Give and Take

Remember the finger that was jammed in the door the other week? It was quite obvious it was going to fall off, and Mads has been stressing about the impendig event for some time. Eventually, out of desperation I told her about the Fingernail Fairy, who collects up fallen fingernails (whole ones, not clippings) and will leave a gift in return by way of thanks. But what, Mads wanted to know, does the Fingernail Fairy do with all those fingernails? Well, she gives them to children who have no fingernails. Of course.

When the fingernail finally dropped off last week the Fingernail Fairy made good her promise. She whisked the nail away (although I pity the poor child who will receive it) and left a present. As luck would have it, the Fingernail Fairy discovered a present that we didn't end up giving to Mads for Christmas - a keyboard - and she thought, well, it is a little large for such a tiny nail, but there was considerable pain involved in the losing of it, so why not.

Unfortunately, another fairy visited that night too - the Conjunctivitis Fairy, or, for fans of polysyllabic German words, the Bindehautenzundung Fairy. So it was back to the childrens' doctor for us. Oh well.