Tooth Fairies and Empty Wallets

There I was seated at my usual cozy corner and sofa chair and leg stool, with my two feet up on the rest stool, getting and feeling comfortable and somewhat alone and away from the others who are still downstairs at the dining table where we all had had our lunch earlier on, thinking and contemplating what I should do for the rest of the afternoon or part of it at least, since earlier on both Ainul and I had had such a lilting get together with Farahat’s and Izzat’s families, who have been forbidden to visit us since two weeks past, for fear that they might get infected with my cough and cold, of a different kind, something I have never experienced before - something that did not seem to go away despite antibiotics and steroids prescribed by my doctor to help get rId of the damned disease, which had been with me two for weeks prior to our trip to the States in late April and persisted on for the fortnight when we were in Orlando but got better towards the last one week in Chicago, when we stayed with Arman John Jennrich’s family and seemed to heal when we returned home, at least for a while until two weeks ago when I got it back, on coming home from my usual Friday prayers at the Masjid Wilayah with Ali Jawad, my Lebanese friend. It had been very uncomfortable weeks of coughs and running nose, something I have never experienced before and would not wish to experience again.

I have whizzing chest sound, which sounds even disturb my attempt to have a good sleep at night. Thank God it is almost over today and that was why we decided to invite the children home for lunch. All those past days of almost silence in the house, without the usual weekend visits by them and the absence of our usual gin rummy gang, life seems somewhat different. Something turns for the better for Ainul and I, since we now discover a new way to entertain ourselves. We develop a new morning routine to optimize the early morning part . At long last after all these years of almost complete refusal to use and get on the treadmill for a regular exercise, Ainul suddenly said she would like to have a go at it ! As if by Providence, just a few weeks ago, we bought a home portable steam sauna outfit, to which Ainul found a liking to try to use together with the tread mill. Thus an exercise morning routine begins to take shape for the two of us. As for me, all along after subuh I would prepare my morning Japanese tofu with sea weeds and the usual sunrider concoctions to begin the day, and followed by twenty minutes qi gong (pronounced 'chee kung'). Now that Ainul gets on the treadmill and the steam sauna,I decided to rope those in as well and have fun time together to spend our quality time!

Anyway, what happened just now was, as I sat there at the cozy corner of my room, Muhammad suddenly appeared and sat on my lap, an action rarely happens with Muhammad unless he wants something ! Earlier on and the last time we met him, he wanted me to see to his milk tooth which he said needed pulling out. On close examination I found that it was then not at all ready for anything. However, this time, a little replacement tooth seems to be there but still the concerned milk tooth was still not ready for a natural pull out, something that I do for Maisarah those past years. Maisarah was always excited to have her tooth pulled out by me then, more especially when she experienced the reward of cash that appeared under her pillow the day after the event, a reward purportedly given by the good fairy!

Of course later on when she grew up she found out that there was no good fairy! This initial experience was rewarding to us and of course to Maisarah of course, because after that she was ever ready to go to the dentist for a checkup, something that was different during my childhood days. In those days, the dentist was the most dreaded person around, more especially my first experience in seeing a tooth pulled out was my uncle’s. In those days, and I am referring to the period just after the Japanese Occupation of our country, the only available "dentist" around and he was none other than the local ‘bomoh’ whose specialty was pulling out teeth for the village folks. When I saw the tools he used in his special mini "doctor’s" kit bag, I felt terrified, more especially after his "operation" on my uncle. He made my uncle gargle well with salt water and then to bite and eat a specially prepared beetle leaf until it is well chewed, revealing reddish mouth-whole and tongue. He would then put a finger in my uncle’s mouth to touch the affected tooth area and inquired if there was any pain at the spot he touched. On getting an answer and almost without waiting any further whether it was painful or otherwise, he immediately went for the tooth!

With Muhammad when he comes closer to you and especially over this tooth which he claims is already unstable, he has his motive. Muhammad is always very shrewd. Unless there is something that he wants from you, at no time will he become friendly with you. Thus when I told him his tooth is not ready to be pulled out and that it will at least take another two weeks before it can be done, he looked very disappointed. When we pressed further as to why he is so anxious to have the tooth pulled out, he said he expect money from it. The good fairy ? Yes, he said. When we said just how much he expects the fairy to give him, he said seventy ringgit. Why so much , we ask him. He says that’s the cost of something which he wants to buy right then. Ainul then asked him how much has he got then for anyone to top up his requirement, he said thirty riggit. Ainul gave him his needs and he walked away happily. Well we thought that was the end of the story but not quite so. That was the reason why he made this approach to me. Politely he told me, he is still short by ten ringgit. I gave him the money, and Muhammad trotted away happily!

Later on I learned from Farahat that he wanted to right away buy his "toy" and when Farahat asked him where he got the money to do so, he said he got it from the two of us. Clever boy ! That’s something that never happens in my childhood. I was very shy and scared to ask from my father money to the movies. I would discretely approached my mother and told her there was a good movie in town to which all my friends planned to see. Understandingly she asked just how much it would cost and gave me what was needed, but that I should not go alone but be accompanied by my uncle better known as Pak Do.

My uncle was a picture-goer. This was his best chance too. That’s when I was treated to a jelly with milk, something that I always enjoy having till today. And the film that we saw ? Of course all those super heroes like Batman and Robin, Captain Marvel, Flash Gordon, Tarzan, Superman, G-Men and some musical ones by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and action and western movies with my favourite heroes Gary Cooper, Richard Widmark, John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Cary Grant, and Frank Sinatra. There were all black and white movies then and no such thing as sense-surround and high fidelity, unlike the reality concept of the movies of these days. When we were in Orlando recently, the movies that we saw were just marvelous with 3D effect real smoke and water hitting the audience ! As I write this article, we are planning to see the latest Superman, a fifth in the series following the previous four with Christopher Reeve, but this time around with Brandon Routh as Superman.

Coming back to Muhammad and his anxiousness to have his first milk tooth pulled out, only a moment ago, I received call from him that the tooth is out and who did it for him ? It was Maisarah. Not surprising to me, since of late she has pulled out her own teeth, having learned the technique from me in the past. Well, Muhammad says, he received five ringgit from the good fairy, to which I said that’s good, without suggesting that he might receive more later on - meaning we might add a little more "reward" to him. How we are going to do this can be quite difficult. We would have to go to their house and place the reward under his pillow ! Already he showed us two other teeth that would need to go !