Magic

"Does the Tooth fairy actually exist ?"" Alma was standing there with a broken tooth in her hands.

Here comes the inevitable question that every parent has to encounter one day, when your child has discovered ‘logic’.

“Yes of course, she does. So does Santa Claus.” I said, hoping it would end there.

It did not.

“My friends tell me that neither Tooth Fairy exists nor Santa. Its our parents who buy gifts for us and put them where we can find them.”

“Wrong.” I said, finally, “They exist. Now go put your broken tooth beneath your pillow and go to sleep.”

That night, around midnight, I made my made in the dark, stumbling, using the light of my cellphone, with hundred bucks tucked in my hand.

Now when I look back at that night, I realize that I should have been more careful.

Maybe I should have taken care and not tripped over the folds of my nightie.... Maybe I should not have become tempted to kiss her forehead thinking that she was supposedly ‘sleeping’.

Next day at breakfast, her father asked her ‘So did the tooth fairy come to visit you ?’

’Yes.” She said in a calm voice “In fact I saw her this time. The tooth fairy was wearing a blue nightie.”

I felt my pulse quickening. “You mean a robe, honey?”

“NO, it was a blue nightie with yellow flowers. And…” She paused for effect and looked at me with piercing eyes “She looked exactly like you”.

I almost choked on my coffee. I was caught. I got out of my chair, wore my shoes, picked up my bag and ran out the door, all at once.

How do you face a child who has finally discovered that magic lives only in books and cartoon series ? How do you look into those eyes which have seen that magic is nothing but a figment of imagination ?

That night I was reading a book when she came and sat down on the floor next to my chair, took my hand and put her face into it.

“Mom, promise me that you will never leave me”

“Never leave you ?” I tried to make a joke to lighten her up "OK, till you get married. After that, your husband will not like it if I hang on to ya all za time.”

Her expression did not change. “Promise me.”

As I looked into those eyes, I suddenly knew what she meant.

And I promised her.

I promised her that the magic that has borne her, the magic that has nurtured her will never fade. The same magic will find her whenever she feels she has lost something, and will compensate her by giving something more beautiful. The same magic will walk towards her, stumbling in the dark, and comfort her when she is alone. The magic will live on inside her… all her life and walk with her, hand in hand, never leaving her.

It suddenly occurred to me that magic exists… and not just in story books.