My friend Sarah's nephew swallowed his tooth but still got money from the Tooth Fairy...
To explain this, she told her daughter that the Tooth Fairy has various helpers, including 'Murkmaid' who lives in the sewer collecting teeth, pushing them up through the plughole so the Tooth Fairy can wash them in the sink.
I love that.
[See a better color rendering than Substack can manage, here.]
It has sparked some Very Short Stories.
January 15
In the troll forest, Furor Scribendi, the #intellectual, sat reading Spinoza and cracking walnuts with his teeth. The Murkmaid, who had crawled up a storm drain and through an outfall pipe, sat counting children's teeth. For the Tooth Fairy, she said, I work for her.
January 16
Would you like a walnut? Furor Scribendi asked. I want something besides teeth–that's for sure. I want to mudlark, not collect molars, said the Murkmaid. Furor Scribendi closed his Spinoza. Not to #discombobulate but, the more you struggle to live, the less you live.Â
January 17
The Murkmaid looked thunderstruck. I'm not discombobulated, as much as zapped in the head by your words of wisdom, even though you smell like dead sewer rats. Were you always so #moonstruck? Furor Scribendi spit out a bit of walnut shell and said, In the Cher sense?
Heh, love the concept of the murkmaid. 🤩