Thursday, April 26, 2012

Do You Believe


Do You Believe?

Cast


Grandmother (Nana):  65   She has a five year old grand daughter named Chloe

Wisdom:  65      She is a Retired Tooth Fairy and teacher
Thoot:     16       Apprentice Tooth Fairy
Theet:     14       Apprentice Tooth Fairy

Setting:  Living Room of Nana’s House.  She is babysitting Chloe.  It is late at night and she is trying to text Laura, her daughter.  She does not really know how to text).

NANA

(She talks on the phone)
Laura- Chloe lost her big front tooth tonight from biting into an apple.  She put it under her pillow.  The tooth fairy will come later as she always does.  Don’t worry; Chloe is fine and really excited for the tooth fairy.  I remember your first tooth that you lost; you couldn’t wait to put it under your pillow.  How time flies.  See you tomorrow.  Love you, Mom.
(Nana goes to the other room)

We now go to Fairyland, and to Wisdom’s classroom.

WISDOM

Theet, Thoot, where are you?  Time for class on Tooth Fairy origins.

THEET& THOOT

Coming (all tangled in their wings)

WISDOM

Sit down.

THOOT

We hear that every day.  Hey, Theet Remember?


THEET

Oh yeah, …everyday!  (Straitening her wings)

WISDOM

All right Theet, that’s enough.  Now, one more tidbit that you need to know.

THOOT

What’s a tidbit?


WISDOM

It’s a small piece of information.  Did you know that in other cultures they have different names for us?

THEET

Yeah…

WISDOM

Theet, that was uncalled for.  You have to pay attention and finish your lessons because you have your first assignment later tonight.

THOOT

Theet, be quiet!  Wisdom, are we really going to become tooth fairies?


WISDOM
Yes you are… if you pass your test and can recite the rules.

THEET

Oh great, rules for tooth fairies, what’s next?  Oh, whatever…!

WISDOM

All right. Now, do you remember the names of the tooth fairies in other countries?

THOOT

I do.  In Spanish countries we are called Raton de los dientes.

THEET

What’s that mean?

THOOT

Tooth mouse.  You know that!  In France we are called La Petite Souris, and in Italy we are called Fatina or Topino.  So there you go smarty-pants!

THEET

OK miss know it all.  La Petite Souris.  The little mouse.
Fatina means tooth fairy and Topino means little mouse. So…and in Scotland they believe in The White Fairy Rat who purchases teeth with coins.

THOOT

Wow Theet, you did your homework!  (Laughs)OK, my turn.  In Spain we are called el Ratoncito Perez, the tooth mouse.  In Ireland we are known as Annabogle.  It seems like the Tooth Fairy started out as a mouse in lots of countries.

THEET
I wish it had been a dog, much more fun and cuddly!  (Laughs)

THOOT

Ok, who throws their teeth onto the roof of their house?


THEET
The Asian countries do, because they want their tooth to be replaced by the tooth of a mouse.

WISDOM
You’re doing great girls. Now why do the Asians want their teeth replaced by mouse teeth?

BOTH
It’s because mouse’s teeth continue to grow and stay healthy all their lives.  (All laugh)  Imagine how long and scraggly our teeth would be!


WISDOM

  Great girls. Do you all remember how the Tooth Fairy came to be?

THOOT

(Thinks for a moment)  No, I can’t remember.

THEET

OH, so you missed some lessons too!  (Laughs)


WISDOM

All right girls the tooth fairy came from a French fairy tale La Bonne Petite Souris, from the 18th century.  An awful king puts the queen into a dark tower room.  She is very sad and doesn’t eat and grows very thin.  She gets three peas a day.  One day a little mouse scurries out from under the door.  The queen is sad and has nothing to feed him.

THEET

More mice!  At least we are fairies now!


WISDOM

 The queen finally doesn’t even eat her peas and so she gives them to the mouse.  The mouse realizes her generosity and changes into a beautiful fairy and listens to the Queen’s story.  The fairy changes back into a mouse to help the queen defeat the evil king by hiding under a pillow and knocking out his ….?

