Teeth
I twigged fairly early on that there was no such thing as the tooth-fairy: in fact, it was with the loss of my second tooth. What gave it away was the fact that said sprite had left me a note alongside the 20p piece under my pillow; and even at that young age, I instantly recognied the suspicious similarity between the tooth-fairy's handwriting, and my mother's.

This left one little mystery: what did my parents do with all those teeth?

It turns out that they kept them. Searching for something somewhere at my parents' house a few years ago, I found a plastic film canister. It rattled. It contained teeth. What was missing was any indication of whether they were my teeth, or my brother's, or a combination of the two. Given that my Dad was into his fifties before he lost his final milk tooth, one of them could have been his, for all I know.

I asked my mum why she'd kept them. She gave the sort of shrug that was best interpreted as "Don't ask silly questions", with a subtext of "Buggered if I know".

There's another little detail. There weren't enough in that canister to account for even one person's mouth - which suggests that, somewhere, there's another container with more teeth in it.

I don't even want to think about what happened when I had my adenoids out in 1981.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 9 May 2012, 11:09, 11 replies)

My mum's still got all of my teeth
along with some pig and sheep teeth I found on holiday once and one of the cat's claws :/

They're in a little egg-shaped thing on the dresser.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Wed 9 May 2012, 11:51, closed)

and
a set of cat's balls after Tiddles had the snip
(magic the cat will someone please think of the kittens, Wed 9 May 2012, 12:00, closed)

Keeping the teeth seems perfectly reasonable - but my wife has kept the umbilical cords
Yes, the bit of umbilical cord that shrivels and eventually drops off the baby's navel. Now a black, mummified lump of cak.

Oh, and the pregnancy tests, too. Ten year old piss, anyone?
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Wed 9 May 2012, 12:30, closed)

Ewwwww.

( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 9 May 2012, 13:17, closed)

I have mini-mes umbilical tag thing with a bit of it left inside.
21 years old it is...and some of his teeth.
( Herb Alpert's Taxi Driver I have very beautiful lips, Wed 9 May 2012, 14:20, closed)

My wife does this too
at least she does when I don't dispose of the teeth beforehand. I have no idea what she intends to do with them: bring them out when our son brings his first girlfriend home? Make a collage out of them for his 21st birthday party?
(Smale is stuffed, Wed 9 May 2012, 12:54, closed)

You should be glad..
..there could have been more teeth in that canister than you could account for.
(Robotnik, Wed 9 May 2012, 13:01, closed)

I hadn't thought of it this way.
It's a good point.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 9 May 2012, 13:16, closed)

Firstly, brilliant...

Secondly, 'click'

Thirdly, I can't quite explain why, but: "Don't ask silly questions", with a subtext of "Buggered if I know" made me laugh waaaaay more than it actually should. It's probably because I can kind of see you saying it.

*still chuckling*
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Wed 9 May 2012, 14:05, closed)

They'll have kept them to use for Voodoo if you turn out to be a disappointment.
Face it Enzyme, you're DOOMED.
( stuj (^(^;;^)^) GO TEAM SPIDERS!(^(^;;^)^), Wed 9 May 2012, 21:44, closed)

You're not the first to point this out.

( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 9 May 2012, 23:13, closed)