Stories
A Joint Business Venture
(Told by Bill)
They would've been antiques, I reckon. Boy, some of 'em must've been nearly as old as me Mum! Spaghetti
Boulders, Fruit Salads, Bird Cages and Cats Eyes….just about any kid in the school would've given his
eye teeth for Pete's marbles - 'specially Danny. He was always hangin' round. He said sooner or later
he'd get them off Pete.
We were havin' lunch, Me and Pete, under the Gum Tree at the bottom of the schoolyard. I was eatin' my
Peanut Paste and pickle sandwiches. Pete had Vegemite again. Every day he has Vegemite sandwiches. You'd
think he'd get sick of it.
Some of the kids had finished lunch and were settin' up their marbles in the dirt. "You'd better hurry
up," I told Pete, "if you want a game before the bell rings."
He stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and chewed hard. "Yow!"
"What's up?" I asked.
"Me loose tooth's come out."
Half his luck! I'd been trying to wiggle mine loose for weeks!
"Now you'll get money from the Tooth Fairy." I told him.
He shuffled his feet on the ground and sent a cloud of dust over our shoes. "Nah, Mum says there's no
such thing as fairies."
I felt awful sorry for Pete, in spite of his marbles. No Tooth Fairy and Vegemite sandwiches every day!
"Why dontcha try it anyway?" I suggested. "Just leave it in a glass of water."
Pete shook his head. "It don't work. Grandma leaves hers in water every night."
Boy, he's dumb! I shrugged. "Well, I got money for my last tooth."
"How much?"
I leant over and whispered in his ear. Danny was moochin' past, eyein' Pete's marble bag and fiddlin'
with that stupid necklace his Uncle brought him from New Guinea. I didn't want him to hear.
Pete's eyes nearly popped. "Phew!" He tried to whistle through the gap in his teeth. I rubbed the spit
out of my eye.
"That much, eh?"
"Yep."
You can tell when Pete's thinking hard. His freckles stand out - or it might be specks of Vegemite.
"Tell ya what," he said. "how 'bout you take my tooth home to your place, and the Tooth Fairy can leave
the money there for me."
"Yeah…." I thought quickly. "On one condition."
"What's that?"
"We go halves."
"It's a deal." Pete grinned. The rim of Vegemite curving from one ear to the other made him look like a
clown.
Mum looked at me kinda strange when I told her I had another tooth for the fairy, but she didn't say
nothin'. I left it in a glass of water that night. Beats me how a fairy can fish it out, but sure as you
like, next mornin' there was a shiny coin in the glass.
On the way to school I stopped at the corner shop and bought swap cards and a new marble bag. I had
enough change left to give Pete his half. He was waitin' at the school gate lookin' fit to burst.
"Hey Bill, look what I got!" he yelled. "I swapped my marbles for Danny's shark tooth necklace. Now
we're really in business!"
COMMENTS
This story was inspired by a family incident. Joel (my eldest son) had prised out his loose tooth
while I was driving them home from school. He considered himself too old for the tooth Fairy, so he
threw it out of the car window, into long grass beside the road. As soon as we arrived home, his younger
brother Ben jumped on his bike and disappeared for the rest of the afternoon. He came back just before
dark, triumphantly brandishing the tooth. The Tooth Fairy came to him that night.
MAMALADE
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