THEET

 TEETH!  Cool, Hey Thoot, we could make big bucks.  Wait till the kids are asleep and knock out a tooth.  Next night we rake in the dough!

THOOT

Maybe you but not me.  Now listen up!

WISDOM

All right girls, that’s enough.  Theet, you better pay attention or you will go back to being the one who has to just clean teeth!  Now raise your hand if you know the answer.  Number one.  The number of adult teeth?

THOOT:  
32


WISDOM

How many incisors

THEET

4

THOOT

No, 8, tops and bottoms

THEET

She didn’t say top and bottom.

WISDOM
All right girls. How many canines or bicuspids

THEET

Woof, woof.

THOOT

4, They are the pointed teeth next to the incisors.

THEET

All the better to bite you with!

WISDOM

Theet. You must pass this or tooth fairy bites the dust and you go back to cleaning teeth!

THEET

OK, OK

WISDOM

Bottom teeth, number of incisors?

BOTH

4

WISDOM

Top number of pre-molars?

BOTH

8

WISDOM

Total number of molars?

BOTH

12

WISDOM

Great, now let’s go over the rules.

THEET

More?  I’ve got things to do!

THOOT

Come on, come on we could go out tonight and make a kid really happy.

THEET

Oh, they stop believing in us when the reach the age of 5.

THOOT

Not unless someone tells them too!

WISDOM

Theet, don’t you believe?  You’re one of us, or maybe you don’t want to be?

THEET

Oh come on guys, don’t gang up on me.  I just can’t understand why they DO believe?

WISDOM

Girls, listen to me.  I wasn’t named Wisdom because of my teeth!

THEET

Huh?

THOOT

Wisdom teeth, the ones that come in late and usually have to get pulled…So. No work for us!

WISDOM

When I was little, my mother told me all about how I would grow up and become a tooth fairy just like her.  She said it was very important that I kept the tradition alive.

TTHEET

Was she a Tooth fairy too?


Wisdom

Yes she was.  Even in her day, children were losing faith in imagination and believing. I was taught to believe in all people, because there was good in everyone.  I believed in Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, and The Tooth Fairy.  Everyone said that I wore rose-colored glasses and was like Pollyanna.

THOOT

Pollyanna?

WISDOM

She was a little girl that believed in the good in everyone.  Anyway, I was like her and since I knew I was destined to be a Tooth Fairy, I believed.  As I got older….

THOOT

You’re not old.

THEET

Well, you are OLDER!  (Laughs)

WISDOM

 (Laughs) Thanks Theet.  As I got older I saw all these children that had lost their imagination and didn’t believe in anything or anyone. It was very sad.   Older kids told them they were babies to believe and they were silly.  Other kids would hassle them, and called them names.

THOOT

Were you ever called names, Wisdom?




Wisdom

 I was because I believed.  All the children wanted to be liked, so they lost the childlike wonder of believing and having that wonderful imagination that kids have.  I swore that I would bring imagination back to children and every child that lost a tooth would begin to believe again.  So, Theet, are you on board?

THEET

Yeah it sounds cool, why not still believe.  I get to travel more!  Yeah, it’s cool!

WISDOM

Ok girls, on to the rules.

THEET and THOOT alternate lines.

 (THEET starts.)

Make sure the child is asleep.
          Flutter softly.
          Turn off your sparkle light.
          Check under pillow first.
          If not there, check top of dresser or in stuffed animals.
          Leave the same amount per tooth, per child.
          Do not leave notes.
          Kiss the child’s forehead gently.
          Turn on sparkle light.
Flutter softly.
          Leave.

THOOT

OK Wisdom, How’d we do?

WISDOM

You’re in.  You are both now a genuine Tooth Fairy.  Now, here’s the list for tonight.

