Age 6

This morning, Young In wakes up with a weird feeling.  There is something missing.

She goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth, and that's when she realizes what she's missing.  There's a hole in her smile.  She's missing a front tooth.

She's not afraid or surprised because Mother talked about this yesterday.  Young In's tooth is very loose--was very loose--which means that it will fall out soon.  And it did.  But not to worry, because Young In knows that a new one will grow in soon.  A stronger, bigger tooth will replace the one that is missing.  So everything is going to be okay.

Except as Young In is brushing her teeth, she thinks of another problem.  If a tooth is going to grow in soon--a bigger, better, newer tooth--wouldn't that be unfair to the rest of her teeth?  What if the other ones don't fall out quick enough?  Her new tooth will look nicer than the rest of them.  What should she do?

She brushes faster and then washes her face as quick as she can.  She has to look for Jongin, so he can help her solve this tooth problem.

__

"Can teeth be jealous of each other?"

Jongin turns away from the television and looks at Young In like she just asked him the craziest question in the world. Which she probably has.

"What?"

"When your tooth falls out, and another one grows in, do the old teeth feel jealous?"  Young In smiles a giant smile and sticks her tongue into the space where there used to be a tooth.  "See?  This one fell out last night."

"Oh," Jongin says.  It was the kind of oh that meant he was really surprised but trying not to sound like it.  He thinks Young In wonders about the weirdest things.  "I don't know," he says, "I've never thought about that."

"Oh," Young In says.  It was the kind of oh that meant she was really disappointed but trying not to sound like it.  She thinks Jongin is a little shy on the imagination side.  She thought he would have an amazing solution to her tooth problem.

"But I bet they all get along," Jongin says.  "They have to."

Young In nods, because this answer sounds almost reasonable.  She can feel a little bit of her disappointment going away.

"But what if they don't get along?" she asks.

"I don't know.  Maybe that's why sometimes people get toothaches."

"Because their teeth are fighting with each other?"

"Yeah."

Young In smiles, because she really likes this answer.  Jongin just might be the smartest person in the world because he just made her disappointment go away completely.

"Do you know why teeth fall out?" Jongin asks.  Now it's his turn to be curious.  "I lost my first tooth a while back."

"Mother says it means that you're growing up," Young In replies.  "The teeth in your mouth now are called baby teeth, and when they fall out, big teeth will grow in."

"Oh, I get it.  Baby teeth and grown-up teeth.  And I also heard that grown-ups sometimes have to take out their big teeth.  Because they're fighting with each other."

"Whose fighting with each other?  The grown-ups or the teeth?"

"I don't know," Jongin says, eyebrows scrunched up, because now he's confused, too.  "Both, I guess."

"Oh.  Okay.  I've seen grown-ups fight.  They use a lot of words."

"I've seen them, too," Jongin sighs, attention turning back to the television screen.  "Let's never fight with each other."

"Okay.  Let's get along forever."

"Let's promise."

​Young In nods.  She promises.

9:00 am