He looked at the little object still in his hand.
Then at Lily.
“Maggie, please don’t panic.”
“Too late.”
I pulled Lily closer.
Then I noticed something on the bedside table.
The white plastic box.
I reached for it.
Daniel moved forward.
“Wait.”
I opened it.
Inside were dozens of tiny objects.
Bits of paper.
Small pieces of clear plastic.
Pieces of eraser.
Tiny scraps of cardboard.
I stared at them.
Then at Daniel.
“What is this?”
He didn’t answer.
I looked at Lily.
“Sweetheart?”
She covered her face.
Daniel quietly said,
“Lily, we have to tell her now.”
I felt sick.
“Tell me what?”
Lily slowly lowered her hands.
“I put them there.”
I stared at her.
“Where?”
She pointed to her mouth.
For a moment, I didn’t understand.
Then Daniel finally explained.
Three weeks earlier, Lily had
chipped one of her baby teeth at school.
She became embarrassed about the way it looked.
Whenever she became nervous, she started putting small things in her mouth.
A tiny piece of paper.
An eraser.
Plastic from a toy.
Anything she could hide.
Daniel discovered it one evening when he saw her chewing something that wasn’t food.
He panicked.
He took her to a doctor the next morning.
The doctor warned him that the habit could become dangerous if she accidentally swallowed or choked on something.