                                       Back at Nana’s house
(Nana calls Laura)
NANA
Laura, Chloe is asleep with Molly, her stuffed puppy, cuddled in her arms.  Her tooth is under the pillow and we are anxiously waiting for the Tooth Fairy. OK, I’ll see you tomorrow, come on over for breakfast.  Love you, bye. (She hangs up and heads to the bedroom)

Back in Fairyland


WISDOM
OK girls, the first stop is Nana’s house where Chloe lost her first tooth.

THEET
How do you know where all these places are?

WISDOM

I get a list just like Santa; only it’s not Naughty Or Nice list but a Lost My Tooth list.

THEET

Oh!

WISDOM

You are on your own now.  You will go together for the first few times and then you will go separately.  OK?

THEET

We have to go together?

THOOT

What’s wrong, don’t you want me to go with you?

THEET

OK, but let me do the talking!

THOOT

There is no talking. You know that.

THEET

Well that’s going to be hard for me, you know!

THOOT

Yeah, I sure do! (Laughs)

WISDOM

Ok girls, Wings?

BOTH

Check.

WISDOM

Sparkle light?



BOTH


Check.

WISDOM

W.                 Fairy dust?

BOTH
Yeah, bags full!  (Laughs)

WISDOM

Then off you go, follow the rules Theet, and most of all, have fun and believe.  I love you.

The girls fly off in a cloud of sparkle dust.
Back at Nana’s house

(Nana is in her robe about to go to bed, when she hears a rattle)

NANA
What’s that?

(Theet has flown too fast, didn’t look and crashed into the side of the house)

THEET

Ouch, that hurt


THOOT
Pick yourself up and for goodness sake, be quiet!

NANA

Is any one there?  (Looks around)  It must have been the wind.  (Turns off the lights) The tooth Fairy better come tonight or Chloe will be so disappointed.  (Goes to bed)

(Theet is slowly raising the window when...)

THOOT
(Whispering) Stop, close it.  We’re fairies, we can just glide through. (She glides through the window)

THEET

(Whispering) I must have missed that class!  OK I’m in.

THOOT

 (Whispering) Turn off your light; you don’t want Nana to see us!

THEET

(Whispering) Oh, sorry.  OK where is the tooth?  (Laughs)

THEET

(Whispering) Look at her, she is so sweet.  She’s hugging her stuffed dog as if it’s real.


THOOT

(Whispering) To Chloe, it is real.  She loves that dog and believes that he will keep her safe.  She is young and full of imagination and still believes.  I hope all the kids we go see are like this.

THEET

 (Whispering) Me too. Our job is to help them keep this imagination alive, right?

THOOT

(Whispering) Yeah, our job is a small reminder that fairies do exist.





THEET


 (Lifts up pillow) (Whispering) Oh Thoot, look she has a little pink satin bag with Tooth Fairy written on it.  She even wrote us a poem. Listen:
                             As I lay me down to sleep,
I give you this little tooth to keep.
I ate an apple and out it came,
Maybe the next will be the same.
          I bit,
          I crunched,
          Ouch!
There it was, white but yucky,
I guess I was really lucky.

That’s really cool!


THOOT
 (Whispering) Yeah, she’s a cute kid. Now open the bag and take out the tooth.  Put in the shiny quarter, drop in some sparkle dust, close the bag, and off we go.  This time don’t try opening the window!  (Laughs) Are you coming?

THEET

Wait, a minute, I can’t leave yet.  (Looks at Chloe) So this is what a kid looks like that still believes. Look at her, soft smiles, warm hugs and in her dreams hoping that the Tooth Fairy will really come.  I love this job.  One last thing. (She places a soft kiss on Chloe’s forehead.  It glows in the dark)

They Fly off

Back at Nana’s house, next morning.  She tiptoes in Chloe’s room and looks at her.

NANA
 (She sees the kiss mark and reaches under the pillow and finds the bag with the shiny quarter and sparkle dust.)  Oh, Wisdom, I knew you wouldn’t forget. 










Sunday, April 22, 2012

Welcome to the OLLI Loudoun Writing Workshop's new blog. We will be posting many forms of literature for you to read and comment on.