Can’t you fix it?” Taylor asked with all the confidence in the world that his Daddy could fix anything.
“Not this time,” Walker said but he got up and went over and got something out of the desk drawer and returned to his son. “But, what I am going to do, is tie this string onto your tooth. And, tonight when you go to sleep, I want you to leave the string hanging out of your mouth. That way, if the tooth does fall out, it will still be attached to the string. Hopefully.” Walker very carefully tied the string to his sons tooth expecting any second for it to fall out of the gum.
But the tooth didn’t fall out over night, and the string stayed tied around the tooth for another three days. Sometimes you could see it hanging out of the little boys mouth, sometimes it disappeared into this mouth. Every couple of hours either his Mom or Dad would check it but the tooth stubbornly was holding on.
The move date was approaching rapidly. Every spare moment in the evenings was spent, sorting and weighing boxes for shipping. Even in the short time they had been in Venezuela they had accumulated more possessions than they had allowable free shipping freight allotments. Every possession had to be evaluated as to its merits versus the cost of shipping.
Walker was sorting through a desk drawer and discarding paperwork when Taylor came screaming out of the bedroom followed by his brother Ike who was grinning. They were both wearing their short pajamas bottoms and were supposed to be bed.
“Daddy!” Taylor squealed and jumped into his father lap. “Ike says you’re going to tie my string to a doorknob and slam the door to get my tooth out!”
“Ike why do you torment your brother so much?” Walker asked admonishing his son lightly.
Ike just grinned. “Cause, he believes everything!’
“Don’t listen to your brother,” Walker exclaimed to his son sitting on his lap. “He’s just saying that to make you worry! But, while you’re here let me look at it.”
Taylor opened his mouth, and let the string fall out.
Walker wiggled the tooth wondering what was holding it in place.
Then suddenly Ike made a move towards Taylor, Taylor squealed and jerked
and jumped off his lap and Walker was left holding the tooth.
He picked up the tooth by the string and dangled it.
The boys were playfully squabbling which was their favorite past time.
“Tay, you left something behind,” Walker said gently and watched his middle son’s eyes go round as he realized his front tooth was missing and dangling from the string.
“Oh, you pulled out my tooth!” Taylor wailed and ran off to the bathroom which was the only room that had a mirror. He was climbing up on the sink when Walker lifted him up from behind and held him so he could see the gaping hole.
“Look, there,” Walker exclaimed pointing to a small white line across his gum. “See that’s your new tooth. In a couple of days you will be able to see it very plainly. The new tooth couldn’t come in until the old tooth was out.”
“Are you sure that’s a new tooth!” Taylor exclaimed suspiciously.
“Very sure,” Walker exclaimed with a laugh. “Now, go
put this tooth under your pillow. If you’re lucky, the tooth fairy
will visit tonight and leave you some money under your pillow.”
“Really?” the little boy exclaimed with his eyes bright with
excitement.
“Yeah, right,” Ike said from the doorway, but he grinned when his father turned and gave him a warning look.
“How much?” Taylor asked.
“Mercenary aren’t you.” Walker laughed. “I don’t know. That depends on how good you’ve been, and what the tooth fairy figures a front tooth is worth. Now, you better get back to bed. Tooth fairies don’t come when children are still awake.”
“Okay,” Taylor agreed and made a dash for the doorway, but then he turned back. “Do I have to share it with Ike?”
“It’s your tooth, Tay,” Walker said wondering why he asking that question.
“But it’s Ike’s pillow!” the little boy worried.
Walker just laughed. “It will be all yours this time.”
he promised.